People who deal with the public for a living must grow a thick skin or have a keen sense of humor. I’m talking about salespeople, paramedics, ER nurses, cab drivers, and food servers. A few case histories:

While looking at a house, a man asks the real estate agent which direction is north because, he explains, he doesn’t want the sun waking him up every morning. The customer asks, "Does the sun rise in the north?" When the agent explains that the sun rises in the east, and has for a long time, the prospective homeowner shakes his head, saying, "That’s amazing. I’m a busy guy. Can’t keep up with all that scientific stuff."

An emergency operator working at the 911 call center gets a call from a guy who wants to know what hours the call center is open.

The operator tells him, "The number you just dialed is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

The caller responds, "Okay, is that Eastern or Pacific time?" Having few chances to exercise his sense of humor, the operator ends the call quickly with, "Uh, that’s Rocky Mountain standard time, sir."

A woman slightly injured in an auto collision confides to an ER nurse, "Lucky for me I had my lifesaving tool — it cuts through the seatbelt if you get trapped in the car."

"Did you use it to free yourself?" asks the nurse.

"No," says the patient, "I forgot. It was locked in the trunk."

Even restaurant employees get their share of idiots: Harry works at a pizza parlor. His next customer appears to be alone, so Harry asks him if he wants his pizza cut into four or six slices.

The customer thinks for a moment, then says, in all sincerity, "Just cut it up into four slices, I’m not hungry enough for six."