Imagine Denholm Elliott in the Indiana Jones movies, but less educated, and that's basically me

A couple of tourists from Chicago made the truly idiotic mistake of asking me for directions today while I was walking downtown. Driving home from work, I realized that, while I didn't technically send them in the exact opposite cardinal direction that they were going for, it still was a far cry from what you would call the "correct" direction. I may have also named cross streets that neither cross, nor perhaps exist.

I'd feel bad, but come on -- they should have known better! My inability to grasp concepts like "north" and "east" should have been clue #1.

Seriously, how did this happen to me? Which part of my brain didn't develop right, so that everyone else has this skill that I've never quite been able to master -- this "knowing where the hell you are" skill, not to mention the "knowing where the hell you're going and how to get there" set.