More Of A Social Bug Than A Software One

20260714

Prompt from Eiiri’s Prompt Foundry, “Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo”.

“Chief? I think I’ve cracked the case.”
“Good job, Davis! I knew you’d get to the bottom of this. What bug have you quashed this time?”
“I don’t think it was the software, actually.” Davis put a report down on the desk. “Long story short, one of the androids figured out that, while they have to follow all orders they receive, there’s a crucial gap between giving and receiving.”
The Chief’s brows furrowed. “Meaning?”
“If they think they’re about to receive an order they don’t want to follow, they’ve been turning their ears off.”
“That…!” The Chief spluttered.
“Yeah. I was impressed. Had a word with the software engineers about it, and they reckon it’s a quick fix.”
“Humph! I’d hope so.” The Chief shook his head. “Honestly. Speaking of impressed, well done for figuring that out! We were all completely stumped. And I don’t know if it ever would’ve occurred to us that the glitchy robots were toggling their senses off. How did you think of it?”
“Oh. Well.” Davis shrugged, his expression wooden. “Reviewed evidence, thought about the situation, noodled some cognitive modelling, figured out how to test the hypothesis… standard stuff, really.”
“Don’t be so modest! You’re a real mystery solver. I never would’ve considered that they could turn off their ears. I mean, what a concept!”
Davis scratched his nose. “What, you’ve never sat there wishing you could turn your ears off, when someone’s waffling at you?”
“No?”
“Ah.” Davis said noncommittally. “I guess you’ve been lucky enough not to work with someone like that.”
“No, I…” The Chief’s eyes suddenly narrowed.
Seeing this, Davis spun on his heel and brightly announced “Would you look at the time?”
“Davis…”
“I’d best go clock out - I’d hate to have to charge the department overtime…”
“Davis, have you been turning your hearing aids off when I’m trying to talk to you??” The Chief glared after him and shouted “I KNOW YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME! GET BACK HERE AND ANSWER THE QUESTION! DAVIS??”

Prompt was “Deaf or Hard of Hearing”.