The Name Game

Our gas stove had a non-lighting burner and we had our local appliance repair person scheduled to come out to the house and take a look.  He called early in the morning yesterday to give us a window of time for his arrival.  When he did, my husband as he usually does, asked the person his name and I saw him look surprised and stare questioningly into the phone, “Binyon????” my husband asked and then, “Well. Okay then Binyon, see you at eleven.” When the man arrived and I let him in, I didn’t call him by name — it just seemed so unlikely and he was a little scary looking anyway — and good thing I didn’t.  The man called from the kitchen to order a part and when I heard him tell the person on the other end of the phone that it was “Damien” calling, I was laughing so hard that I had to leave the room. It reminded me of the game of “Telephone” that we used to play in kindergarten, where words and sentences got garbled and confused between one person and the next, ending up being something so different than what they started out to be.  I wonder how often stuff we do and decisions we make are based solely on misunderstandings, misinformation and faulty hearing.  I hope not often.