Some dispatches from the department of weird

I'm not sure why, I suppose I must have a trustworthy face. It feels like I am called upon a to help one of my fellow New Yorkers in a weirdly personal way-- probably more than the average person on the street..

Several years ago an older woman approached me on the subway and told me that she was having vaginal bleeding and asked me what I thought she should do. After my initial surprise, (Do I look like a health care professional? or do I look especially knowledgeable about vaginal bleeding in the post menopausal?) I discussed a few health care options with her and she got off the train at the next stop apparently satisfied with my response.

I remember helping a woman with a heavy Russian accent at the Duane Reade understand the differences in nomenclature used on sanitary napkin boxes. She was more than a bit flummoxed by the myriad of choices we have here in that department.

I guess to her it was similar to this, my favorite scene from Borat.

Today I had yet another of those cross cultural weirdly intimate exchanges. This time it was at one of the local thrift stores. I was called upon to explain in Hebrew the Americansizing system for bras. The woman with Arabic accented Hebrew had lots of trouble understanding the difference between the letters and the numbers in the American sizing system. She finally understood how the system worked, and no I was not able to tell her what size she needed.  I then suggested that she go to the neighborhood old-timey bra store to help her with sizing.