You can't make this stuff up

[Scarlett]

I was looking for a place of business. My gps said I was right on top of it but I couldn't see it. I was traveling east on Pine street. I called the business and I asked the guy, "are you on the south or north side of Pine?" He says,

 

 

Wait for it......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depends on which direction you are going.

 

LOL

 

I said, "No. No it doesn't. North and South stay the same regardless of what direction you are going." We talked some more....and I again asked him which side of Pine he was on...north or south side. Exasperated, he says, "well, again m'am that just depends which direction you are traveling".

 

I wonder how people like that get around the city.

[PentecostalMom]

Wow.

[Dandelion]

:lol:

 

So....did you eventually find the business?   :p

[Mandylubug]

:driving: I bet he is one bright cookie!

[Jean in Newcastle]

That only works if the business is on the east or west side of the street.  Then he would be telling you if you need to head north or south from your location to get there.  

[Scarlett]

That only works if the business is on the east or west side of the street. Then he would be telling you if you need to head north or south from your location to get there.

Pine runs east/west.

 

I did find the business finally. My gps was off by 4 miles.

[Ellie]

That only works if the business is on the east or west side of the street.  Then he would be telling you if you need to head north or south from your location to get there.  

 

But she didn't ask whether she needed to go north or south from her location. She asked if he was north or south of Pine Street.

[Jean in Newcastle]

But she didn't ask whether she needed to go north or south from her location. She asked if he was north or south of Pine Street.

Oh, I know that.  I was just trying to be generous and give the only possible way that anything even approximating that would work.  

[Catwoman]

:svengo: :svengo: :svengo: :svengo: :svengo: :svengo:

[Pawz4me]

And he's been telling people about the crazy woman who called . . . . :glare: :laugh:

[Chris in VA]

See, with my "directional dyslexia," compass directions are totally useless. Why couldn't you figure it out quickly by looking at the sun or something? How do people KNOW? 

 

I know, I'm pathetic. 

[Pawz4me]

I'm one of those people who has a good sense of cardinal directions.  I don't know how, but my father was like that, too.  DH is hopeless.  He'll look at a map and get it almost memorized in his head, but when driving he has no sense of cardinal directions.  Just the other day we were discussing a well-known driving route in our area, where we've lived all of our lives.  And he kept saying if you take X road you'll come out south of Y city.  And I'm like no, no, no.  You'll be north of Y city.  I finally had to bring up a map and show him.

 

Now I hesitate to ask this, but I've been wondering . . . Didn't you have the address of the business?  Couldn't you tell by that which side of the road it should've been on?

[RoughCollie]

North-South-East-West?

 

My hat's off to anyone who understands directions given in those terms.

 

If I want to know what direction something is in, I turn my SUV in that direction and look at it's compass.  That method is such a hassle that I usually just look at the sun and go from there.  Come to think of it, that only works well at sunrise and sunset.  Even then, I'm not assured of being in the ballpark because I am me!  Directionally challenged.

 

It's an inheritable learning disorder.  Half my family has it on my mom's side.  I also can't tell right from left unless I clench my left fist -- I know it's the left one because that's where a fork goes in a table setting.

 

So far, my GPS only has problems when it tells me to go right and I automatically go left.  The only reason I'm not in Indianapolis right now is that the GPS also tells me how to get back on track when I do something like that.

[NotSoObvious]

North-South-East-West?

 

My hat's off to anyone who understands directions given in those terms.

 

If I want to know what direction something is in, I turn my SUV in that direction and look at it's compass.  That method is such a hassle that I usually just look at the sun and go from there.  Come to think of it, that only works well at sunrise and sunset.  Even then, I'm not assured of being in the ballpark because I am me!  Directionally challenged.

 

It's an inheritable learning disorder.  Half my family has it on my mom's side.  I also can't tell right from left unless I clench my left fist -- I know it's the left one because that's where a fork goes in a table setting.

 

So far, my GPS only has problems when it tells me to go right and I automatically go left.  The only reason I'm not in Indianapolis right now is that the GPS also tells me how to get back on track when I do something like that.

 

Don't feel bad. I have to tell my husband which way to turn long before an intersection so he has time to make two L's with his hands to see which way is left. 

[Scarlett]

And he's been telling people about the crazy woman who called . . . . :glare: :laugh:

That is what ds13 said.....LOL

[jillian]

To be fair I"m terrible with directions like "turn North on X street". I feel like just give me left right or continue straight lol.

