Elevator capades

My dearest work colleagues, and anybody else who works in my building … did you ever see me 'texting' somebody while in the lift, or fumbling around with some settings on my mobile phone?

Sorry to say, but I was bluffing.

This ‘mobile phone pretence’, as I fondly named it, is one of the many techniques people with a hearing disability will utilise to avoid unnecessary public conversation and the risk of embarrassment. (See me texting someone on this here phone? That means I’m far too busy and important to engage in small talk right now.)

Why risk the embarrassment of announcing to an elevator full of strangers that the weather is indeed supposed to be fine that day when what your elevator buddy actually said was: ‘can you press level 5?’

Or put up with the rude sigh of a stranger when you realise you just cannot direct her to a business called ‘mmbbbhhhoom’. (That rude sigh came about after I’d explained I was deaf and given her an apologetic, sunny little smile. But I sure felt like giving her directions to a far less sunny place, after that.)

Well, I can assure you that if you see me messing about with my mobile phone in the lift these days (or on a tram … at a tram stop … at a café, etc), chances are, I’m actually too busy and important for small talk. ;-)

I can happily report that I will now not only hear you in the elevator, but also overhear you. Yes, whatever it is you’re chatting about … the price of petrol, the way the lift smells like a barn (yes!), the amazing surf beaches in Hawaii … if you need a contribution from me, you will get it. I’ll even press level 5 for you. And if I wasn’t supposed to hear you, I will perfect that ‘Vague, Blank Look’ that suggests my ears were elsewhere. (*grins cheekily*)

I’ve been blessed with quick success on this journey, and that means my ‘CI moments’ are often lacking a ‘wow!’ factor. There aren't many of them, only four weeks after activation. (When did things get so normal??) But I did have one earlier, while waiting for the lifts to arrive this afternoon.

I had pushed the ‘down’ button, and was listening patiently. There are five elevators in our building. When one arrives, it’s accompanied by a low-pitched ‘ding’ and the light beside it switches on. This last week, I’ve been playing a little game with myself – I deliberately ignore the lights and try finding the lift based on the direction of the sound instead.

Tonight, I heard the familiar ‘ding’ and turned my head towards the one I guessed was the culprit.

Nope.

The one beside it? Nope.

I swivelled around and looked at the other three lifts, one by one. None of those either.

Hang on a sec? I usually wasn’t that bad at this game.

Suddenly I heard a much louder ‘ding’ and correctly turned my head toward the right elevator. (Which was actually the left elevator, but anyway!)

And that’s when it dawned on me.

The sound I’d heard earlier was very faint in comparison to this new one. I’d definitely heard the same sound … and the lift had arrived all right …

on one of the other levels.

I’d heard the sound through the elevator shaft!