We are each the star of our own situation comedy, and - with luck - the screwball friend in somebody else's. - Robert Brault

It'll not be very complicated to find out who's the screwball friend in my today's anecdote.

Well I believe we all need to be mocked from time to time. It's actually quite healthy to not take ourselves too seriously all the time.

Let's prove that @surfermarly has a sense of self-mockery :-)

@surfermarly with her mom's Golden Retriever Tomy

The Reborn Dog

She was employed as Personal Assistant to the General Manager of a recognized company at that point in time. Her job was basically her life, since she spend most of her time at the office - and if not, then she was still available 24/7 for her boss on the mobile phone.

Now the day the unexpected was supposed to happen, she had a regular office day. It was about 10am when the phone rang and one of the company's lawyers had to inform her about an incident.

Listen Marly, he had a car accident last night and unfortunately hit a dog at full speed on the highway. Obviously, the dog died in the same breath.

Since this was a company located on Canary Islands they were actually holding the conversation in Spanish.

When the lawyer was talking about the deceased dog he called him 'perrito' which is the Spanish word for 'doggy'.

Jesus! Is he okay?

Marly was shocked knowing that the poor 'perrito' died so tragically, yet now she was reffering to someone else...

The lawyer explained that the General Manager who was driving the car had come through it unharmed, but that the front side of his vehicle was seriously damaged. Therefore, the car needed to be taken to the garage immediately. He added:

Marly, I need you to organize that. The car has to be at the garage before noon, not only because it has to be fixed.

He added that the car also had to be examined since the crash legally belonged to the category of an accident. A lot of paperwork needed to be done though. Therefore the 'perrito' needed to come over in order to have a closer look at the broken pieces of the car.

Marly paused. She wasn't sure if she really understood well what the lawyer just said.

Yet, as this was her first car accident to manage since she got hired, she prefered to dispel all her doubts and replied:

Carlos, everything you said is pretty clear to me, there is just one thing I actually don't understand. How would the dead doggy (she said 'perrito') be actually able to come over to the garage and examine the broken car?

While asking this she even imagined the doggy coming over to the garage, standing in front of the car, pointing a paw at it saying: 'Yip, it was this car that hit me hard.'

Now there was a prolonged silence in the telephone line until the lawyer broke into laughter.

It took him a couple of minutes to finally recover his voice. Yet, the only thing he was able to say was:

I call ya back!

Marly hang up and glared at the phone. According to Carlos' reaction she must have confused something, but even when mentally recapping the whole conversation, she couldn't find any inconsistency.

More than a quarter of an hour later the phone rang again and the lawyer finally called her back. He was still giggling, but somehow managed to speak:

I'm sorry Marly, but this was just the best thing that has ever happened to me in my whole career. You need to know one thing: There's two words in Spanish that sound likewise. While the deceased dog is called 'perrito' with two 'R', the guy who needs to examine the car is an official reviewer called 'perito' with one 'R'. Believe me, the dog from the highway doesn't have to do anything at all, and unfortuntely he also wouldn't be able to even if we wanted...

Now both of them broke into laughter and it was Marly who had to hang up the phone in order to take a deep breath.

Even years later the story is still told on the company's corridors as one of the most hilarious situations that ever happened at the office.

And I can tell you: It's also one of the favourite anecdotes in my family :-) Yes, Marly is me - and I confess that learning a new language is not always easy. Yet, lots of times it can be really entertaining - especially for those who surround you during the learning process.

I nominate the expat Asher @abh12345 - maybe he's also some funny anecdotes to tell from learning Spanish at his adopted home in the Mediterranean Sea - and @dreemit - since she's got an extraordinary sense of humor and I'm pretty sure she'd be doing great cracking us up!

This was my very first entry to the #comedyopenmic, I really hope you enjoyed it! I definitely had a lot of fun putting my old anecdote together :-)

Much love,
Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

Humor is mandkind's greatest blessing. - Mark Twain

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