My husband lived in our town where we met for over 8 years and still couldn't give directions to get to the high school he went to for 4 years. He could make it there but simply on rote.

We have been in our city now for 3 years. He can make it to urgent care for our daughter if need be and Lowes. He only knows where the grocery store is because he passes it to Lowes. I have to direct him to other familiar haunts still.

[Scarlett]

I'm one of those people who has a good sense of cardinal directions. I don't know how, but my father was like that, too. DH is hopeless. He'll look at a map and get it almost memorized in his head, but when driving he has no sense of cardinal directions. Just the other day we were discussing a well-known driving route in our area, where we've lived all of our lives. And he kept saying if you take X road you'll come out south of Y city. And I'm like no, no, no. You'll be north of Y city. I finally had to bring up a map and show him.

 

Now I hesitate to ask this, but I've been wondering . . . Didn't you have the address of the business? Couldn't you tell by that which side of the road it should've been on?

Ha! Good point. I don't know that rule....I use it when I am already familiar with an area, but I was way outside my comfort zone. I also couldn't see any addresses to get a frame of reference. It was an industrial area.

 

I have a good sense of direction too......in fact my car compass needs to be calibrated....I wasn't even looking at it though....I knew I was going east. Then west. Then east again. LOL.

 

My dh thinks the guy was hearing left and right even though I was saying north and south.

[wintermom]

Pine runs east/west.

 

I did find the business finally. My gps was off by 4 miles.

 

I hate GPS systems. Maybe a nearby cross road would have been a good question when it was clear he didn't know what you meant by north or south. Not everyone uses those terms effectively, and it isn't necessily a reflection on their overall intelligence. Sometimes land-marks are the best for people, and sometimes directions work.

[Scarlett]

I can understand it can be difficult to know directions when you are traveling especially in an unfamiliar area. But surely you guys know which direction your OWN house faces. Or which side of the street your OWN house sits. Or whether or not you live on the north side of the city or the south side. Right?

[Scarlett]

I hate GPS systems. Maybe a nearby cross road would have been a good question when it was clear he didn't know what you meant by north or south. Not everyone uses those terms effectively, and it isn't necessily a reflection on their overall intelligence.

Yes,i was trying everything.....calling out all the business I passed and all the intersections I crossed. I did finally cross an intersection that he recognized and that is how he figured it out....well, I could hear him asking a co worker.....

[Scarlett]

Seems like I taught ds Cardinal directions when he was 6. Seriously I think the guy should have known what side of the street he was on.....but it isn't even that he didn't know....he didn't understand the concept.

[Ellie]

See, with my "directional dyslexia," compass directions are totally useless. Why couldn't you figure it out quickly by looking at the sun or something? How do people KNOW? 

 

I know, I'm pathetic. 

 

I don't try to figure out where I am based on where the sun is. :-) I know which direction things are because I can read a map.

 

When I leave my house and go towards, say, Austin, I know that I'm going South, because  Interstate 35 goes north and and south, and I know where my town is in relation to Austin (north, or at the upper end of a map). I know that Cedar Park and Lake Travis are west of I-35 (left side of the map), Hutto and Taylor are east of I-35 (right side of the map). Burnet and Lamar (major streets here) go north and south, as does Mays. Gattis School Road, FM620, and  Hwy. 79 are east-west.. San Antonio is south of me, Houston is south and east. Dallas/Ft. Worth are north.

 

So if I'm going to a friend's house in Austin, I know I'm going to go south. If she tells me that she lives west of Jollyville Rd., I know in which direction I will turn, because I know that Jollyville Rd. is a north-south street, and west is always west. I can *see* where "west" is. If someone tells me that we're going to Carlos and Charlie's which is north of FM620, I know which way to turn on Hudson's Bend Rd. It is not uncommon for streets to meander north of west or east of south, but if the general direction is north/south or east/west, I can still know which way to turn if someone says it's south of the east/west street.

 

I still get messed up here because for the 16 years that I lived in San Jose, Calif., we were *south* of the city, and going home usually meant going south on the major freeway; here, I'm *north,* and I've only been here 9 years, so I have a few more years to get this thing down, lol.

