Things I Don't "Get"

By Susan Esther Barnes

I make a conscious effort to look at things from the perspective of other people. Looking for alternate ways of interpreting situations has been particularly effective for me, especially when I come across something I don’t understand.

I think it all started back when I was a kid and my mother told me, “There’s too much milk going down the sink.”

I thought she was saying the milk was somehow harming the sink or clogging the drain or something, so I replied, in all innocence, “Maybe we should throw it in the toilet instead.” She was not amused, and I found myself trying to figure out why my clever suggestion made her angry.

Maybe it’s just because I’ve been traveling a lot lately on business and I’m feeling tired and cranky, but despite my best efforts, there are some things I have come across recently that I just don’t “get.”

***Please note: My husband was in no way involved in the following incident.***

As an example, I can understand how a guy who has never made microwave popcorn before might set the timer wrong and walk away from the kitchen, thereby allowing the popcorn to burn beyond all recognition.

What I don’t understand is how he can then leave the microwave looking like the one pictured at the top of this post without making any attempt whatsoever to clean up the mess.

Another thing I don’t get is why a fast food restaurant would need to have a locking mechanism on the inside of their restroom door that is so confusing they need to have a whole series of signs telling you to lock the door and how to do it:







Is this just a ploy to scare off people who are on a long drive and want to use the restroom without buying anything?

Then there’s this sign on the ceiling of a hotel room I stayed at recently:




How many people had to hang their clothes on the fire sprinklers before the hotel decided it was worthwhile to put these signs in all the rooms? Are there that many people who don’t know what a fire sprinkler is, or who aren’t able to find the closet?

And lastly, the straw that “broke the camel’s back” and got me to make this blog post, why would a rental car company give the vehicle pictured below to a person who made a reservation for a compact car?