The Deaf Edge

Taking a break from studying for my final exams here – I thought I would share an amusing story. You know that as a Deaf person who speaks American Sign Language, sometimes you get into really odd situations, both personally and professionally.

One day, I went to a job fair with a friend of mine. It was pouring that day, and naturally, being absent-minded, I didn’t bring an umbrella. My friend dropped me off in front of the building, which was a convention center, but the doors were locked! The doors that were open, were at the other end of the building. So I walked through the pounding rain, to the other end. Once I got inside, my hair was drenched and plastered to my face. I had to wring water out of my hair!

So I’m standing there, vainly trying to fix my hair and wiping the raindrops off my black leather jacket when the interpreter showed up and said, ‘Wow. You’re just a little wet, aren’t you?’

With a smirk at her, I headed to the first booth and the woman manning the booth very clearly looked up and down at me. I thought to myself, ‘Crap. I knew I should’ve brought an umbrella!’

I smiled politely at the woman and handed her my resume. She took a quick glance at it then looked at the interpreter. “Are you her mother?”

The interpreter and I exchanged glances, and I said, “Um. No. She isn’t. She’s just an interpreter.”

The woman smiled brightly, “Oh okay! So what are you looking for?” So I went into my usual job seeking spiel, and the woman listens studiously. Then she asked randomly, “Where do you live?”

“Um. I live here. Around here…” I mumbled in confusion. The woman said, “Okay. I was just asking because our business has several offices in different cities,” then she went into her spiel about what her business was about.

Then she ends it with, “You know, you could work for us… We could hire an interpreter for you, and you could meet with our clients and help them with their finances, and such!”

By then, I was dumbfounded. This was not your typical job interview, and I was looking for a clerical job. I also knew something was up, because most people would run away screaming if they had to hire an interpreter for a Deaf person to work with clients.  So I said, “Mm.. Okay,” not knowing what to say.

“All right. I’ll give you my business card, so we can set up things for the job orientation and such.”

“Okay.”

She took out her business card and begins to write on it, then paused. I’m looking around while she’s doing this, mind you. Then I saw the interpreter flinch for just a second then she signs to me, “You’re such a beautiful woman.”

I stared at the interpreter, ‘What the Hell?’ clearly written on my face.

The interpreter shook her head ever so slightly then nodded towards to the woman, “Her! Not me!”

With wide eyes, I look back to the woman, who now was standing very close to me with a smile and business card in front of my face. I stammered with a smile, “Ah… Thank you,” then quickly took the card and left.

It’s now several years later, and I still wonder if that woman did that because she found me irresistibly cute, which I find hard to believe, or because she thought I was Deaf and easy to pick up…