[Jean in Newcastle]

None of the roads around here go North-south or east-west or any direction in between.  They are all twisty curvy roads that might generally get you north or south eventually but might head east or west in the meantime!  If I'm in a clear area I can tell what direction I'm going based on what mountain range is in front of me.  But if I can't see the mountains I'm in trouble.  And don't ask me to look at the sun.  We don't see the sun!  (Today's fog has cleared enough for me to see across the street now but that's about it.)

[JudoMom]

I can understand it can be difficult to know directions when you are traveling especially in an unfamiliar area. But surely you guys know which direction your OWN house faces. Or which side of the street your OWN house sits. Or whether or not you live on the north side of the city or the south side. Right?

 

:lol: 

 

Only if I think about it. I can figure out my house because I know where the mountains are and I know where the sun rises.  And I have to think it through.  I'm nearly 38 years old and I have to check my hand to see which one makes an L for left most of the time.  I've been teaching Judo for several years, and still have to think through some right/left issues when teaching someone.  

 

My dh, OTOH, navigates by an impressive vague sense of direction.

[Robin M]

I'm terrible with compass directions and when somebody asks me if our business is east or west of the highway, I usually ask them which part of town they are coming from, then tell them to go right or left, depending.   I have a picture of the compass rose on my kitchen wall so I know west is left direction and east is right direction, but I always feel stupid giving out directions that don't make sense to me.  I'm a visual person so use visual landmarks.  Such as our business is 2 miles from the highway at the intersection of such and such.  And it's  behind lumberjack restaurant so tell folks to look for the huge lumberjack on the right.  Nobody ever gets lost.  :)

 

However when my husband and I are traveling together, I'm the driver.   I can't give directions for beans and he'll go whatever direction I tell him too even if he knows it's wrong because that's the way I told him to go.  Then we have a huge argument.  He seems to have a compass in his head.  So now he's the navigator and I'm the driver.  And when we rent a car, I always go through Hertz who has neverlost gps system which has never steered me wrong.  

[Joker]

I'm horrible with cardinal directions. I just cannot do it. It's embarrassing but I've always been this way (so has my mom). One of my dds is just like dh and they can tell and give directions very well. The other dd is just like me.

 

Dh always laughs at me when I'm reading a map (whether it's for streets or Disney) because I'm like Joey on that Friends episode. I have to turn it to face whatever direction I am facing and go from there.

[jillian]

I can read a map and give directions as long as it is "turn left" or "turn right" not "go north" or "south" or whatever. Cardinal directions just don't click for me. I give my husband directions to most places we go. I can tell what side of the street my house is because I know where the sun rises but that's it

[weddell]

We live in the north suburbs of Chicago near Lake Michigan. If you go east, you will drive into the Lake. Always knowing that is what keeps me oriented. Otherwise I'm pretty directionally challenged.

[Scarlett]

None of the roads around here go North-south or east-west or any direction in between. They are all twisty curvy roads that might generally get you north or south eventually but might head east or west in the meantime! If I'm in a clear area I can tell what direction I'm going based on what mountain range is in front of me. But if I can't see the mountains I'm in trouble. And don't ask me to look at the sun. We don't see the sun! (Today's fog has cleared enough for me to see across the street now but that's about it.)

Where I am from in Arkansas....right smack in the middle of Ouachita Mountains there are few straight roads and lots of trees and creeks and hills. It is easy to get turned around there...yet i know general directions. But I am in Oklahoma and the roads are very straight...it still blows my mind he didn't know what I was talking about. He wasn't turned around...he literally didn't get what I was saying.

[Scarlett]

I'm horrible with cardinal directions. I just cannot do it. It's embarrassing but I've always been this way (so has my mom). One of my dds is just like dh and they can tell and give directions very well. The other dd is just like me.

 

Dh always laughs at me when I'm reading a map (whether it's for streets or Disney) because I'm like Joey on that Friends episode. I have to turn it to face whatever direction I am facing and go from there.

Ha! I saw that episode just the other day.

[alisoncooks]

Now I'm sitting here, wondering which side of the road (n/s/e/w?) my house is on.

And ... oh, I give up.  Where are the Oreos...?

[Alessandra]

I've had bad luck asking for 1/3 of a (6 slice) pizza with a topping and 2/3 cheese only. Then I tried asking for 2 slices with topping and 4 plain. I have given up and just go with half & half.

 

I have a friend who gives directions like, 'just go past where the old post office used to be.

