Thursday, May 17, 2007

2nd Today: English as a Partial Language

Tuesday, I was completing a delivery on my route. The product was received, the invoice was signed... I was getting ready to jump back into my truck which was parked alongside the road, when a huge semi heading the other way slowed way down. The driver, of... foreign descent, rolled down his window and waved to me. "Delivery?" he uttered in broken English.
Not sure if I had heard him correctly, I asked, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Delivery?" he repeated.
"Delivery for whom?" I stammered.
Again, with a small gesture, and more emphatically, he quizzed, "Delivery?"
OK, so he knows the word "Delivery." Great.
I was at a complete loss. "Who are you looking for?"
Frustrated, he dismissed me with a huff and a slight wave of the hand, and drove away.

I'm guessing that somebody didn't get their delivery that day.


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