Part of the reason I chose to start a blog about the occasional absurdity that emerges as a result of human interaction (wow…so deep) is because I have several of such absurd stories myself, and frankly, I really start to enjoy them as time goes by.
I’ll start with a funny one: Two years ago I was lucky enough to travel around Peru and Bolivia as a college graduation present. Everything was going well and I was having a great time. However, I must have eaten something unusual (I’m pretty sure it was the guinea pig) and my stomach was really starting to turn just a few days before I was set to go home. By the time I got back to Lima to catch my flight I was really sick and had been unable to keep down anything for about 48 hours. I was not in good shape. So when I got to the air port I wanted to use the last few minutes on my calling card to try and contact my boyfriend as I figured talking to him would make me feel a little better until I got home.
Now, if you have ever used an international calling card you know it takes maybe $1.00 to connect and then costs significantly less for the additional minutes. I figure I’ve got enough money for a 7 or 8 minute phone conversation, so let’s say $2.10. But what the heck, my plane leaves in 30 min so why buy a new one (with the local currency I don’t have any more of anyway)? I call my boyfriend and he picks up the phone sounding like hell.
What could be going on? It’s a Sunday at 3:00pm….could I have woke him up? Regardless, the call had connected and there was no turning back on account of courtesy.
“Hey hon. What’s up?” I asked, trying to sounds somewhat cheerful.
“Hey….. why are you calling?” he says. Why am I calling?!?! Because I’m feverish, dehydrated, hungry and about to fly to El Salvador. Is that a good enough reason? Apparently not.
“Well I just wanted to…”
“Hold on.” He practically moans. And then, dead air followed by the dial tone. Excuse me?! My boyfriend just hung up on a long distance call from his girl friend in Lima, Peru. There better be a good reason for this… like perhaps a S.W.O.T. team bursting through the door or his long lost twin calling him on the other line. Unfortunately, it was none of the above.
When I got home (since I didn’t have enough money on the card to call again and why would I want to after that response?) I asked him what his problem was. He told me he had been hung over and hung up on me so he could go vomit. Given my state at the time, which resulted in a visit to the emergency room shortly after I got home, this has to be one of the more thoughtless things a boyfriend has ever done. We aren’t dating any more, for unrelated reasons, but the moral of the story is next time your potentially-schistosomiasis-infected girlfriend calls you from Lima, don’t hang up on her.