 

'You can't get there from here' story

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/02/218070371/in-maine-even-with-a-gps-you-cant-get-there-from-here

 

[higginszoo]

 

When I leave my house and go towards, say, Austin, I know that I'm going South, because  Interstate 35 goes north and and south, and I know where my town is in relation to Austin (north, or at the upper end of a map). I know that Cedar Park and Lake Travis are west of I-35 (left side of the map), Hutto and Taylor are east of I-35 (right side of the map). Burnet and Lamar (major streets here) go north and south, as does Mays. Gattis School Road, FM620, and  Hwy. 79 are east-west.. San Antonio is south of me, Houston is south and east. Dallas/Ft. Worth are north.

 

So if I'm going to a friend's house in Austin, I know I'm going to go south. If she tells me that she lives west of Jollyville Rd., I know in which direction I will turn, because I know that Jollyville Rd. is a north-south street, and west is always west. I can *see* where "west" is. If someone tells me that we're going to Carlos and Charlie's which is north of FM620, I know which way to turn on Hudson's Bend Rd. It is not uncommon for streets to meander north of west or east of south, but if the general direction is north/south or east/west, I can still know which way to turn if someone says it's south of the east/west street.

 

But 620 does turn North/South in a few places ... it's east/west near you (and even mostly so near me), but in Lakeway and points south, it's pretty north/south for quite a while.

 

Still, I rely on maps more than GPS ... I've known people to die from relying on GPS instead of their brains.

[Scarlett]

Now I'm sitting here, wondering which side of the road (n/s/e/w?) my house is on.

And ... oh, I give up.  Where are the Oreos...?

 

 

No!  Don't give up!  It is important that you know!  Go find out and report  back.  ;)

[Scarlett]

I've had bad luck asking for 1/3 of a (6 slice) pizza with a topping and 2/3 cheese only. Then I tried asking for 2 slices with topping and 4 plain. I have given up and just go with half & half.

 

I have a friend who gives directions like, 'just go past where the old post office used to be.

 

'You can't get there from here' story

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/02/218070371/in-maine-even-with-a-gps-you-cant-get-there-from-here

 

 

Interesting article. Poor ladies driving into the ocean!  :(

[Jean in Newcastle]

No!  Don't give up!  It is important that you know!  Go find out and report  back.  ;)

But here's the thing.  South is if I point kitty-corner across the street to our neighbor's big tree.  North is if we point to the fridge in our kitchen.  Our front door faces South - um - West?  But not directly SW - more like SSW.  So does that mean we are on the east side of our street?  The north-east of our street?  The north-north-east of our street?  

[Scarlett]

But here's the thing.  South is if I point kitty-corner across the street to our neighbor's big tree.  North is if we point to the fridge in our kitchen.  Our front door faces South - um - West?  But not directly SW - more like SSW.  So does that mean we are on the east side of our street?  The north-east of our street?  The north-north-east of our street?  

 

 

Ha.  Yes I know that not all streets run a straight true direction.  My street does but my house sits catty cornered.

 

Silly man at the parts store was sitting on the North side of Pine.  I wish I had told him that. 

[alisoncooks]

No!  Don't give up!  It is important that you know!  Go find out and report  back.  ;)

 

Well, the sun sets out our rear windows, so I'm saying our house faces east-ish. :p

(Alright....now back to the Oreos. ;))

[Ellie]

But 620 does turn North/South in a few places ... it's east/west near you (and even mostly so near me), but in Lakeway and points south, it's pretty north/south for quite a while.

 

Still, I rely on maps more than GPS ... I've known people to die from relying on GPS instead of their brains.

 

That's irrelevant. We're not talking about following a compass and geocaching. :-) You still know that if Lakeway is on the "north" side of 620, so if you're coming from 71, you'll turn left onto...oh heck, what that main street is...and if you're coming from Round Rock, you'll turn right. The exact compass direction doesn't matter.

 

When I go somewhere I haven't been before (not uncommon, as I am not a native of the area), I check GoogleMaps, MapQuest, and Yahoo Maps, and I use my GPS. Each one of those has led me wrong before. I have even had to resort to calling an actual person on the telephone for directions because I'm sitting in a parking lot 2 miles from where I should be. :glare:

[sparrow]

I wonder how people like that get around the city.

 

We ask for landmarks :) .

[Mrs Mungo]

Here in Hawaii, things are either "mauka" (toward the mountains) or "makai" (toward the sea).

