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Some of us are just born with brains and beauty... and some of us lack in one or more of those departments. That is just how the brain cells crumble. There really are people running around without common sense or logic that God gave a goose. And what is most frightening? Some of these people are in political positions of power. Now, you know we've all personally come across a person or six that left us shook by a few things that fell out of their mouths. Let's compare notes.
Redditor u/your_neighbor420 wanted to hear from everyone about certain people in their lives that may be missing a few marbles by asking... People of reddit, who was the dumbest person you met?After working in the food service and hospitality industry I can tell you, humanity is in trouble kids. I'm not trying to be mean, but some of the actions I've witnessed, and some of the conversations I eavesdropped on left me stunned. Stunned is the purest way to describe it. Like, how do some people survive everyday without a care giver? Let's discuss...
Stop Typing
I know a woman who bragged on Facebook that she scored 84 on her IQ test.... She thought it was out of 100. 🙄.
For the Jordans
A customer who thought he should be able to get the Jordan Bred 11s for 90% off because of 2 "coupons" he had. One of these coupons was a print out of a 70% off clearance promotion from Nike's website and the other was a 20% off coupon from Payless that expired in 2017. I've never been more confused, frustrated, and exasperated than I was during the 10 minute interaction where myself, two managers and a customer tried to explain to this man why this wasn't going to happen.
Numbers are Hard
I was put in charge of training a girl at a coffee shop I worked at. She didn't know how to make coffee, I literally had to tell her "ok, now pour the coffee in until it reaches this line, no, pour it slower don't dump the whole pot over the cup." When trying to train her on register I don't know if she couldn't or just refused to count.
A total would be $5.98 and she'd tell the person it was $6, when people gave her anything but bills she'd stare at the change and ask me how much that was or she'd say "that's $2 right?" And there'd be like 50¢ on the counter in dimes and pennies. I tried training her on sandwich station, she would pack the food frozen into the bags and just hand it out. On her breaks I'd have to constantly remind her that 15 minutes means 15 minutes, not 20, not 30, not an hour.
We were allowed to have food at work for free within reason and only in the back. She would reach into the pastry case with her bare hand, pick up an item and just eat it at register or right next to the case. There was a lot more she'd do wrong and it got to the point where I thought she was trying to purposefully get fired.
No Day But Today
A girl who agreed on time changes but disagreed I was talking to her on my Sunday when it was her Saturday. I lived in Australia at the time.
Damn Pennies!
During college I worked at a 7/11 for a few months and one time had to train a girl to use the register and she didn't know how to count coins. She had to give someone change and she turns to me and asks me what coins and how many of them make 43 cents or whatever the amount was and both the customer and I were speechless.
All I can do is shake my head and pray. Half of those aren't even that shocking. To be fair, math can be a stumbling block for many of us. In this day and age basic change can be an issue with younger generations as coins become obsolete, thanks to the power of plastic. That is a big part of the problem... the lack of basic life educations disappearing. Let's keep reading...
Hey Pearl...
We were in history class, taking a pop quiz. one of the questions was "where is pearl harbor?" someone raised their hand and asked "who is pearl harbor? and why would I know where he is?"
It's me. I had trouble focusing in school and thought pearl harbor was a person.
Headlines
My first girlfriend, about 20 years, I showed her one of those newspapers at the time that had made up stories about alien abductions etc, Weekly World News I think it was. One of the headlines was "Belgium Destroyed By Giant Asteroid And No One Noticed For 2 Months" and she thought it was real. Thing was she wasn't actually dumb, just really innocent and naive.
Flipper Love
Ex-girlfriend. I once said out loud "I wonder how dolphins have sex?" She said, with conviction "There aren't boy dolphins and girl dolphins. They're just dolphins." You know, like magical.
And she argues with me for about 2 hours.
You Are Where?
For months, I've been dealing with a client who doesn't get their bills.
Every month, they call and ask where it is, we confirm their address and the expected arrival date, I manually generate a new invoice, and e-mail it over.
Today, when confirming the address for like the 6th time, they said "oh, no, that's not my town or zip" and submitted an address change.
