There’s something about me that I can’t quite figure out. No matter where I go, people ask me for directions. This has happened not only in the U.S. in cities ranging from those where I’ve lived to cities like Chicago, Boston, and Portland, but it has also happened in Rome, Quebec City, and Paris. It’s not as bad as being asked if you work at a store when you really don’t, (and that happens to me on occasion too). But it makes me wonder.
It could be that I look like I’m from whichever city I am visiting. Is it my skin tone, my clothes, the way I walk, the way I hide my camera and my map??? Or is it that I look like I know where I’m going? Those are two possible theories. But then, there has to be an explanation for why they ask me out of all the other people who look like residents, (most of whom actually are residents). Perhaps it’s my friendly-looking face. Even then, the characteristics of my face that make me friendly looking aren’t apparent to me.
When I don’t actually know the answer to somebody’s request for directions, I don’t pretend that I do or intentionally given fake directions, (like I’ve experienced in New York and New Jersey). In some cases, I have to explain that I don’t speak the language. Then I get the disheartening, “what good are you,” look. But sometimes I have a good idea of where they need to go and in many cases I do know where to go. Then the dilemma becomes how much of my time should I use in helping the person who imposed on my time by asking me for directions?
Perhaps being frequently asked for directions happens to everybody. I have no way of knowing for sure. But I do get the feeling that it happens to me more often and in more places. If I do have a unique quality that leads to others asking me for directions, I wish there was a way I could leverage it and make a living off of it. But I think Garmin has ruined that for me. If only I was born 100 years earlier. I could have traveled the world as the global direction giver. I would live off the food and shelter given through the generosity of residents whose direction-giving burden I would have lifted.
By the way, I’m a guy who does ask for directions when I get lost. However, with a map and my sense of direction, I rarely get lost. Really.
+ Atul
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