Special Snowflake Stories

[KenveeB]

Sadly, this SS was a friend of mine. A friend posted on her FB today about "Is Les Miz really ALL singing? Don't they talk at all?" Didn't think much of it, but then followed a constant stream of comments on her post that made it very clear she was updating her FB from her phone during the movie! I was horrified and told her that if she didn't want to watch the movie, she should just sit outside instead of ruining the experience of everyone else around her. She insisted that she was very subtle and no one could tell. HAH! Those darned screens are super bright. You can always tell.

[kherbert05]

I had a similar situation with a Grad School course. 

At the first meeting, the Professor announced that we were to take the same seat for the duration of the course so he could more easily remember our names. No problem there.

However, right behind me was a group of three ladies.  It turned out that the two on the ends were not proficient in English and the one in the middle was their interpreter.  She kept up a sentence by sentence simultaneous translation during the entire two hours of the class.  I have to admit that it was a spectacular performance but it was  almost impossible to concentrate on the lecture.  I knew I couldn't sit through two hours, twice a week for 13 weeks with this going on.  I wasn't the only one.
Even the Prof was giving them the stink eye. 

He must have had a 'Come to the deity' meeting with the trio because they never came back.

I was pre-law for my Bachlors. Decided teaching was a better fit but I was at a private university. Dad told me to finish the poli-sci degree then I could add on teaching at a public university.


Because of some of the quirks of my Liberal Arts University - I had to take a few freshman and sophomore classes to qualify as a teacher in Texas. (US History and Texas History for example - I took Russian and Japanese History for non-western cultural credits those didn't help with teacher certification.)


One of the classes I had to take was Human Geography - code for human evolution.  Small room only 3 or 4 rows deep but the rows were long. I was smack dab in front of the professor not 3 feet away and I coudn't hear him because these two women behind me kept up a constant dialogue about how requiring this class for teaching certification was a violation of their first admin rights. It was a Tuesday - Thursday 1 1/2 hours class with a break. I asked them to be quiet. The Fundamentalist Preacher sitting next to me - asked them to be quiet said they weren't be required to believe just understand a widely accepted academic school of thought. They kept it up. So Preacher and person on my left, and I started asking the professor to repeat things, being very specific why we couldn't hear him. He gave them 2 options shut up or leave.


One of the women left the class. The other continued.


For the next 2 semesters this woman I butted heads. I got so tired of the some of the professors paying lipservice to equality but letting this woman make racist comments that I started telling them and her that what she said was unacceptable. Then many of our classmates started speaking out against her racism.


We ended up taking our certification tests in the same room. I finished both tests in about 30 min (you had 3 hours) and left quietly. She told our adviser that I had walked out without finishing the tests. I explained I'm just a fast test taker. When the scores came out the woman asked me "How bad did you fail?". Turned 10 different shades of red when I told that I had missed only 2 questions on one test and 1 question on the other. She had failed and tried to file an appeal because I had "disrupted the room by leaving". Now the room was former open concept cut up into classrooms and stuffed to the door with desks. I would have gone stark raving mad if I had to attend HS there, but I left as quietly as possible.

[amandaelizabeth]

We went to a performance of the Marriage of Figaro.  One of the supertitles came up with

'All men are scumbags" 

I am pretty sure that this was not an exact translation.  It provoked a collective intake of breath, and some giggles.  I think the cast were use to this, as there was a little pause before the next phrase.

[Piratelvr1121]

I'm so glad I don't have to shop at the grocery store on Saturdays anymore. Partly cause Saturdays are the only day where I really get a good amount of time to myself during the day since DH is home and stays home with the 3 boys and I didn't like having to devote at least an hour to the buying of the groceries, then coming home to unload them before going back out. 

However I still run across some SS's who will stop to talk with someone they know, carts side to side without leaving room or even moving for someone else to pass them.

[Midnight Kitty]

I'd like to apologize to Midnight Kitty. I came off as attacking her, when I did not mean to do so. I spoke very poorly, and I'm very sorry for that.

I accept your apology.  No hard feelings and my opinion of your character is back up where it used to be.

Now, let's all smile at the image of some anonymous SS who only ordered only a side salad, but ended up eating a complete lobster dinner scrounged off her dining companions' plates.

[Iris]

I'd like to apologize to Midnight Kitty. I came off as attacking her, when I did not mean to do so. I spoke very poorly, and I'm very sorry for that.

I accept your apology.  No hard feelings and my opinion of your character is back up where it used to be.

Now, let's all smile at the image of some anonymous SS who only ordered only a side salad, but ended up eating a complete lobster dinner scrounged off her dining companions' plates.