How the hell do you not know where you live?
Bless Her...
My ex-gf thought rhinoceroses were dinosaurs. Then, we were watching King Kong and toward the end of the movie she asked if it was based on a true story.
Negatives
Worked at a bank for a (blessedly) short time. Had a 60 year old woman that asked, "What do you mean my account balance is negative?? I still have checks, so I still have money!"
I'd be willing to bet that she went around trying to write the largest checks possible in order to maximize the value per check.
Madame Cleo?
Had a friend in HS that could predict rain by looking at the stars... if the big dipper was upside down "the water would pour out and it would rain tomorrow" She was 17.
I too can predict rain by looking at the stars, if I can't see any stars its probably either going to rain or already raining.
Special Dumb
Holy crap, I'm ready...
Let me tell you about this woman that my uncle dated for a while. She was really a special kind of dumb. I'm just gonna go ahead and list the top 3 that I can remember, but I'm sure there's more. These were all relayed to me years later as I wasn't around at the time. It's a running joke between some family members.
- Thought pork chops came from horses.
- Met a guy who had lost a portion of his ear in some kind of accident. Upon meeting she just asked him with no class at all: "Hey, what happened to your ear?" His response: "I turned my head too fast and bit my earlobe off." She was totally cool with that answer.
- Went grocery shopping and assumed that whatever number of chicken legs came in a pack was how many legs that chicken must have had.
There was also something to do with a moose, but I can't remember the specifics on that.
Look Up
A girl in my class in high school asked the teacher where the sky was. Like she genuinely had no idea and when we tried to explain to her that the sky was above us outside she was like "no that's the ceiling".
"WE can now mine all the helium we need from the unsuspecting moon."
"Sun, sir."
"At night it's called the moon!"
"No like SUPER thick glasses."
In fourth grade we had a motivational speaker come in and talk to us who was completely blind since birth. At the end they had time for questions and a girl asked why they didn't just wear super thick glasses. When the person replied that they cannot see ANYTHING, so there would be nothing to magnify, the girl said "No like SUPER thick glasses." We were only in fourth grade but we all were looking at her like holy shit how do you not get this. The blind dude just shook his head.
Let's Mooo
A friend's partner said she was vegan. Another friend jokingly said 'you're not vegan, you eat corn on the cob, which is actually the spine of a cow'. Aforementioned friend's partner started crying about how much she loved eating cow spine and was really upset, genuine tears of sorrow at how she wasn't a vegan at all.
From that day forth, corn was known as Cow spine on the cob and their relationship didn't last for too long, probably a week after she asked why Mel Gibson didn't just phone the English King to negotiate in Braveheart...
Uncle Says
Uncle telling us about a guy he worked with. Guy buys a nice, new car. Car comes with cruise control and built in GPS. Guy wrecks new car. Apparently he typed in an address and set the cruise control. He thought that he didn't have to drive after setting in where he wanted to go, the car would just take him where he wanted to go.
Falling Down
I worked a security post with a guy who didn't understand the concept of gravity. I thought he was joking at first, but he was serious. To be fair to him, he did pick it up pretty quick when I taught him.
the light...
True story. Kid in my neighborhood. Someone must have told him that if he shone a flashlight in one ear, light would come out the other ear. He didn't know i was looking. He held a flashlight to one ear and his open palm at the other. He turned on the light and tried to turn his head real fast to see his palm. He did this several times. Never caught the light. I was in awe at his stupidity.
Human race? You in danger girl. Yes some people are just... "special." And that can be just as endearing as it is dangerous. I guess it depends on the person or the situation. Let's just try to not give any of these people the nuclear codes. Ok?
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Various organizations can have any number of followers who are totally devoted to their respective missions, it seems like a cult.
Religions are known for having so many followers who abide by a lifestyle that comports to supporting the faith.
But the same dedication can apply to non-religious organizations.
These were explored when Redditor DrLizardLover asked:
"What isn't a religion but people treat it like it is?"
People in the big picture have their insanely dedicated followers.
Elon, The God
"I spoke vaguely against Elon Musk in a reply to a comment on a video."
