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Be a Good Witness
Aug. 25th, 2006 07:36 pmToday I got to go to a class on emergency training, marketed to people who have customer service positions, so they can better deal with threatening situations at the customer service desk.
Most of the class was not very helpful to me. For example, we were told that most assaults at jogging areas happen to people who are not paying attention. For example, some woman who was attacked recently was listening to music and had the earbuds in both ears, so she didn't hear anyone coming up behind her.
Sounds useful, except what would she had done if she had heard someone? She was already running away, right? She might have moved over to the right to get out of the way, assuming the person was trying to pass her. That's not going to help, is it? Or does she just not look like as a good of a victim because she's more likely to turn around and look at any moment?
So, mostly a lot of platitudes that I didn't find helpful. There was one good thing, though.
Have you heard about those psychology experiments where someone runs through the class yelling or something, and then everyone in the class is supposed to describe exactly what happened? Well, what happens is they tend to all get it wrong. Most of them in many, major ways.
On my way to the class, I was thinking they ought to do that, and that if they did, I would be ready and pay attention. See, if I wasn't ready, I wouldn't be paying attention, and I wouldn't remember a thing except things like, uh, it was a he, and he had clothes, and he had two legs.
They actually did the experiment!
First they passed out this survey for us to work on. Then I heard a guy exclaiming "I don't care what the ___ said, the ___ is mine!" I looked up and saw a guy in a shirt with a bold design in rust, black, and white and carrying a large off-white bag. Then I told myself to quit paying attention to the shirt and pay attention to something that was a little more helpful. I paid attention to his hair. It was grey, thick, kind of short, and a little wavy. Then he was gone. I then decided that he wasn't a really tall guy and that I would feel confident saying that he was under six feet tall. And he wasn't a really skinny guy. That was it.
So, even with preparing myself somewhat, I still would have been a pretty useless witness. Well, that's good to know, I guess. Or at least I wondered if I would be as bad as I thought.
We learned that for men, you should look at things that don't change, like height. And things that don't change without a lot of trouble, like weight and hair color and hair length. But also other things that generally don't change like glasses, watches and other jewelry, facial hair, and shoes. That's right. We were told that many men have just three pairs of shoes: one for church, one for work, and one casual pair. Interesting, eh?
Well, out of those things, I noticed hair color and I sort of noticed height and hair length. I did not know if he was wearing anything except for that shirt and no hat. He could have had shorts or pants. He could have been barefoot. At least I knew that I didn't know these things. Someone said he had shorts on and I thought that you might assume someone wearing a Hawaiian-type shirt like his was wearing shorts even if he wasn't.
I also knew that I hadn't seen where he came from, and I hadn't seen if he'd had the bag the whole time or took it, let alone where he took it from. And I didn't know the important words in his sentence, but I did feel like he was being defensive and trying to justify himself.
Then the guy came back in and we got to see how well we did. I was right about what I didn't know: He had grabbed some lady's purse--she was one row up and about five seats over. He had come in the door from the opposite side of the room. He had long pants and black shoes. He had glasses and a mustache. He looked Hispanic and/or extremely well tanned. I knew I didn't know these things.
What surprised me is how many things I thought I knew that I didn't really know. I was most confident about the hair, and I was completely right about that, except it turned out to be a little thinner than I remembered. It still could be described as thick, though, especially for a guy with grey hair, so I don't feel bad about that.
I felt the second most confident about the shirt. But his shirt did not have a bold pattern; it had a fine pattern. I would never have guessed it was the same shirt. And it was unbuttoned, with a white t-shirt underneath. I never would have guessed that.
The bag was not some big, full money bag, but a medium-sized or even smallish purse. And it was not some kind of cream canvas or muslin fabric, but a cream and tan vertically-striped fabric with tan leather (or leather-look) trim. I never in a million years would have guessed it was the same thing.
They didn't say how tall he was, but he looked taller standing there than he had running off. He might have been 5'10" but not 5'8". I think he was still under 6' tall, but not by much.
And he had said, "I don't care what the judge said, the purse is mine!"
