When it comes to dealing with my misophonia, some days are harder than others. Today is no exception.
Weekends are typically the time when I catch up on errands and other things that I can't do during the workweek. A couple of weeks ago, I had a voicemail from a local Toyota dealer to let me know that the sales person with whom I dealt earlier in the year was no longer there and was I still interested in getting a car from them. I was actually very grateful when he said the guy was no longer there because that particular salesperson was very pushy, and had unprofessional sales methods that I didn't like at all. In fact, I avoided going anywhere near the sales area whenever I had to go to do anything in the service department. In the end, his pushiness drove me to get my new car in a completely different state altogether. So, when I got the voicemail saying that the salesperson was no longer there, I decided to stop by to meet with the new person as a side-trip to my other errands today.
When I walked into the dealer and approached the receptionist, I began to ask for the person who left the voicemail, but as soon as I began to speak, another salesperson walked in the door behind me whistling. Instinctively, I put my hand to my ear, because the sound was so piercingly loud and painful. When I turned back to the receptionist, who had a very perplexed look on her face, I explained that whistling hurts my ears. I then proceeded to again ask to speak to the salesperson who left the voicemail when the salesperson standing to her right started crunching on a hard candy. When that happened, I started sidling over to her left side, and even stood in such a way that when a third salesperson on my side of the counter started drumming his hands on the counter, I was able to partially block the view of his fidgiting hands with the potted plant on her desk. Unfortunately, the plant couldn't block the view of him also chomping on a wad of gum like a cow chewing on a piece of cud. I just couldn't escape the triggers and even when I thought I had a little reprieve when the sales person stopped crunching on the hard candy, he put another one in his mouth and started crunching again.
Of course it was quite obvious that I was uncomfortable by the salespeople at the desk because where I ended at the far end of the long counter, was probably not the most ideal place for a customer to stand. In the end, I found out that the salesperson I came to meet was not only seeing a customer, but had another customer waiting for him; so I said I'd call him at another point. As long as I was there though, I decided to go to the service department to have something checked out with my car.
There weren't many people in the service department, so I was able to go in and be helped without any wait. The service people were friendly as always. (As much as I hated going in the sales area because of that one obnoxious salesperson, I've never had an issue with the service area.) As I was waiting for them to finish checking the fluids in my car (not why I went to see them, but I guess they figured since it's starting to get cold, it'd be good to check them out while I was there), I heard a high pitched wolf-call whistle. It happened a couple more times before I realized what it was... Someone had their cell phone alert signal set to that whistle. It reminded me of a time I was speaking to a representative in my apartment leasing office and the office manager had that same alert whistle. It's very life-like, but annoying as hell when the person gets email/text message alerts every couple of minutes. Oh well... The guys in the service department finished up shortly after that, so I was able to leave without any further trigger exposure there.
Of course, now that I'm sitting in a coffee shop trying to relax and write this post, I hear the loud "clank" over and over as someone eats his food with silverware on a ceramic plate. Over and over I hear the clanking... [Sigh] I think I'm just going to pick up my stuff and head over to one of the public libraries. They may be the only public places left where I can work in a quiet setting. (At least, they're somewhat quieter than any other public place where I've been of late...)
Weekends are typically the time when I catch up on errands and other things that I can't do during the workweek. A couple of weeks ago, I had a voicemail from a local Toyota dealer to let me know that the sales person with whom I dealt earlier in the year was no longer there and was I still interested in getting a car from them. I was actually very grateful when he said the guy was no longer there because that particular salesperson was very pushy, and had unprofessional sales methods that I didn't like at all. In fact, I avoided going anywhere near the sales area whenever I had to go to do anything in the service department. In the end, his pushiness drove me to get my new car in a completely different state altogether. So, when I got the voicemail saying that the salesperson was no longer there, I decided to stop by to meet with the new person as a side-trip to my other errands today.
When I walked into the dealer and approached the receptionist, I began to ask for the person who left the voicemail, but as soon as I began to speak, another salesperson walked in the door behind me whistling. Instinctively, I put my hand to my ear, because the sound was so piercingly loud and painful. When I turned back to the receptionist, who had a very perplexed look on her face, I explained that whistling hurts my ears. I then proceeded to again ask to speak to the salesperson who left the voicemail when the salesperson standing to her right started crunching on a hard candy. When that happened, I started sidling over to her left side, and even stood in such a way that when a third salesperson on my side of the counter started drumming his hands on the counter, I was able to partially block the view of his fidgiting hands with the potted plant on her desk. Unfortunately, the plant couldn't block the view of him also chomping on a wad of gum like a cow chewing on a piece of cud. I just couldn't escape the triggers and even when I thought I had a little reprieve when the sales person stopped crunching on the hard candy, he put another one in his mouth and started crunching again.
Of course it was quite obvious that I was uncomfortable by the salespeople at the desk because where I ended at the far end of the long counter, was probably not the most ideal place for a customer to stand. In the end, I found out that the salesperson I came to meet was not only seeing a customer, but had another customer waiting for him; so I said I'd call him at another point. As long as I was there though, I decided to go to the service department to have something checked out with my car.
There weren't many people in the service department, so I was able to go in and be helped without any wait. The service people were friendly as always. (As much as I hated going in the sales area because of that one obnoxious salesperson, I've never had an issue with the service area.) As I was waiting for them to finish checking the fluids in my car (not why I went to see them, but I guess they figured since it's starting to get cold, it'd be good to check them out while I was there), I heard a high pitched wolf-call whistle. It happened a couple more times before I realized what it was... Someone had their cell phone alert signal set to that whistle. It reminded me of a time I was speaking to a representative in my apartment leasing office and the office manager had that same alert whistle. It's very life-like, but annoying as hell when the person gets email/text message alerts every couple of minutes. Oh well... The guys in the service department finished up shortly after that, so I was able to leave without any further trigger exposure there.
Of course, now that I'm sitting in a coffee shop trying to relax and write this post, I hear the loud "clank" over and over as someone eats his food with silverware on a ceramic plate. Over and over I hear the clanking... [Sigh] I think I'm just going to pick up my stuff and head over to one of the public libraries. They may be the only public places left where I can work in a quiet setting. (At least, they're somewhat quieter than any other public place where I've been of late...)
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