I’m sitting in the Social Security office with a ton of folders, trying to figure out what they want and how to get it to them. The guy I’m talking to is becoming increasingly impatient, complaining that I was too slow and demanding responses, which was distracting me from doing exactly what he was asking. I asked him in several ways to give me a minute… eventually I said “I. CAN”T. DO. THAT.” That being easily confused is part of my disability. “THAT’S. WHY. I’M. HERE.” If I could do that, I wouldn’t be here. I wasn’t shouting, just speaking slowly and deliberately, trying to be clear. Eventually he called security and more-or-less kicked me out, as though I had done something wrong.
Looking back, he might have been miss-reading my mannerisms. I’ve done that to others in the distant past. An old woman needs a moment to collect her thoughts and re-focus, and I interpreted it as a punishment for my interrupting.
Is there a word for that pause; that need for a moment to regroup? It’s not pedantic.
And is there a word for this particular flavor of impatient jackass?