Sometimes people are so wrong...

[OneCentStamp]

...that it would be more effort than it's worth to put them right. Know what I mean? Here's an example:

I'm usually the first person to get to my office in the morning, so I'll put on a pot of coffee. Through trial and error, I've discovered that the cheap office coffee is at least fresh, and can be made palatable by using double the indicated amount of grounds.

A while ago, I got in to work a little later than usual, too late to make the coffee, and one of my co-workers already had a pot going. Great, I thought. She probably used only one packet, and it's going to be weak as fuck. When it finished brewing, I poured a mug as she watched me expectantly. It tasted like shit, even weaker and more dishwatery than I expected.

Her: "How's that coffee? Good, huh?"
Me (smiling weakly): "It's fine, thanks. Did you make it?"
Her: "Yep. Whenever I make the coffee, I like it extra strong, so I use two filters!"



Now, at this point, I could have pointed out to her that doubling up the filter would only make the coffee weaker, as it would just strain out more of everything that wasn't water. But just the fact that this 50-year-old person thought this way, was an indication that she'd either never thought it through very well, or was clinging to some very mistaken ideas about where the flavor of her coffee originated.

So I smiled, and when she left the room, I dumped the rest of the coffee and threw on another pot. It isn't that I feared confrontation with this woman, it's just that it seemed tedious and daunting to fight that level of ignorance when she had obviously survived just fine with it all these years.

Have any of you had that happen to you?

[Cluricaun]

Sometimes it seems every facet of my day involves conversations like this. I am surrounded by people who if brains were gasoline they wouldn't have enough to make a piss ant's go kart go around the inside of a Cheerio.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

All the time.

In particular, there's no use attempting to have a discussion with someone who thinks they're going to get rich through multi-level marketing.

[OneCentStamp]

All the time.

In particular, there's no use attempting to have a discussion with someone who thinks they're going to get rich through multi-level marketing.

Ooh, these people are the worst. And the absolute worst is when they're talking to you, and they'll let slip some phrase or buzzword that makes you realize they're parroting something from their training class, word for word.

And you're right; this is a perfect example of what I mean. I used to trash these people, now I just smile and say "Good luck!" And I say it not even in a patronizing way, because I don't want them to go "What, you don't think it's going to work?" and extend the covnersation.

[dread pirate jimbo]

I have these conversations all the time at work, in my capacity as safety supervisor for a big-ass construction project. They tend to go something like this:

dpj: You can't do that. It's illegal and could kill you and your co-workers.
Worker: I've been doing it this way for 22 years and I've never been hurt.
dpj: Well, then you've gotten lucky. But besides that, I don't care how long you've been breaking the law; I can't allow you to do that.
Worker: This is bullshit. How am I supposed to get this job done, then?
dpj: (Sigh) Here's four different suggestions that are safe and legal, all of which your co-workers are doing right now.
Worker: Fuck this. You're making it impossible for me to do my job!
dpj: As I just said, your co-workers are able to do this task without putting themselves in mortal danger, so why don't you just...
Worker: Why don't you just go away for ten minutes and then this will be done and you won't have to badger me anymore.
dpj: Here's a better idea: Why don't you pack up your gear and get off my job site?

The variations on this conversation are pretty much endless, but they all have the same outcome: I get my way and the stoopid worker gets to go kill himself somewhere else.

[AndrewRyan]

There was one time I was working at a place with a large cafe where an actual chef prepared food, and many of the workers would eat together.

I was eating lunch with my girlfriend, and 4 or 5 other people, when this moron named Ron came and sat down. On the menu today was something spicy.

So when someone commented on the spiciness of the food, Ron said to drink milk, because its a base, and will counter the acid in the peppers.

I said, no, milk is an acid.

He replied, no, its a base, trust me. Why else would it help with spicy food?

I said, because it coats your mouth. And you trust ME. Its an acid. Its called, lactic ACID. I'm not guessing on this Ron, I KNOW its an acid.

Suddenly, everyone else at the table, including my girlfriend, started to agree with him. And I know half of them were only doing it because he was such a retard and social idiot, they didn't want to hurt his feelings.

My own girlfriend was siding with this retard, and she later told me because she didn't want me making him feel like an idiot. Even though an idiot is what he clearly is.

6 people, all arguing with me about something that I KNEW was wrong. I picked up my tray, moved to another table, and ate alone in absolutely serene silence.

[OneCentStamp]

^^^ But see, that's the opposite of my example. You fought the ignorance. You fought it to the death.



I bet ten years from now, in the same situation, you would go, "Yeah, what was I thinking? It's totally a base." Just to avoid the frustration. Arguing with someone who's willfully ignorant is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a coffee cup: you're just going to die tired and frustrated.

