Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your EAR!

As my wonderful wife alluded to in an earlier post, I now have a new job! As awesome as my last job was, I just wasn't making that much money, and working just two weeks at my new job (and far less hours) has earned me twice as much as I earned in an entire month at my old job!

This is the picture that I put on a flyer that I will use to advertise Christensen's Audiology, and hopefully sell a bunch of hearing aids! (If you know anyone who needs a hearing aid, I would be happy to sell them one. You can contact me at 402-489-3450)

So, as the title of my post suggests, my new job has everything to do with ears. I am officially called a "hearing instrument specialist," and I aspire to one day be a doctor of audiology. Basically I clean, fix, and sell hearing aids to the hearing impaired.
At first I thought that being a hearing instrument specialist was going to be pretty boring (you know, dealing with grumpy, deaf people all day long), but it's actually turning out to be one big party. The guy I work for (Roy) is the man! He's great with old people, so they are always excited to come in, and we have a lot of fun laughing and joking with them.

Every once in a while, however, we have to deal with some real grumps. One guy came in a few days ago, determined to belittle us and our hearing aids by using every big word he knows (and some he doesn't). This is how the conversation went down:
My boss: "How can we help you today?"
Grumpy: "I abhor this hearing instrument."
Boss: "Well why's that?"
Grump: "There is an industrial sibilant noise when I enter an atmosphere of harsh sounds."
Boss: "Well I know how to fix that for you!"
Grump: "It is expedient that you do so."
(My boss fixed them in like ten seconds)
Boss: "How's that sound to you?"
Grump: "That is vastly superior. You deserve my deepest gratitude."

Yeah...I had a pretty hard time stiffling my laughter throughout that entire appointment.

Another interesting character showed up at the office this week. From what I've been told, this certain lady comes in from time to time, complaining that something doesn't sound right: first it was her violin, then it was her fridge, then it was the air conditioning, and on and on and on. She comes in whenever something doesn't sound just right. So anyway, the other day she came in to pick up her repaired hearing aid, and she brought her violin with her to the office! And she played it for like 15 minutes to make sure every note sounded just perfect before she went home! Yikes. At least she won't come in soon to complain about the violin.

Being a hearing instrument specialist is more than just fun though. What we do for people really and truly changes their lives. My first ever hearing aid sale was to a Bosnian lady who hasn't been able to hear for over 5 years. She has a hole in both of her eardrums, making it nearly impossible to understand language. Mostly she has just been nodding and smiling for the past five years. She finally decided to come in a couple of weeks ago, and the change has already been drastic. Her daughter almost cried as she asked her mother a question, and her mother actually responded! Hearing aids are literally a miracle to people who have dealt with any type of hearing loss. It feels good to help people improve their lives, and, in a lot of cases, their relationships with their family members who they have had trouble communicating with for years.