Apparently I’m an idiot

[Solumina]

It started off with pleasant enough conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Guest but of course things just had to take a turn for the worse. Also note we are located in Virginia but they guests are from Canada.

Thoughts in italics.

Mrs. Guest: I saw this interesting flower and I was wondering if you might know what it was. They are down by the lake and look like rhododendrons but different.
Me: Different how?
Mrs. Guest: Well they were longer.
Me: I think I know which bunch you are talking about and I always thought that they were rhododendrons.
(if you can’t come up with anything other than “longer” I’m just going to assume they are rhododendrons, cuz you know they aren’t always the exact same size)
Mrs. Guest: Well rhododendrons wouldn’t be blooming this early so that can’t be it.
(Oooookay then)
Me: Sorry I can’t think of what else they could be, I’m not exactly an expert on plants.
Mr. Guest: Why not, didn’t you ever want to learn about biology and get educated on the world around you?
Me:
Mrs. Guest (to husband): Don’t be so hard on her dear, not everyone gets to go to college.


Seriously why do people assume that if you don’t know one, very specific piece of information then you must be an idiot? I’m halfway through with my degree at a respected university, I took two semesters of bio and learned plenty about the world around me, and thanks to my upbringing I could most likely identify every animal on property, plants just aren’t my thing. By the way I checked with one of the guys in grounds and yes, they are, in fact, rhododendrons and they bloomed as expected in the area.

[Automan Empire]

Yeah, I hate that kind of attitude. You don't have a sure answer about something that is not even present for you to see right now, so let's generalize that to your entire knowlege base.

Heaven help them if they need you for something that's actually your job during this visit.

I'm glad that, as owner of my business, I am free to counter-PWN such asshattery. I'm liable to say, "What is this, a pop quiz?" and pose THEM an impossible question that IS relevant to the transaction at hand.

[underemployeed]

I'm glad that, as owner of my business, I am free to counter-PWN such asshattery.

You are one of the lucky few, haha when I finally give my two week notice, I think my last few days are going to be fun. Especially the last day I don't think I'm going to take shit from anyone, especially if it is a day management not around. I'm sorry what your sending me home 4hrs early my last day, oh darn.

I love when people think because I'm a cashier at a gas station I'm a complete idiot and they tell their son
SC "See little Timmy this is why you stay in school".
me : "Just so you know, I gradated Summa Cum Laude from a (major state university), it is latin for with the greatest honor. Used to express the highest academic distinction that one can achieve. Except for the economy being the way it is, jobs are hard to come by in my field of computers right now because I don't do web development. So this is what happens when you stay in school and don't do drugs."

[Mnemjian]

Just because you don't know one mega-specific thing (that they also didn't know, BTW) then you're not educated... yeah, that makes sense Don't pay attention to petty people like that. They are the real idiots.

I kind of had someone like that a few nights ago. A tourist guy had been told there was a lot of "50's architecture" in our neighborhood and wanted to see it. I tried to be helpful by telling him about how most everything was built in the 50's but a lot was remodeled in the 70's and 80's. He got pissed and insisted I knew nothing about architecture (which is mostly true) and basically called me an idiot because I couldn't tell him where the "50's architecture" was. I think he wanted to see some googie stuff or something, though we have nothing like that...

[Sheldonrs]

Perhaps in her family, knowing one, specific flower is the height of intellect.

[pitmonkey]

Next time some one does that, ask if the ground is still frozen. You are far enough south that alot of thighs are blooming that aren't in the frozen north. Just lay it on thick about all the ice ans snow. I know that they are well into spring now but that's just me.

[Draco]

Mr. Guest: Why not, didn’t you ever want to learn about biology and get educated on the world around you?
Me:
Mrs. Guest (to husband): Don’t be so hard on her dear, not everyone gets to go to college.

I'd have found some way to bring up the fact that THEY didn't know and insult their intelligence. But, then, I'm an ass at heart.

[Merriweather]

I love when people think because I'm a cashier at a gas station I'm a complete idiot and they tell their son
SC "See little Timmy this is why you stay in school".
me : "Just so you know, I gradated Summa Cum Laude from a (major state university), it is latin for with the greatest honor. Used to express the highest academic distinction that one can achieve. Except for the economy being the way it is, jobs are hard to come by in my field of computers right now because I don't do web development. So this is what happens when you stay in school and don't do drugs."

I feel your pain, Underemployed (darn, can't find a huggy smiley). I get the same thing when working a temp job or just being a housewife when not working at all. I, too, have my degree in computers with the nice little Summa Cum Laude sticker on it (perfect grade point average). But after actually using it for a decade, I divorced, remarried, and found myself following a career military man round the world Not much use for programmers in the places we ended up, along with often way too much red tape to work as well, (at one base there were so few civilian jobs that you were lucky to work the last six months of your spouses tour, and took whatever you could get - the girl ordering furniture at that time actually had her PHD) and by the time we landed back into the US in an area where jobs were available, the computer languages I had the most expertise in had gone the way of the dinosaurs. I SO hate people that assume that just cause you aren't using it now, you must not have a degree - and for that matter, also those who assume that just cause you don't have a degree, you're stupid. Intelligence and education are not always the same thing

[mharbourgirl]

Your customers were ignorant jerks with poor social skills, nothing more.

Speaking as someone who grew up in the part of Canada where rhododendrons grow wild, AND everyone plants them in their yards, this is most definitely the time of year when they bloom. And the flowers have a variety of sizes, not to mention colors.

This is something I learned by the time I was 6, because my family was very into gardening. I didn't even take biology in college, I wanted to be a librarian.

[Anakah]

They didn't know the answer either. Assholes. The college comment makes me want to fling poo at her. :P What a bitch.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Grr, I really hate that kind of attitude. -.- Once when I worked on checkouts, this woman came thru with her friend and at one point, said, "Bet you wish you hadn't dropped out of school, then you could be working someplace better!"

I replied by saying pleasantly that I happened to have seven GCSEs, three A-Levels and an NVQ under my belt, but that I liked my job and didn't want to work anywhere else. The SC shut up and I had a very nice conversation with her friend on Shakespeare after that.

People really need to remove their heads from their arses and not assume that everyone who works with the general public is stupid.

[Magpie]

So they're too ignorant to understand the fact that the Earth is round, and that we have seasons, but you're the one suffering from an alleged lack of education?

This is actually GREAT confirmation of the fact that it's the ignorant people who feel the need to call others uneducated.