I'm at the restaurant with my mother. She insists on picking up the tab. I protest, but I'm secretly relieved.

The waitress runs her card, and comes back with two pieces of paper. They are both the same color (white). Neither of them says "customer copy," or "merchant copy," or anything that obvious.

"I can't figure out which one is mine," she complains.

"Hand 'em over," I insist.

After less than a second of examining the slips I give them back, explaining that "this one is yours; they put a thank-you note at the bottom of it."

Had I looked for another split second, I would have noticed the fact that the merchant copy had a line on it for her to sign.

Later that evening, as we were discussing the oddity of being nearsighted in one eye, and farsighted in the other, it occurred to me that not only is that a potentially adaptable trait; it might also be one of the reasons I'm such a good proofreader.

In any event, if you want someone to compare two documents to see whether they match—and, if not, to figure out what all the differences are—then I'm your man.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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