Komplett Idiot.


I confused a Norwegian city with a new town in Hertfordshire today, with embarrassing results.

It was in the midst of a chain of emails between a comedian's assistant and me that my idiotic mistake took place. I was trying to plug a gap in a forthcoming Mostly Comedy line-up when, within minutes of suggesting the date, I got the response they weren't available, as they were gigging in Stevenage that night.

“That’s strange,” I thought, "as I've got tickets to see them in Stevenage the following month. Perhaps the assistant's got their dates mixed up.”

(I think in full sentences.)

I checked the venue’s website to see if an extra show had been added, and it hadn’t. This left me in a quandary: should I just leave it at that, or find a gentle way to suggest they may have made a mistake? You can guess which option I went with.

I tried to make out the error was mine, without realising I’d made a different gaffe entirely. I asked if I'd sent the wrong Hitchin date through in the first place, as I knew they was coming to Stevenage on a different night. This prompted a perplexed reply, and more confusion. It was then that I went through the conversation again, and realised they hadn't said Stevenage at all; they'd said 'Stavanger'.

(I'm amazed I'm allowed out of the house.)

Thankfully, she laughed when I explained what I'd done, and a potentially tense moment was averted; this is why I’m no good at navigating.

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