Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Black Delphinium]

This is from the paper, but it still made my head hurt for a second.  In Ask Amy, the letter say nurmerous times, "My boyfriend," "he," but then Amy says, "Am I right in assuming he was a male stripper?"  (The writer was asking Amy how to ask her boyfriend to not mention to her teenage daughters the fact that he danced in an adult club while in college.)

I suppose it is possible that the person had a sex change, but come on Amy!  Plus, even if the guy had only "danced" and not "stripped" the letter writer was still concerned.

It was just odd.  Was Amy verifying the person's sex or the stripping?  If it was the stripping, why say "male stripper"?  That's like using the phrase, "male nurse"--just weird and not relevant.

I think she was verifying the type of "adult club", or maybe his position in such a club. Had he been a bartender or bouncer, it might be easier for him to just say he was a "bouncer at a club". If he was a stripper, it would tweak answers a bit.

The letter writer had said that he told her daughters he had been a dancer there during college.  So, he could have been a stripper.  But why did Amy add the "male" part--that is what made my brain hurt the most.

To be fair, he could have been a drag queen or female impersonator.

[BowHuntress]

I believe the 5-0 for police derives from Hawaii 5-0

It does... the first known reference to it as slang for police is from 1983.

Learn something new everyday. The original show was in my childhood, so I have always heard 5-0 in reference to cops

[snowfire]

But it was scary how long it took us to convince her that 4-wheel drive doesn't help you drive 70mph on glare ice.

I'm not an engineer, but I've driven since I was 14, and even I know that it doesn't matter how many wheels have power if none of them have traction....

Or why I don't go out driving in the first snowfall of the year if I have a choice.  For some reason, everyone around here seems to forget the laws of physics from one winter to the next. 

[Fleur-de-Lis]

Last night my husband and I were discussing what to do with our cars.  I bought a mini van over the summer, and now we have 3 cars we really don't need.  The jeep almost never gets driven anymore and we're paying a boat load on insurance. 

We were thinking about selling the jeep and the station wagon and getting something newer.  He suggested a double cab pickup.  Then things got brain hurty...

Me:  We can't afford the gas it would take to drive a big truck like that.

DH:  We could if we had more money.

Me:   

I couldn't do anything but laugh.

What? You COULD afford it if you had more money! Makes perfect sense 

Also, I don't know your financial situation or the trade-offs on how much insurance is on each vehicle, but insurance and petrol for the truck might be less than insurance and petrol on the jeep and the station wagon.  If the insurance costs drop - which is not a given, but may have been a core assumption for your DH - there *would* be "more money", which could then be used for petrol costs. 

[Xallanthia]

Actually, it's the Very Large Array.  Yep, went to New Mexico Tech, home of the VLA.

And I know that it's the Very Large Array.  I don't know where "Very Long Array" came from.

::Tries to resist, fails::

That's what she said.

Curses! You beat me to it!

I was just thinking...  "Very Long Array" crossed most unfortunately with the "how to describe a man's you-know-what" from the bad books thread...

[siamesecat2965]

And some non-threadjack:

We've had some snowy/icy weather here, after a mild winter. Last week, my husband was almost taken out by someone in a large vehicle who had been going too fast for the conditions.  When I mentioned this at work, someone was amazed that a vehicle like that could go out of control in icy conditions -- isn't that the kind of conditions they're made for?

The brain hurt part is that she is working on an engineering degree, and has taken the correct classes to know how force, mass, friction, etc should work. (Yes, I know, practical application of theory does not always happen.)

But it was scary how long it took us to convince her that 4-wheel drive doesn't help you drive 70mph on glare ice.

I know really? 4 wheel drive does NOT mean 4 wheel stop.  I remember one day, coming home early from work, as it was sleeting/etc. and the roads were slippy.  I used to take a narrow, 4 lane road (2 each way) with no divider between the sides.  And it was a bit hilly.  So I'm driving slowly in the right lane, and this SUV whips by me in the left lane.  I then come up to the top of a hill, and see it, along with another SUV, off to the side in a parking lot, with flashing lights. Seems they had had a fender bender, and my guess is they were both going too fast for the conditions.

[Outdoor Girl]

4-wheel drive only helps you get going in bad conditions, which leads most people to think that the conditions aren't as bad.  Once you start sliding, a 4-wheel/all-wheel drive reacts the same way as a front wheel drive.

I drive a Subaru - all wheel drive.  I do think it is a safety feature because if I'm starting on a snow covered road, turning onto or crossing another road, the fact that I can get going without sliding all over the place is a good thing.  But once I get going, I drive for conditions!

[Shoo]

4-wheel drive only helps you get going in bad conditions, which leads most people to think that the conditions aren't as bad.  Once you start sliding, a 4-wheel/all-wheel drive reacts the same way as a front wheel drive.

I drive a Subaru - all wheel drive.  I do think it is a safety feature because if I'm starting on a snow covered road, turning onto or crossing another road, the fact that I can get going without sliding all over the place is a good thing.  But once I get going, I drive for conditions!

I think most people with 4 WD's drive sanely.  It's the few who don't that give us all a bad name!  I know that when I'm out in the snow or ice, I am extremely cautious.  Most people are, thank goodness.

[alkira6]

4-wheel drive only helps you get going in bad conditions, which leads most people to think that the conditions aren't as bad.  Once you start sliding, a 4-wheel/all-wheel drive reacts the same way as a front wheel drive.