"The video has gone viral, and the comment I replied to was pinned. So I get about 3-4 notifications a day of musk simps acting like I've insulted a deity. I've just rolled with it and reminded them he's essentially an oligarch and is inherently not a good dude. They froth."
– Goatfellon
Matinee Idols
"Celebrity worship."
– VisualSeaweed5927
Actor Adulation
"Whatever Jared Leto’s got going on."
– SirMooncake
People find a sense of belonging in social media groups and communities.
Following With The Flow
"People who worship streamers."
– The_bombblows12
Gaming Culture
"Steamer/Twitch culture freaks me out. I've been a gamer my whole life (only 30,) but the gaming scene is so strange to me. I truly hope the people in Twitch chats are nothing like that in real life."
– kamWise
"Poggers Dude"
"Take this with a grain of salt. But I've met a few other people who have watched twitch. Most of them are a bit nerdy, but nothing crazy."
"But one guy, he was like an attractive, active dude, who you might see on the beach in California going for a surf. He and I were at a barbecue and he was talking about something non gaming related and he said 'poggers dude'. I had to take a second to realize what I heard. Then I started to notice him saying things like 'PogChamp' and some of the other popular twitch phrases. Later come to find out he is like a die hard fan of some esport, can't remember which."
"I realize this isn't quite like a typical twitch chat of what you see on big streams like xqc, mizkif, or others. But still I imagine there are probably some people out there who act like those chats."
– CaptSprinkls
The FB Matriarchy
"Mom groups on facebook."
– Swift_Lad
Anonymous Tippers
"There was a streamer poker game the other night and seeing these guys dump half a million in an hour made me wonder, why are people donating to these people? It's like that Kylie Jenner thing where one of her employee got an accident and she started a gofundme for 150K instead of paying it herself."
– Zorops
Power Play
"Cricket game in india."
– RayTrader03
"Cricket in Australia, too, lol."
– CalypsoContinuum
People flock to this popular financial prospect.
"Multi level marketing."
– Voice_of_Season
Predatory Endeavor
"What upsets me is I sometimes meet people who are genuinely motivated to change their life but completely misguided in what they invest their time and money into and mlm sorta preys on that."
– ultimaIV
A "Sunny" Reference
“ It’s a Pyramid scheme!”
“No, it’s not a Pyramid Scheme, it’s a Reverse Funnel system!”
“…turn it upside down”
“Goddamnit! Sh*t!”
– doobydoodle
Pitch At A Party
"Dude.. I was just at a child's birthday party and this douche was telling my aunt about his wellness products. She said sounds like MLM. No it isn't though because I really believe in the products. Do you have someone encouraging you to sell. No I don't I sell it because it's a high quality product at a reasonable price. Do you make good money? Not yet because we are brand new. What else do you do for work. This is it right now. I'm happy with my regular wellness products. How would you know until you try these? This went on for the entire birthday party. She said I'm Not Interested. And turned the other way. He still pestered her."
"After the party he was asking people if anybody knew my aunt's phone number."
– lumberjackpat19
It's one thing for a person to join a community of like-minded individuals to feel a sense of belonging.
But it's another thing when they lose a sense of themselves completely for their blind devotion.
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There are many things in modern society that are generally accepted but would have been considered taboo as little as ten to twenty years ago.
But even in our supposedly progressive modern age, we still have a long way to go.
Far too many people are still hesitant or afraid to be open about elements of their life, fearing too many people wouldn't consider it "normal."
This idea piqued the curiosity of Redditor Sham-da-man, leading him to reach out to the Reddit community on what needs changing in modern society by asking:
"What needs to be normalized?"
Finding that work/life balance.
Choosing to leave a job during your probation period. The probation period is not just for the company to see if you’re a good fit, but for you to assess the company and see if you actually like it. A lot of employers tend to forget this, and then it is sometimes looked down upon on your CV unfortunately. - User Deleted
"Taking time off work when you’re sick."- HuffleSlut_.
"Being able to go home from work if your tasks are completed."
"Not at 10am because you don't have anything on your plate, but say at 3:45pm after you've busted it all day, completed your items, helped a few co-workers with some things outside of your scope, and are now browsing reddit because you're waiting on people to get back to you before you're able to proceed."- xLenny3x.
