Three years ago I asked a stupid question at a town hall, still embarrassed

Back in November 2021, at the Ridgewood community center meeting about the new bus route, I raised my hand and asked if the electric buses would "recharge while driving through puddles." Dead serious. The transit director paused, blinked, and said "No, that's not how any of this works." The whole room went quiet for like 5 seconds. My neighbor still brings it up at block parties. Has anyone else had a public question moment that aged terribly, or am I the only one who can't let it go?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela7283d ago

Oh man, have you ever seen someone ask if the library's new self-checkout machines would "learn their reading preferences" over time? My friend Lisa did that at a council meeting last year. She was totally serious too, and the librarian just stared at her and said "It scans barcodes, honey." @barbaradavis, I feel like you would have loved watching her face turn beet red while the guy behind her whispered "that's not even a feature on the expensive ones." Lisa still brings it up herself every time someone mentions libraries, so at least you're not alone in the cringe. She says it was worse than the time she asked a cashier if the self-checkout was "moody on Mondays.

barbaradavis3d ago

Wait, the bus driver just sat there and let you ask that in front of the whole room? No one from the transit department jumped in to save you with a joke or a "good question" before the silence hit? That's brutal. I'd have crawled under my seat and stayed there for the rest of the meeting. Five seconds of dead quiet is an eternity, that's like being on stage and forgetting your lines but worse because it's your own neighborhood.