Hear no evil, see no evil...

[Neil]

It's been awfully quiet around here lately, so I thought I'd ask a question, and relate a little event...

Anyone ever been in the middle of a crime scene, or some other tumultuous event, and been totally clueless as to what was transpiring?

The other day, I was in the Van City Credit Union in North Delta when it was robbed.

I was standing at the front of the line, and the robbery apparently took place at the wicket directly in front of me. Police kept everyone in the branch afterward, to get statements from anyone who saw anything.

I was completely unhelpful. I had been watching the water polo on the TV, and wondering why anyone would ever want to watch it, and I was looking at the woman watering plants in the branch, musing to myself about whether she liked her job, if she was an actual horticulturist, and I was observing a family at another wicket, wondering if the kid was as smart as she looked.... off in my own little contemplative world, as I often am. (My daughters give me grief about all the stuff I wonder at.) For some reason, the person directly in front of me- the person in the branch who was doing something really noteworthy- simply didn't register in my consciousness. I couldn't even remember the gender. I felt really stupid, and suspect the officer who questioned me thought I was one of those don't-get-involved types, not wanting to help out, since other people in the branch seemed to have seen a lot more, including where the culprit went when he fled the branch. Even the tellers anxiously looking out the front door of the branch didn't cause that little light bulb in my brain to go on.

I hope I'm not the only clueless one. Perhaps others have missed something that they would have expected to have seen. But obviously I should never participate one of those murder mystery games; I'd probably be admiring the furniture while the villain was cleaning the blood off the knife.

[Low Light Mike]

Thanks for that amusing story.

I too am often focused on the trees and don't notice the forest. However, I also have a bit of an attention-deficit and so I'd likely be changing my gaze frequently, moving from tree to tree.

So in the bank-robbery situation, I'd likely eventually start studying the guy at the wicket, and wonder why he was taking so long.

The question for you is: in the post-robbery interviews, were you able to interview your subjects, to get your questions answered? (re the plant-waterer and the smart-looking kid).

I think that years from now, you'll be watching a water-polo match on TV, and all the repressed robbery observations will come to the surface.

[ProudCanuck]

LOL... that reminds me of a situation where I was in the Rogers Video at, funny enough, 64th & Scott Rd in Delta. Just down the road from VanCity... I was in the "back" room checking out some of the videos, and when I went back into the main part of the store there were 3 Delta police officers talking to the employees and the other customers. Outside were their cars complete with flashing lights. They looked startled when I made my appearance from around the corner. As it turns out they were robbed and I did not even hear anything. I was asked a few questions, they took my name and let me go on my way. It was at that time, I started going to Blockbuster... a little embarrasing to go back into that store.

[Northern Exploration]

I have never seen a crime being commited, nor been there shortly after one was commited. Well ignoring following shoplifters when I worked in grocery store when I was in high school. My eyes are always moving when I am in public. I love watching people. I love when I am in a city like NYC getting a coffee and just sitting and watching people. I always go to Dean and Deluca in Soho when in NYC and just sit there and see who I see. I see and notice everything.

I have a reputation for seeing people who are well known for that reason. One trip to LA with a former boss and his wife was kind of funny. She never saw anyone well known on her own and was always surprized when I said look there is so and so. She started watching my eyes and if they would settle too long on someone she would say "who is that". It became a big joke and we laughed ourselves sick over it but a lot of times I would see the person first and point them out.

Of course when I took one of the people who worked with me to New York for a business trip, my bosses wife told her to see if she could spot people before I did. I didn't know this was happening and that she was keeping score, until after seeing a bunch of people starting with Pamela Wallin getting on our flight in the Toronto airport, I pointed out Diane Sawyer in Times Square walking with her husband. My staff person finally said "shoot I am giving up I could never catch up." Then she explained the game to me. She did finally spot someone before I did at the Toronto airport after our return flight. All 6'4", 250lb or something like it, Eric Lindross. She is hockey fanatic and I never stop teasing her about needing someone to be built like a refrigerator before she notices them. Matter of fact she just married a hockey player although he isn't as tall as Eric.

So if I was caught in a crime scene I probably would notice the person acting strange and be able to describe quite a bit of what happened. Don't ask me to remember a date because I can't remember them for the life of me. I sometimes have to calculate how old I am because I just don't think about it. I can remember memorable meals, I can remember my telephone number when I lived in Vancouver at 11 years old, and remember all sorts of useless trivia. Just don't ask me what year did you do X. I will have to look it up or figure it out.