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Close Encounters of Ignorance Encounter 1. All the following happened when I worked as a user support rep for a computer company. A customer got upset when I asked, “[Is the machine] up now?” He said, “I’ve been standing up for quite a while.” Another customer complained: “I want to move the cursor more to the right by using my mouse, but I don’t have enough space on my desk.” Also, there was a user who physically moved her computer close to a window upon my advice, “Let’s change your environment.”Encounter 2. About twenty years ago, right after I arrived in the US as a foreign student, I tried a great invention for the good of humankind—the dishwasher. As I was told by my host family, I put the dishes and the detergent in it, and then selected a washing mode. While running the dishwasher, I went out for jogging. When I came back, I found bubbles all over the dishwasher. I didn’t know I was supposed to use a special detergent for dishwashers…. Encounter 3. My roommate from Aomori encountered Halloween on his fifth day in the US. He complained with a strong Aomori accent, “Americans don’t teach their kids how to behave, yeah ha? Don’t they have manners when visiting somebody’s home? No!” and slammed the door. Outside the door, kids dressed like a corn, a Dracula, and the like were standing, wondering what went wrong…. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” |