That could have been me one time that I went out for dinner with friends. I had had a HUGE lunch and ordered the smallest salad I could. I could have just about had a lobster dinner with all the extras my friends kept trying to give me. It was weird. I guess people just can't get over that primary school thing that it's rude to eat in front of others, even when the others in question are adults and have assured you repeatedly that no, they really don't want your extra wafer thin after dinner mint because they really are just that full.

[Midnight Kitty]

It was weird. I guess people just can't get over that primary school thing that it's rude to eat in front of others, even when the others in question are adults and have assured you repeatedly that no, they really don't want your extra wafer thin after dinner mint because they really are just that full.

I've heard it said that nature abhors a vacuum.  Maybe people with full plates see the emptiness in front of you as a vacuum that needs to be filled with food.

[AuntieA]

Just throwing in my two cents' worth - I have met & had smoothies with Midnight Kitty and I can attest to her abundance of class, courtesy, and graciousness.

Back to SS stories: I don't know if this one today was a true SS or just really, really clueless.....
Leaving my favorite supermarket's parking lot, she is behind me in the left-turn only lane. Light turns green, one and only one car comes straight through incoming. SS in front of me sits...and sits....I tap my horn, and the vehicle finally turns. Driver then stopped at the next red light (in the lane beside me by that time, thank goodness) four car-lengths back from the stopping line. Then SS proceeded to drive on when the light turned green at ~40kph in a 60 kph zone.

[HappilyInsane]

once you think about it, their meaning is crystal clear.

(Reminds me of when a Southern contestant on Survivor used the expression "So good, makes you wanna slap your mama."  I was all "Um, what?  What did your poor mother do to you?"   )

In the South, Mamas are to be feared and revered. If something is so good that you would even think about slapping your Mama to get it, it's pretty darn good.

[greencat]

It was weird. I guess people just can't get over that primary school thing that it's rude to eat in front of others, even when the others in question are adults and have assured you repeatedly that no, they really don't want your extra wafer thin after dinner mint because they really are just that full.

I've heard it said that nature abhors a vacuum.  Maybe people with full plates see the emptiness in front of you as a vacuum that needs to be filled with food.

Back when I weighed one hundred pounds soaking wet, I used to be the eater of unwanted food at group dinners.  It wasn't that I didn't order enough food for myself, because I certainly did, but that I had a very high capacity for eating beyond the point where I was "full."  One particular time really sticks out in my mind.  I was out to dinner with about ten or fifteen people once, and I was one of the first people to get there and order, and I had ordered a very large appetizer (one meant for a family of four to share) as my meal, so my food came out really early, and I ended up mostly finishing it before other people had more than the salads that came with their meals.  Somehow, the people around me didn't actually observe how much I'd eaten, and they started shoving random sides (and an errant salad that arrived late) at me, insisting that I "eat something."  Some of the people couldn't finish their own entrees and didn't want to take leftovers home (I think we were all going out to a movie afterward) and passed the remnants over to me as well.  I think I ended up eating the equivalent of three or four full restaurant meals (so, about three days worth of calories!) at that one sitting.  People that knew those people did stop with the subtle probing about potential eating disorders though - I used to get that all the time until people actually went out to eat with me and realized that I just had a fast metabolism.

Now, for special snowflakiness:

I ride the bus to work.  Around the bus terminal, there are several lanes clearly and obviously and extensively marked "Bus only" for a fair distance.  While it is understandable that cars sometimes turn down these lanes by accident, some special snowflakes will ignore all the signage and use these lanes to drop off their passengers at the terminal.  There is a clearly marked passenger-drop-off area - but that's not good enough for these snowflakes.  Even when informed of their mistake (at progressively increasing volume and decreasing politeness) by bus passengers, employees, and security guards, these people refuse to move out of the lane which several buses exiting the terminal are trying to drive through - often, they are carrying on a conversation with one or more passengers or unloading baggage.  They must truly believe that the world revolves around them and only them - surely the street signs that say "Bus Only" and the painted words on the road that say "Bus Only" and all the people saying "Hey, this lane is only for buses, you need to move your car!" don't actually mean that S.S. Thiscarisabus is the one with the problem.

[weeblewobble]

Re: the kids in the gym issue

I've been a member of my gym for almost ten years.  They have an absolutely WONDERFUL childcare program there, with a separate room for 7-12 year old kids (with a climbing wall, giant video display for wii games, mini-library and afterschool homework helpers). My kids BEG me to go work out so they can go play in the childcare room.

Yet every January means a sudden blooming of neon yellow signs all around the gym, reminding members that children under 16 are not allowed past the reception area/juice bar into any of the weight rooms, cardio areas or classrooms. Under no circumstances.  No even a little bit. No. No. No. 

Because every January, SS parents make resolutions to lose weight, and apparently, the only way they can do that is if their kids are within five feet of them.  So every January, there is a period where these parents try to completely ignore the policies and get their way.