[RoughCollie]

My biggest problem is that DH automatically gives directions in N-S-E-W.  He says go north on X Road.  Well, I know it curves a lot.  Unless he knows exactly where I am, I could be going W on it because of the curves!

 

DH doesn't get the curved road theory at all.

[Murphy101]

I'm terrible with compass directions and when somebody asks me if our business is east or west of the highway, I usually ask them which part of town they are coming from, then tell them to go right or left, depending.

 

I get mildly frustrated when a company does that to me. (Nothing against you personally, but this lack of ability to explain where a person's own business is) I don't know where I'm coming from. I can't see behind me ;) and I rarely leave the house for one errand. I try to do many at once, so I might not know where I'm going to be in town when I start heading their way.

 

And honestly if they don't know where they are, I'm none too confident about trusting their directions from anywhere else, if that makes any sense.

 

My houses faces north from the front door, east from the garage door, south from the back door and the main road to my housing addition is to the west.

 

Now...

 

GPS is trying to kill me. I joke with my dh that his Garmin "she's a murderous b__". He swears that thing has never led him astray.

 

He didn't believe me until *I* was driving his car and he actually saw how ridiculous it was. Not one turn ever could have ended happy. Turn left would have sent me off a cliff. Turn right would have put me in a pond. After half an hour we were both laughing so hard we were crying. I use the google maps on my iPhone. It's connected to the van radio and works for me most of the time.

[Peach]

I grew up in rural deep south...and we never gave directions of the 'go north on X road, then turn east' variety. It was 'go down past Jim's house, take a left and go to that tree that got hit by lightning back when Fred and Martha still lived in that house and go right...."

[Murphy101]

We ask for landmarks :) .

Ha! I do that too. If anything happens to the water tower I turn at to get to my in laws house, I will never find them again without asking for directions. I have no idea what their address is or even the name of the road I turn at is. And there's nothing but country roads to choose from.

[Miss Tick]

Thank goodness you were going to the parts store and not your CPA or your brain surgeon or something.

[Jerico]

Be nice to people who suck at directions. Life is hard enough when you can never figure out where you are going. And then every car trip turns into a fight because you get the whole family lost... But can't switch and drive because the only car is a stick shift and you can't even drive one.

Gosh, I'm a mess aren't I?

[Laura Corin]

I don't think in those terms, but I've never lived in a city that was on a grid pattern.  Bristol is my home town - not much use for compass directions here.

 

L

[goldberry]

I'm only good with those directions now because I live in an area where the mountains are a very specific direction, so you always know where you are facing.  In Texas and in Nevada, there were no physical landmarks and I never knew which way was which.

 

DD went through a phase when she was learning maps where she kept saying "Is that up or down?"  rather than north and south.  To her, north was always "up".  So if we were heading south, north was still "up" = further ahead.  It was SUPER hard for her to visualise!

[Tree Frog]

I don't try to figure out where I am based on where the sun is. :-) I know which direction things are because I can read a map.

 

When I leave my house and go towards, say, Austin, I know that I'm going South, because  Interstate 35 goes north and and south, and I know where my town is in relation to Austin (north, or at the upper end of a map). I know that Cedar Park and Lake Travis are west of I-35 (left side of the map), Hutto and Taylor are east of I-35 (right side of the map). Burnet and Lamar (major streets here) go north and south, as does Mays. Gattis School Road, FM620, and  Hwy. 79 are east-west.. San Antonio is south of me, Houston is south and east. Dallas/Ft. Worth are north.

 

So if I'm going to a friend's house in Austin, I know I'm going to go south. If she tells me that she lives west of Jollyville Rd., I know in which direction I will turn, because I know that Jollyville Rd. is a north-south street, and west is always west. I can *see* where "west" is. If someone tells me that we're going to Carlos and Charlie's which is north of FM620, I know which way to turn on Hudson's Bend Rd. It is not uncommon for streets to meander north of west or east of south, but if the general direction is north/south or east/west, I can still know which way to turn if someone says it's south of the east/west street.

 

I still get messed up here because for the 16 years that I lived in San Jose, Calif., we were *south* of the city, and going home usually meant going south on the major freeway; here, I'm *north,* and I've only been here 9 years, so I have a few more years to get this thing down, lol.

I do this, too, but I get confused when I'm driving in San Antonio. I-10 goes east/west, except in the city, where it travels north/south. I have to look at a different highway to determine if I'm heading in the right direction.