[AndrewRyan]

^^^ But see, that's the opposite of my example. You fought the ignorance. You fought it to the death.

But we, men of intelligence, is it not our duty, NAY, our obligation to fight the ignorance! Fight it tooth and nail!!!

Ok fine, it wasn't out of obligation I tried to fight it. Nor was it to fight the ignorance. I just want stupid people to know that they are stupid. Is that so wrong?.....

[Fink-Nottle]

My own girlfriend was siding with this retard, and she later told me because she didn't want me making him feel like an idiot. Even though an idiot is what he clearly is.

I would break up with a girlfriend like this. She feels it's okay to make you look like an idiot in order to protect the feelings of the real idiot?!?

[jali]

Someone on FB keeps sending me invitations to his "website".

He fell for the "make millions in your spare time, no shipping" scam and he really believes that people will buy that crap and he'll get rich.

He's pretty high up in my mafia, so I haven't deleted him, just his invitations.

[Exy]

Base and acid have nothing to do with why milk takes away the sting of hot peppers (not being a milk drinker, I'm not even sure it does or if that's a myth.)

On the other hand, there's little to no lactic acid in milk (although their is in soured milk products.)

[What Exit?]

Milk is normally acidic though, roughly a 6.7 PH. As to the spicy bit I have no clue.

[AndrewRyan]

My only point was, in no way is milk a base.
Alton Brown says milk helps cuz it coats the mouth, when it comes to spicy things.
This douche Ron even went so far as to say, "I think milk is a base and an acid."
And by proving my point, I was hoping to prove Ron is the idiot I know him to be.
The plot blew up in my face however, as willful ignorance struck the high chord.

[What Exit?]

Is this related to the 5+ years I spent correcting Emails going around with urban legends via Snopes and Google and now I almost always just delete the offending Emails?

[OneCentStamp]

Is this related to the 5+ years I spent correcting Emails going around with urban legends via Snopes and Google and now I almost always just delete the offending Emails?

EXACTLY!

[Oliveloaf]

I have a glorious example of this.

I once had a situation with my boss, a woman of about 70 years of age. She began complaining that I wasn't returning her voice-mail messages. I was shocked. She was my boss, and I was always careful to respond to her promptly. Well, the situation got worse, and I was flummoxed. What returned messages was she missing and why? So, one day I leave her a message and wait around her office until she arrived. Sure enough, her telephone message light wasn't working. I gently suggested that the bulb was burnt out. And she responds...and I will never forget this for the rest of my life:


"The bulb can't be burnt out, this isn't battery, it's electric."



I learned later that her own son, who worked at the company, had told her she had messages, and that her message light was burnt out. But she was so sure of this "not battery" thing, that she never checked it out. She had something like 86 new messages when she finally checked voice mail.

[AndrewRyan]

OCS, brother. You should tell the story of, "Diamond Dallas Page is tough though, he never gives up!"

[OneCentStamp]

Oh hell yes, I almost forgot. A few years back I was a supervisor at a vitamin factory. Most of my employees were what you would expect out of unskilled warehouse workers in rural Utah. During lunch breaks and any down time, they would all discuss what had happened on WWE Raw or Smackdown the night before. I mean, that was literally all they would talk about.

In an effort to be pleasant and make conversation, I approached them one day and said:

Me: "So, I was watching WWE for a few minutes last night."
Roger, ringleader of the guys: "Oh yeah? Who did you see?"
Me: "The Rock and Diamond Dallas Page. I was impressed; Page wasn't a real big guy, but he did some cool stuff."
Roger, ringleader of the guys: "Yeah, he's tough. He never gives up."



He said this in a straight-faced, matter-of-fact manner which led me to believe that he thought professional wrestling was an arena of legitimate competition. This belief was borne out by other conversations I had with him over the next year or so he worked for me.

Where do you even start? Well, I didn't start. Chalk one up for ignorance.

[dread pirate jimbo]

Oh! Oh! Here's one: I have a brother-in-law who is a total conspiracy theory nut and every time we see him, he just HAS to tell me all about the latest absolute truth he has learned that The Man doesn't want us to know. The subject of Nibiru has come up several times, as well as the "overwhelming" evidence that UFOs exist and are likely running our governments, in cahoots with the Illuminati. Every story is just a little more insane, but I actually find some of them kinda entertaining, so I generally just nod and smile and ask leading questions to get to the next, more insane part. I have occasionally debated the more idiotic parts of his belief system (he's totally anti-flouride, for example, because it is apparently utterly toxic at any level, doesn't at all prevent tooth decay, and is just a big global conspiracy by Big Government and Big Business to keep us down), but have discovered that that only results in him arguing more hysterically and then later sending me e-mails full of questionable (or laughable) links to "prove" his point. Better to just leave him to his little obssessions and stay out of his way, methinks...