Extremely crappy witness. Also, I really should write everything I do remember down, right away, because I forget it all instantly.
Most of the class was not very helpful to me. For example, we were told that most assaults at jogging areas happen to people who are not paying attention. For example, some woman who was attacked recently was listening to music and had the earbuds in both ears, so she didn't hear anyone coming up behind her.
Sounds useful, except what would she had done if she had heard someone? She was already running away, right? She might have moved over to the right to get out of the way, assuming the person was trying to pass her. That's not going to help, is it? Or does she just not look like as a good of a victim because she's more likely to turn around and look at any moment?
So, mostly a lot of platitudes that I didn't find helpful. There was one good thing, though.
Have you heard about those psychology experiments where someone runs through the class yelling or something, and then everyone in the class is supposed to describe exactly what happened? Well, what happens is they tend to all get it wrong. Most of them in many, major ways.
On my way to the class, I was thinking they ought to do that, and that if they did, I would be ready and pay attention. See, if I wasn't ready, I wouldn't be paying attention, and I wouldn't remember a thing except things like, uh, it was a he, and he had clothes, and he had two legs.
They actually did the experiment!
First they passed out this survey for us to work on. Then I heard a guy exclaiming "I don't care what the ___ said, the ___ is mine!" I looked up and saw a guy in a shirt with a bold design in rust, black, and white and carrying a large off-white bag. Then I told myself to quit paying attention to the shirt and pay attention to something that was a little more helpful. I paid attention to his hair. It was grey, thick, kind of short, and a little wavy. Then he was gone. I then decided that he wasn't a really tall guy and that I would feel confident saying that he was under six feet tall. And he wasn't a really skinny guy. That was it.
So, even with preparing myself somewhat, I still would have been a pretty useless witness. Well, that's good to know, I guess. Or at least I wondered if I would be as bad as I thought.
We learned that for men, you should look at things that don't change, like height. And things that don't change without a lot of trouble, like weight and hair color and hair length. But also other things that generally don't change like glasses, watches and other jewelry, facial hair, and shoes. That's right. We were told that many men have just three pairs of shoes: one for church, one for work, and one casual pair. Interesting, eh?
Well, out of those things, I noticed hair color and I sort of noticed height and hair length. I did not know if he was wearing anything except for that shirt and no hat. He could have had shorts or pants. He could have been barefoot. At least I knew that I didn't know these things. Someone said he had shorts on and I thought that you might assume someone wearing a Hawaiian-type shirt like his was wearing shorts even if he wasn't.
I also knew that I hadn't seen where he came from, and I hadn't seen if he'd had the bag the whole time or took it, let alone where he took it from. And I didn't know the important words in his sentence, but I did feel like he was being defensive and trying to justify himself.
Then the guy came back in and we got to see how well we did. I was right about what I didn't know: He had grabbed some lady's purse--she was one row up and about five seats over. He had come in the door from the opposite side of the room. He had long pants and black shoes. He had glasses and a mustache. He looked Hispanic and/or extremely well tanned. I knew I didn't know these things.
What surprised me is how many things I thought I knew that I didn't really know. I was most confident about the hair, and I was completely right about that, except it turned out to be a little thinner than I remembered. It still could be described as thick, though, especially for a guy with grey hair, so I don't feel bad about that.
I felt the second most confident about the shirt. But his shirt did not have a bold pattern; it had a fine pattern. I would never have guessed it was the same shirt. And it was unbuttoned, with a white t-shirt underneath. I never would have guessed that.
The bag was not some big, full money bag, but a medium-sized or even smallish purse. And it was not some kind of cream canvas or muslin fabric, but a cream and tan vertically-striped fabric with tan leather (or leather-look) trim. I never in a million years would have guessed it was the same thing.
They didn't say how tall he was, but he looked taller standing there than he had running off. He might have been 5'10" but not 5'8". I think he was still under 6' tall, but not by much.
And he had said, "I don't care what the judge said, the purse is mine!"
Extremely crappy witness. Also, I really should write everything I do remember down, right away, because I forget it all instantly.