The Punchbowl

?

I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi for a few years. I was very involved with the Hispanic Heritage Club on base. One of its members and a gentleman assigned to the base was Dr José Vásquez. He was a good man. We didn’t have the internet or email yet so I used to get his mail constantly. I used to take it to him regularly. Unless we were face-to-face, we were constantly mistaken for each other.

One evening, Deb and I are chilling at home when the phone on the wall that had a long curly cord rang. As I answered it, a female voice on the other end starts the conversation with, “Is this José Vásquez?” I’m known as “Bob” by most people. But the folks in the Hispanic Heritage Club all know me as “José.” I go by Bob because it’s a nickname for my middle name, Roberto, and, mostly because people offend me by not pronouncing “José” correctly. You might be surprised how some people can mispronounce it.

Anyway, back to the phone call. “Is this José Vásquez?” “Yes, it is,” I reply. “Good!” the obviously-Hispanic voice on the other end confirms. “When you come over to the dinner tonight, can you bring your punchbowl?” she asks. Punchbowl? I didn’t know we had one. I put my hand over the voice receiver and ask Deb, “Do we have a punchbowl?” She shakes her head.

“Someone was supposed to bring theirs,” the voice continues, “but they just called and said they can’t make it. So please bring yours.”

“Uuuuh, we don’t have a punchbowl. I’m sorry,” I tell the voice on the other end of this conversation.

“But you just told me yesterday that you have one. This is José Vásquez, isn’t it?!”

“Yes, it is. Are you looking for Dr Vásquez or Master Sergeant Vásquez?” I ask.

“Dr Vásquez,” the now-agitated voice replies.

“This is Master Sergeant Vásquez,” I correct her.

“ Oh, okay. So, do you have a punchbowl?!”

The lesson in this story is that we often start and continue conversations not knowing who we’re talking with. Technology has done that to us. Instead of helping us communicate better, it, sometimes, enables us to miscommunicate, efficiently.

BTW, we finally got a punchbowl.

bob vásquez