“One of the worst things anybody can do is assume. I think fools assume. If people have really got it together, they never assume anything." – Mike Krzyzewski

When I was slinging tropical shirts I needed help and my first thought was to bring in my lovely bride. She's very talented at everything and I needed help with, well, everything. She politely declined with a "Duck no!" When I pressed her for a reason there was something about my communication style and assumed knowledge.
It's not the first time I had heard this "too much assumed knowledge." I think of it as a feature, not a bug.
Yesterday I was running an errand and offered to fit in a few other errands while out in the summer sun. One run is to Whole Foods to pick up a grocery order that's patiently waiting to be transferred to our fridge.
This is ordered with her account, so I use her phone to communicate with the robots in the sky about my arrival. I like to drive up, enter my spot next to the other lazy people, and stopwatch the delivery. Usually I'm doing this with my lovely bride and her fancy car that has the hatch release. Push a button and the door goes up, the delivery person yells in, "Are you Laura?," I yell back affirmative, they put everything in the back, then I push the button and the door goes down. Very efficient.
This time I'm in my truck, so I have to meet the delivery person at the hatch. Old Blue has some quirks and one of them is a poorly designed hatch system. The nice young man comes out and I say, "Hello! Today I'm Laura!" He said, "Oh, okay," and quickly put the bags in the truck.
As I ponder his strange reaction I notice I'm the only person in the pickup section. One of the few people in the parking lot. Just some big dopey guy getting out of his car and randomly saying to a worker, "Today, call me by my girl name!"
It's that assumed knowledge thing again. Don't worry, I'm used to it now.
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