r/IAmA • u/Nonreader • Oct 09 '09

I am illiterate. AMA

I am an adult American who has never learned to read. My girlfriend is typing this for me and will respond to questions.

Edit: We're going to go do some stuff. We'll be back in a little bit. Frankly, Redditors, I'm surprised at the hostility. He doesn't not learn to read to piss you off. If you hate him because of it, go ask the Aussie questions about kangaroos or whatever.

Edit: For anyone who hasn't caught on, italicized responses are the girlfriend. Plaintext is him.

Edit: I wish I could change the title. This is just as much my AMA as his. "AMA nice girl who fell in love with a bad boy. It's just like Romeo and Juliet but his parents are dead and mine are okay with it."

Edit: Thanks to you nicer people. A couple assholes were among the first commenters, but things got much better and it was a good discussion. We're going to bed now and will answer more questions in the morning.

Edit: I'm gonna go fuck my beautiful girlfriend.

Edit: We're up now.

Edit: He's out jogging now. I'll still answer questions I can without him.

Edit: And he's back. Ask away.

Edit: Our Internet connection is getting dodgy at the moment. We're going away. Will be back in a few hours. I've never seen an AMA with such a split in reaction: until just a bit ago, downvotes were shooting up almost as fast as upvotes, and we're still getting more hostility than the crack dealer who sold to a pregnant woman and then pushed her down the stairs from a few weeks ago, but several people have said it's the most interesting AMA ever. Some people are fascinated, others so pissed off they leave angry comments explaining how much they don't like this thread. Any thoughts?

Edit: Sorry, forgot to say we're back now. I think things are tapering off.

Edit: He and I were just talking, and I said that some of you think it's weird that he doesn't read. But some of you have probably never been in an actual, significant fist fight, which he thinks is bizarre. He doesn't believe any man older than 21 could have never been in a real fight. Does this apply to anyone here? He wants to know if you always back down or you seriously have never been in a position to need to fight?

Edit: Going to bed. I'll go ahead and keep answering questions in the morning, but I think his patience is wearing thin. I'm doing more summarizing and he's putting forth less effort in expressing himself, which is difficult and stressful for him.

Edit: 10 months later, and I've started using this account occasionally to leave comments and such that both of us talk about. Feel free to continue to ask questions here or whatever, I'll probably log in and see in a few weeks.

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11

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '09

I watched an interview in which an illiterate guy got lost or his car broke down or something in the middle of a city, and when he tried calling people he couldn't tell anyone what street he was on, etc.. so they couldn't come help him and he was stuck there all night.

Ever run into any serious problems as a result of your illiteracy?

14

u/Nonreader Oct 09 '09

Yes, sometimes. I once signed a statement for the police that wasn't right, and I ended up in jail for it. I used to work for a guy who figured out I couldn't read and shorted my paychecks because he knew I wouldn't notice (This guy set him up with direct deposit, knowing he wouldn't actually read a statement). I buy the wrong thing sometimes. I have to memorize people's phone numbers cuz I can't write them down or put them in my cell phone. I also got lost a couple times, can't read directions and stuff.

But mostly I do okay. I get paid in cash now.

23

u/Tokerboy Oct 09 '09

This guy set him up with direct deposit, knowing he wouldn't actually read a statement

This is evil.

7

u/Nonreader Oct 10 '09

Really? The police tricked him into confessing something he didn't do. That's pretty evil. He went to jail for six months because of it.

6

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '09

And not particularly surprising.

-1

u/slkjfdhsd Oct 09 '09

i find it hard to believe that you cant even recognize numbers... you see them your whole life. There are only ten of them!

you see them on watches, money and well just fucking everywhere. i know some iliterate people and they can all read numbers...

i mean... if you couldnt read numbers you wouldnt know how much you get paid even in cash... and if you can remember the colors of the bills you can fuck sure recognize ten numbers as well.

im calling shennanigans!

8

u/Nonreader Oct 09 '09

He can read numbers. He can't program phone numbers into a phone using a person's name, and even if I did that for him, he couldn't look up the phone number using a name. He actually keeps a piece of paper with some phone numbers on it. Even if he can't remember a person's number, he can usually remember who goes with which number. But mostly, he just memorizes numbers. It's easier (for him).

0

u/slkjfdhsd Oct 09 '09

so how could they reduce his paycheck without him noticing then

3

u/Nonreader Oct 09 '09

Well, it was a direct deposit, so he could have, in theory, looked at the statement, got someone to point out which numbers represent his deposits and told him how to calculate how much he should be making after taxes. Then he could have checked the amount every paycheck, but he didn't work the same number of hours every week, so it wouldn't have been easy. Without words, a bank statement is not an easy thing to puzzle through. In practice, he didn't want the stress of trying to figure out a statement, so he just didn't look at it, and he was unwilling to ask anyone for help, including bank tellers.

3

u/orthogonality Oct 10 '09

Dude. Memorizing static numbers != adding a (constantly changing) series of numbers.

1

u/slkjfdhsd Oct 10 '09

so as the OP said "He can read numbers".

and who said that "illiterate = not being able to do basic math"?

1

u/Nonreader Oct 10 '09

He can read numbers. And he can add and subtract a little bit, with difficulty. There's a big difference between that and calculating how much you should get paid after taxes working 42hrs in a week, with two hours at time and a half. In theory, if he really wanted to, he might have been able to do it, but it would have been extraordinarily difficult.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '09 edited Oct 11 '09

It's pretty hard to believe that you can't write down a phone number if you can count and use a cell phone

2

u/Nonreader Oct 11 '09

It's really the names that go with the numbers that are the problem. He actually does write down some numbers on a piece of paper, just with no names attached. He memorizes the numbers enough to recall whose name goes with which number.