ArticlesThe other day, I was in the lunch-room at work, while a new father described his role in the delivery room: “It seems the job of the father is to stand there and just apologise for everything.”
Just in the interest of making conversation, I made some amiable, perhaps mildly sexist, response along the lines of that job wasn’t limited to the delivery room, but in fact was a job that started on the wedding day.
Everyone in the room looked up at me suddenly and tittered nervously. It wasn’t the response I expected, so I engaged my brain and played back what I had just said.
I think my exact words were: “That’s not the job of the father – that’s the job of the husband!”
Oh great! In an amiable and conversational style, in front of a group of his peers, I had just accused this guy’s wife of being unfaithful, and him attending the birth of someone else’s child.
For the good of others, and for my own personal safety, I am thinking of becoming a mime.
Comment by No Mai Name on June 8, 2006
This is why some people blog anonymously.
Comment by Cassie on June 8, 2006
Being a mime isn’t as safe as you would at first think – there’s the danger of being trapped in a box/room when you just can’t find the door/window/trap door, walking into a wall that just seemed to have spring up out of nowhere, being caught in dangerous winds, being confused with a French man…
But don’t you hate it when people misconstrue what you have said!
Comment by Julian on June 9, 2006
Cassie,
I don’t doubt that being a mime is risky. For example, if you do get caught inside a big glass box, no-one will so much as lift a finger to save you.