I called off today because I’m not feeling well.

I started to think of many things. What I have now is probably related to allergies. It sucks enough, though, that I can’t and don’t want to do much of anything.

Then I remembered something from my past. You know how, when it’s cold outside, you walk in from the cold, and you have a runny nose? Then there is always a person who’s like, “Oh, are you allergic to the cold?”

Everyone laughs because it’s a joke. It happened a lot when I was a kid, but even then I knew it was a joke.

That’s the set-up here is the story.

I worked as a police dispatcher for about five years. The city I worked for had 911 and dispatch in two separate offices that were right next to each other. When we were training, some training classes were held together, so I had several training classes with 911 operators.

When I went through training, it was during the summer, so it was very hot outside. The 911/dispatch office was in the basement of the building. The cold air pumping through the building built up down in the basement, so it was ALWAYS cold down there.

We had been in this class together for about two weeks at this point. One day, we had just watched some videos and some sample 911 calls. There was a break, so we had some extra time, and everyone in the class started talking about how cold it was. One guy had a thermometer on his phone, and it said it was 42 degrees in the room where we were training.

One of my classmates said the next day she was bringing her winter coat, a scarf, and a hat. Then one girl, whom we will call Claire, yells out, “IT’S ESPECIALLY BAD FOR ME BECAUSE I AM ALLERGIC TO THE COLD!”

The entire room got silent, and all the focus was on Claire. I know it was because we were all thinking the same thing, but Claire was dead serious. She was not kidding. She actually thought she was allergic to the cold.

Then a girl sitting next to her asked, “What happens to you when you are cold?”

Claire got angry and said, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT HAPPENS?” Then she pointed to her nose and said, “DON’T YOU HEAR THAT? MY NOSE STARTS RUNNING!”

The class remained quiet, and I said, “My nose starts running when it’s cold also. Maybe I’m allergic to the cold?”

This did not make Claire happy. She replied, “I’M SERIOUS. EVERYONE ALWAYS LAUGHS AT ME, BUT I’M NOT LYING.”

I need to mention here that Claire was the only one of us not wearing a sweater or a jacket or anything. She was sitting in one of the short-sleeved uniform shirts and pants they issue for us to wear.

For the rest of the class, I did some research on my phone. It is very possible to be actually allergic to cold temperatures. However, when someone is truly allergic to cold, their skin breaks out in a rash and blisters once the air hits a certain temperature.

None of this was happening to Claire.

So when Claire was a youngster and she came in from the cold, someone said, “Oh, you must be allergic to the cold.” Claire and her entire family took it literally.

I then thought there must not have been many jokes told in Claire’s house. I realized how true that was once I got to know her a little better. Claire took EVERYTHING literally.

Ok thanks for sticking around for that story.

Everyone enjoy your day.