Today I taught a woman where she lives.
Before this will make any sense you have to know more about Baraboo. The layout of the older part of town (100 years +) is pretty simple. The streets running from East to West have numbers, the streets running North to South have tree names (or names relating to significant geographical landmarks) BUT Baraboo's founding fathers were smart. They knew this town would grow. So, West of the square the East-West Streets are called Avenues and East of the square the East-West Streets are called Streets. "So?" you say ... well what makes this a smart growth plan is that there is a 100 block for each Avenue and each Street. To make this more clear ... there is (or could be) a 652 5th Ave. AND a 652 5th St.
So, my story. Tonight we got a delivery call from a woman who said she lived on 4th Street. Since the house number was pretty low and my restaurant is on 3rd St. the dishwasher was going to walk the order over. He walked to the end of 4th St. and never found the house. The lady then called to complain that her food was late saying that she had given the delivery person VERY SPECIFIC instructions and told me where she lives, including a cross street. I live on 3rd AVENUE ... just 2 blocks from the cross street. I then explained to the woman that she does NOT live on 4th St. she lives on 4th AVENUE* and that is why the delivery boy was late. SHE had given him the wrong address. I wonder how much mail she has lost ... I mean WE get mail for people on 3rd St .. with decent regularity and we have had mail returned to us from 3rd St. ... all of which was CORRECTLY addressed ... I can't IMAGINE how much we would lose if it was incorrectly addressed.
The great irony of this is that in 2 years working for mapping and surveying I NEVER had to explain to anyone where they live.
*I must admit I had fun telling her that the intersection at which she believed she lived did not exist. Actually one of the first things I said to her was "The intersection of 4th St. and (X) Street doesn't exist. Those two streets do not cross." She became flustered (which I found funny) because how often does someone tell you the location of your home doesn't exist?
posted by TheAmber at 2:29 AM
3 Comments:
how is 5th ave and 5th st better than east 5th ave and west 5th ave or east 5th st and west 5th st...and what genius device do they use for the north/south division? i am, if not unimpressed, nonplussed.
Dallas, I never said it was a better system than any of those options. The only reason why I said it was "smart" is because it is by far a better plan than the street plan the idiot woman had in mind. In fact the entire story has very little to do with the detail you decided to comment on. The point of my story is that even if Baraboo DID use east and west in the street names this woman would have been saying that she lives on EAST 5th St/Ave when she actually lives on WEST 5th St/Ave.
As far as the North/South distinction ... (not that it matters for the story) The streets have entirely different names North side vs South side and don't go through North/South ... due to the river that flows through the center of town.
as to your actual point: i always enjoy a good "put dumb person in his/her place" story.
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