Just sitting in the parking lot at work waiting to get called in and i thought i would add an experience had last night. I picked up a conductor who i was pretty sure was a woman. She was wearing a heavy perfume that gave me a headache. Her hair was in a short crewcut. I drove her around for awhile, and she asked me what name I had for her on my list (the office sends us drivers the names of the people we pick up). I told her the name, and she responded "Good, they finally got my name changed. I just got married a month ago." I congratulated her, and asked if her husband also worked for the railroad. She corrected me and said "Not my husband, my wife." So I realized that I stepped in it and felt bad that I just assumed that this poor efeminate man was a woman. Why "he" changed his name was puzzling but I didn't worry about it.

We continued talking and "he" said that he's gone from home a lot with work. I explained that I was away from my family and that it's a little easier for "us guys" to be away because the dad is usually gone for work anyway. He then responded "I wouldn't know." At which point I realized I just made another grave gender assumption error (GAE for short) and pretty much kept my mouth shut for the remainder of the shift at 4am. I should have gone with my gut to begin with.

Hey, I'm just a simple naive boy from Idaho. This world is just too complicated for me.