The poor staff has to corral these kids out of the free weight area, where they could get seriously hurt.  They have to be chased off of the cardio equipment, which could be just as dangerous.  And some of the parents try to sneak them into the exercise classes, insisting that they'll just sit in the back of the room and won't bother anyone.  Yes, because nothing says, "yoga relaxation" like an eight year old chattering, "Mom?  Mooom?  I'm bored and this music is stupid, when are we going to goooooo?"

In some of these cases, I suspect that the parents are trying to get free membership benefits for the kids. A few days ago, an 10-11 year old girl pitched a loud screaming fit because she was asked to get off of an elliptical machine. The minimum age for membership is 16.   The mom insisted that the girl wasn't hurting anybody and we (meaning the members exercising around her) didn't care if she was there.  But we did, because the gym was very busy and more than one person had walked into the cardio area only to turn around when they couldn't find a free machine.  If your child is underage and not a member, it is extremely unfair for her to take up equipment, preventing someone else who is a paying member from legitimately using it.

Typical excuses for not putting their children in the childcare room include:

"But he has to go to the bathroom!" (meaning walk through the weight area to the ladies locker room)
There are bathroom facilities (that do not include grown women changing their clothes) in the childcare center.  And generally, these kids use the bathroom and then run through the weight room, right into the nearby indoor basketball court to try to get the adults playing pick-up games to let them play, too.

"There's nothing for the kids to do in there!"
See the above description of pre-teen paradise.  The kids room is just as well-stocked with indoor playground equipment, a mini-library, and art supplies.

"I never put MY children in the care of strangers."
OK then, leave them in the care of someone you trust, but don't bring them here.

These people  READ and SIGNED the childcare policies when they joined the gym.  And yet, every year this happens, and every year, these people try to quit the gym and get their membership fee back because they can't get their way.  It usually calms down by March or so.

[Margo]

Greencat - your thiscarisabus story reminded me of an incident when I was a student. (not snowflakey, I don't think)   A group I was a member of had hired a minibus from the university, and travelled to another city for a competition related to our hobby. WE weren't familiar with the city and, in trying to get to the hall we were supposed to be staying at, accidentally ended up in a bus lane with no immediate way out. As a chorus of back-seat drivers pointed this out to our friend who was driving, she immediately replied "In that case - Quick, everybody - think big and green!" (The local buses were green)

It must have worked. We didn't get stopped. (and we didn't stop and ask direction until we could do so OUT of the bus lane, so we didn't hold anyone up)

[SCAJAfamily]

A plethera of excellent stories lately.  I almost wish I had something to share (but glad that I don't).

[mmswm]

How Special Snowflakes are born:

I'm sitting in the minor procedures waiting room at a major children's hospital.  I had to drive my mother and sister here for a minor plastic surgery procedure.  I've been in the waiting room for 2.5 hours. We should be done.  We're not.  Why are we not done?  Well, my mother is raising my sister to be an SS.

I get that the child is scared, but the hospital has rules and procedures.  I might not agree with those rules, but they have them, and as much as they might stink, we have to follow them. I've been in this position 1000 times at least with my boys. So, the problem is that my mother is not allowed to follow my sister back to the procedure room.  Lil sis is refusing to go without her.  If she were my kid, I would calmly tell her that I loved her and that I understood that it was scary, but these are the rules and she simply had no choice.  This is not what my mother is doing.  My mother is wasting time trying to convince the hospital staff to make an exception, holding up not just me, but everybody else who's waiting for procedures.

Oh, and I have Thing 2 and Thing 1 with me (my 10 year old son and my 10 year old brother), as I had to drive my mother and had nobody to watch them.  My 13yo is with my father, but he's doing some repair work that involves tools like blowtorches and wasn't comfortable having the littler kids with him.  Kids are homeschooled, so there's no school to send them to.

[Yarnspinner]

Foodie SS Version 3.0:

In my pre-library days, I worked in an office with Betsy.  Betsy was originally from another country and justified everything she did or said with "Well, that's how it IS in my country.  Americans are just so uptight."  This applied to everything from her suddenly throwing her arms about you and resting her head on your shoulder while you took a walk to grabbing hold of a buxom coworker's bllouse, pulling the top open and announcing "I am curious about what you HAVE down there."

Our office ate out quite often as a group and it got to where no matter what Betsy ordered, we ordered the same thing whether we liked it or not.  It was the only way to assure ourselves of getting most of our meal. 

Betsy would usually wait until everyone else ordered, order something she liked and no one else could stand and then gobble up her meal and spend the rest of the dinner wandering about the table trying to pick food off of others' plates.  We got to the point we were all hunched over our plates trying to protect our pathetic little spaghetti dinners or burgers because Betsy had absolutely no compunction about picking up your burger and taking a bite. 

We were all thrilled when she got a job across the country.  I wonder how they feel about her wherever she's eating/walking/feeling people up these days.