It takes a real man to know...
"Men actually having feelings and not have to 'take it like a man'."- Gifigi600.
Sorry, can't help you!
"Not being available at all times."- INTPhoenix.
Saying 'I don’t know enough to have an opinion on this issue' or 'I don’t know'.- LiquidPenChamber1019.
Table for one.
"Eating alone."- -lmayonnaise.
That might be what YOU think, but...
"Being allowed to disagree with people in your community, and being allowed to agree with people outside your community."
"We are so polarized and political these days."- 604jmv.
Not ashamed to admit it.
'Mental health struggles.'
"Society has come a long way but we still have progress to be made."- JBAnswers26.
Arguably, there's another very pressing issue which needs to be normalized more than anything.
The overuse and expectations of the word "normal."
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Expectations can be a dangerous thing.
It's very easy to be excited for an upcoming movie or TV show, an item of clothing you've been dying to own, or a vacation we've been saving years for.
But sometimes, when reality sets in, whatever it was we were so eagerly looking forward to doesn't always turn out to be everything we'd hoped it would be.
Redditor Tarps-celom was curious what fellow Redditors had sky-high expectations for, only to find themselves let down, and asked:
"What were you really hyped for but completely flopped?"
Is being a grown up all that it's cracked up to be?
"Being an adult."- marr318
"Running my own business."- LB_P
"Having a career, our whole life built up to this..and its just mediocre, and NOBODY knows what they are really doing."- SnooPandas1674.
For all the advancements in technology...
"Power Glove."
"It sucked and I'll never forget it."- Ekh0es.
"Google +"
"They made us to wait for a very long time with invite only feature."
'Ppl forgot about it when it was released."- introvertboyme.
Not worth the price of admission.
"'Dark Tower' movie."- urchisilver.
"M.Night's 'Avatar' movie."
"He broke my heart."- Suspicious-Elk-3631.
So much better the first time.
"Sim city 5.'
"Good God what a horrid mess."
"First week or more of release you were lucky to play because you could only play it online on their servers that were constantly full."
"Then once you hit like 50k people in your city the game was uncontrollable."
"You would literally run out of water and no matter what you did traffic took the shortest path so constant traffic and thus emergency vehicles couldn't move so everything went to hell fast."- InsertBluescreenHere
"Second go round of 'Arrested Development'."
"Deep inside I knew they’d never be able to capture that magic."
"Still, told myself they could."
"Narrator: They couldn’t."- PollyWentlightly
"Should old acquaintance be forgot..."
"Every New Year’s Eve party ever."- PollyWentlightly
When expectations are high, being disappointed is almost inevitable.
Then too, it's entirely possible that our disappointment didn't stem one bit from our sky-high expectations, but simply the fact that what we were so looking forward to turned out to be just plain awful.
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Elon Musk is one of the richest men on the planet. He's also among the most controversial.
In recent weeks, Musk made headlines for his $44 billion buyout of Twitter, which sparked concerns among liberals and civil rights activists who have warned about the consequences of having one person have so much control over public discourse online.
Musk has defended his venture as a bid to protect free speech and while there exist many editorials analyzing his motives in this venture (to say nothing of his others), there are also many people out there who consider him a visionary and have balked at criticisms of him.
We heard from a few of those people after Redditor return2ozma asked the online community,
"Those who defend Elon Musk, why do you feel the need to defend him?"
"All of that stuff..."
"I dont really care about Musk himself. My issue is the sheer hypocrisy."
"People are suddenly saying the speech will be restricted and he will use his power to selectively ban accounts like Big Tech (especially Twitter) haven't been doing that for years."
"MSNBC said that he would use it to promote good info on presidential candidates he likes and hide good info on candidates he doesn't. That he would exaggerate the bad and put it to the front for candidates he hates while doing the opposite for those he likes. like Big Tech (and mainstream media) hasnt been doing that for years."
"People are screaming that billionaires are able to purchase entire media platforms. like Billionaires havent been doing that for years. All of that stuff they were mocking political opponents for suddenly might be used on them, and now it's an issue?"