I drive a Subaru - all wheel drive.  I do think it is a safety feature because if I'm starting on a snow covered road, turning onto or crossing another road, the fact that I can get going without sliding all over the place is a good thing.  But once I get going, I drive for conditions!

Subaru FTW! they are the awesome!

[otterwoman]

My DH says," Four wheel drive means twice as stuck twice as far off the road."

I love my Subaru!

[LB]

Occasionally my DH snores at night. It doesn't usually bother me. When our son was still sleeping in our room, I would wake DH up when he started snoring. DH asked me to do this, because he didn't want to wake DS. That didn't always stop him from being annoyed at being woken up. For added information, my DH can fall asleep faster than most people can count to ten.  Kidding, obviously, but he goes out FAST.

One morning we had this exchange:

DH: Why did you wake me up last night?
Me: You were snoring.
DH: I wasn't asleep.
Me: If you weren't asleep, how could I have woken you up?
DH: I wasn't asleep. I looked at the clock, it wasn't only four minutes after we laid down.
Me: It doesn't take you that long. I promise you were asleep, and you were snoring.
DH: It's not possible for me to fall asleep that fast.
Me: It is too. Amazing to see, also. Again, how could I have woken you if you weren't asleep?
DH: You didn't need to wake me. I wasn't snoring.
Me:  If you weren't asleep, then I didn't wake you. So, we have no problem, right?
DH: (Pauses) Well, I may have been asleep, but I wasn't snoring.

So, I must have just been jealous of him sleeping and decided to wake him up for no good reason. 

[gramma dishes]

^^^  Maybe the baby was snoring?   

[dawbs]

oNE of my jobs at work is to enforce rules like "no food or drink in X area".
(Think library meets science lab--neither is allowed food for very different reasons)

I had this exchange yesterday:

Me:  *walking to white board to replace markers, catch odd movement out of corner of my eye*
Guy:  *chugging his drink while sitting in front of a giant 'no food or drink in area' sign*
Me:  "I'm sorry, but you need to seal that and place it in your bag"
Guy:  *stopping for a moment* What?  *back to chugging*
Me:  "You can't have food or drink in *area*, your drink needs to be put away)
Guy:  *draining it*  Oh, it's empty
Me:  *shooting daggers*  You mean it's empty now?
Guy:  *looking a bit sheepish and setting bottle on table*
Me:  "you need to dispose of your trash or put it in your bag and you will NOT have food or drink in this area again.
Guy:  *looking sheepish*
Me:  understood?
Guy:  "yes"

I'm used to people not reading.  I'm even used to some being blatant but pretending "oh, it's empty" works in this situation just made me stabby.

[White Dragon]

When this conversation started, I had already had a very frustrating morning. I was on a corporate website, trying to learn a procedure.
Unfortunately, all the instructions involved acronyms which were not included in the corporate glossary (although, they did take the time to define what a bag was used for).
So my brain was already sore when this call came in.
Note - this is a newspaper office.

Caller "Hi, I was looking for information on an event that was held at {location}. Are you familiar with {location}?"
Me "No, but we have people who are. What kind of information did you need?"

Caller "I was looking for video of an event my buddy was involved in. It was in 2001."
Me "Um...well, we only have still photos. We're a newspaper and we don't take any video."

Caller "Oh, okay. What about still photos?"
Me "Well, we don't have them back that far here. Your best bet would be to try the library. They have microfilm of our paper going back to the 1950s. All you need is the date range and you can scan the papers for a picture."

Caller "Oh, I don't have a date. My buddy said it was in 2001. Or it might have been 2002."
Me "Well, if you ask the reference librarian for those dates, you can look them over. It will be a couple of hours in a nice warm library."

Caller "Okay, thanks! I tried calling {radio station} first, but they didn't have any video."
(In the caller's defense, the radio station sponsored the event, so it wasn't a totally unreasonable request, although I'm still not sure why he thought a radio station would have the equipment to video an event.)

Me "Have you tried {local TV station}? It seems to me that if anyone would have video of an event, it would be them."
Caller "Thanks! I never thought of that!" 
Me "You're welcome, have a nice day!"

He was a nice guy, but my brain hurt when we were done.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

oNE of my jobs at work is to enforce rules like "no food or drink in X area".
(Think library meets science lab--neither is allowed food for very different reasons)

I had this exchange yesterday:

Me:  *walking to white board to replace markers, catch odd movement out of corner of my eye*
Guy:  *chugging his drink while sitting in front of a giant 'no food or drink in area' sign*
Me:  "I'm sorry, but you need to seal that and place it in your bag"
Guy:  *stopping for a moment* What?  *back to chugging*
Me:  "You can't have food or drink in *area*, your drink needs to be put away)
Guy:  *draining it*  Oh, it's empty
Me:  *shooting daggers*  You mean it's empty now?
Guy:  *looking a bit sheepish and setting bottle on table*
Me:  "you need to dispose of your trash or put it in your bag and you will NOT have food or drink in this area again.
Guy:  *looking sheepish*
Me:  understood?
Guy:  "yes"

I'm used to people not reading.  I'm even used to some being blatant but pretending "oh, it's empty" works in this situation just made me stabby.

At least you have authority to do some modicum of enforcement.  I see people doing this all the time, and have no authority to intervene - and nobody who *has* authority *does*  The local transit service would not run at a deficit if it actually enforced the "no food or drink" rule and ticketed accordingly.