This, That, and the Other

For this week’s Sunday Poser, Sadje has asked…

Do you ask the obvious questions? Stupid question?

I do try to not ask obvious or stupid questions because I know how irritating it can be when someone asks me an obvious or stupid question. Like when I was in the hospital after breaking my hip and having had emergency partial hip replacement surgery.

I’m in a hospital, lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, and in a lot of pain. People would come into the room and ask me how I’m doing. My instinctive reaction was to sarcastically say something like, “I love it here. The bed is comfy, the food is great, and I get waited on hand and foot. What’s not to love?” Either that or “How the fuck do you think I’m doing, asshole?”

But instead I try to be polite and say something like, “Oh, all things considered, I’m doing okay. Thanks for asking.”

My other pet peeve about questions are those perfunctory questions people ask who have interest in hearing an answer, like, “How are you,” “How’s it going?” or, “What’s happening?” When the person who asks these type of questions starts to walk away without waiting for an answer to their question, I want to grab their arm and commence with a long diatribe about how I am, how things are going with me, and what’s happening. But of course, I don’t. I will more likely respond with short, equally trite answers, like “fine,” or “well,” or “the usual.”

But Sadje’s question is not about how I respond to obvious or stupid questions. It’s about whether or not I ask such questions. My answer is not intentionally. But I admit there have been times when I asked what turned out to be a really stupid question, like when my wife is telling me something but I haven’t really been paying attention and then I ask her a question about what she just told me. That’s a really stupid question it really pisses her off when I do that.