crazy, or crazy like a fox?

[marcicat]

One of my coworkers claims to be unable to hear anything else when her earbuds are in. People talking next to her, people loudly calling her name, loud noises — nothing.

1. I find this hard to believe, to some extent, because I use also earbuds at work, and I can consistently overhear conversations going on around me.

2. But maybe not? I don’t want to be all “I call BS” if that’s just how her ears work. Or maybe she turns the volume up a lot?

3. And yet, she is super jumpy, so it would seem like doing something that blocked out all chance of hearing someone coming up behind you would be nerve-wracking.

Anyway, she is very convincing in her portrayal of not being able to hear anything. Very. Convincing. Which kind of leaves me wavering between suggesting she visit an audiologist and just slow clapping it out.

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.

Comments

[bluemeridian]

In her favor, it can depend on the ear buds - some are a lot more noise cancelling than others. It could also be the way her focus works, in that once her ear buds are in, she doesn't register outside noises. Or she could just be Very Convincing. ;)

[marcicat]

Good call on the focus thing! (I'll say this -- it makes a fantastic excuse for the rest of us to "not hear" things when our earbuds are in, so from that perspective it's all good.)

[starandrea]

Steph was like that too! She wouldn't respond, no matter the subject or volume of conversation around her, to the point where we couldn't get her attention in any normal way (other than tapping her on the shoulder, which seemed creepy if she really couldn't hear us) so we called her phone, which lit up when it rang.

[marcicat]

The phone thing is an awesome idea! I will have to try that next time I have a question!