InvisibleMe21
People have been complaining about the very things you have raised. And also complaining about Musk who has historically proven he is not really a fan of free and open speech.
"A lot of people hate him..."
"I don't defend him. But when people make assumptions and straight up lie, I will call them out for it. A lot of people hate him, just because it's trendy to do so. In reality they don't know anything about him."
[deleted]
I mean, that's fine. But, when people make up lies to prop up Elon, I hope you have that same enthusiasm for the truth.
"If you're reading this..."
"If you’re reading this, then you’re old enough to know that mainstream media sets the mood for the perception of public figures, but also that that mood is never some objectively accurate measure of the persons overall goodness or badness. Media is like fashion: winds change."
"So don’t come at me saying “why does your opinion differ from the sentiment I happen to have read in the news lately?” That is inherently a dumb question."
"Real answer: Because when he says his goal is to make life interplanetary and spread consciousness to the stars, I believe that’s genuine."
"I honestly don’t understand how you can justify believing he’s not driven to make the world a better place: his motivation leaks through every single endeavor he undertakes."
Do you really think it’s a coincidence that the same guy who popularized electric cars is also pushing forward other optimistic, utopian-aiming tech like solar energy, high-speed rail and tunnel infrastructure, brain-computer interfaces, space exploration, and uncensorable Internet?"
"To that, I say: what an extraordinary coincidence that the guy who’s supposedly a fraud and big danger to humanity is simultaneously involved in so many things that a real tech-oriented humanist would be. Extraordinary coincidence!"
"The real question is, 1) why the hate? and 2) given the above how can you actually justify thinking he’s not genuinely all about advancing the human race?"
"I fear y’all only hate him because he’s a bit autistic, combined with jealousy, but especially combined with the fact he’s been getting piled on a lot."
adamisom
You can certainly make an argument that mainstream media doesn't like him but many people just don't like the man's attitude and entitlement.
"He can be a real jerk. He does things I don't agree with, and is famous enough that a lot of his personal life is public. And the people attacking him seem to forget that he has a right to be himself. If he were running for public office then we should worry about what he believes, but until then, let him be him."
"He's on the autism spectrum, and so am I, so I guess I'm a little sensitive to the fact that his brain works differently, and he sees things differently, and he gets attacked for it. I defend him against people who attack him for being different because in many ways I feel like I'm defending my right to be different and see the world in a way that others do not."
AlsoNotTheMamma
While I do not find Elon in any way shape or form to be a role model of mine, I do applaud your reasoned and level headed response.
"If he gets us to Mars..."
"If he gets us to Mars in the next decade or so, I think he will be every young kid's role model whether we like it or not."
"The important thing for me is that he's not perfect, and I don't expect him to be. Flawed people can accomplish great things if they work hard. And have access to money."
AlsoNotTheMamma
The key here, of course, is money. If you don't have any money, what can you actually do?
"I wouldn’t say I like Musk as a person either but that doesn’t mean I would discredit all of the massive advancements in innovation and technology he has done for the world."
rbui5000
Safe to say he's very much a "love him or hate him" sort of figure. There is no in-between.
"I don't get the blind hate..."
"I don't get the blind hate or blind love of him. I am amazed by what he has achieved in a number of areas, he's clearly a brilliant clear thinker in terms of engineering, but he's still flawed. He says and does things I don't like, but so far the world is a much better place because of him."
mother-a-god
Granted, all the billionaire hate is justified. Is the world actually better when Musk symbolizes so much of its inequality?
"He's not someone I admire or desire to emulate. However, the world's innovation is driven by people like this guy, and as controversial as he is he does a lot of good things."
[deleted]
Can you elaborate on this for people who don't follow him?
"I don't really defend him. I just think self driving electric cars and rockets are pretty cool."
Rorty
Okay, fair! Those things are indeed pretty cool.
There's no doubt that Elon Musk is one of the most polarizing figures in the world. How he'll continue to effect the world we live in remains to be seen but whatever lies in store for us is bound to have significant impacts on society at large.
Have opinions of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
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