Just because you understand the concept of something, you can't assume it's common knowledge.
Sometimes, people can ask bizarre questions that can either make you doubt your own intelligence or make you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them back to reality.
Look, they say there are no such things as stupid questions. But these strangers online would beg to differ.
Curious to hear some ridiculous examples about peoples's intelligence, Redditor forthrightchubby asked:
"What is the most ridiculous thing that you have ever had to explain to somebody?"
If only these people actually stopped to think about what they were about to ask, it would save them a huge embarrassment.
Spoiler alert: they did not stop to think about what they were about to ask.
Clarifying Demographics
"That black people in Africa are not 'African-American.'"
Years ago, France was having some riots, it was primarily African immigrants upset with how they were being treated, I think. In any case there were a lot of angry black dudes in the crowd, who were referred to as "African Americans" by some of our, United States, news media.
A Direct Messenger
"I'm a mailman. Sometimes have to tell people 'YOU are Current Resident.'"
Pizza Magicians
"That pizzas aren't cooked in pizza boxes."
"Had a regular customer at an Italian place I worked once exclaim that we were magicians, because he couldn't even reheat his pizza without nearly burning his house down."
"Mind you, this was at a counter that faced the end of the pizza oven - customers could literally watch you take it from the oven, off the oven tray & into the takeaway box."
"Somehow, he just never put the pieces together. Would try to reheat leftovers, crank his oven at home up, put the whole box in & have it catch on fire every time."
"The look on his face when I explained has stayed with me for a decade."
Wrong Balloons
"That helium is a gas you have to pump into balloons that make them float. There are no 'helium/non-helium balloons.' I was blowing up balloons with a coworker using our mouths and she was confused why they weren't floating. She thought we had bought the 'non-helium' kind by mistake."
– abae17
Beastly Myth
"My ex-boss thought that King Kong was a true story. I had to patiently explain the truth."
– RunDNA
Classic Film Vintage GIF by Warner ArchiveGiphyThis Statement Was The Catastrophe
"Someone tried to convince me that boats were not invented in the days of the Titanic."
"Their literal words were 'boats did not exist when the Titanic sank...'"
– Arge101
Sometimes, people just have to put two and two together. But there's no guarantee they'll arrive at a realization.
Does Not Calculate
"I had to spend far too long trying to convince the HR person at my work that a sum of time adding up to 136 minutes was more than an hour and 36 minutes."
Things That Are Normal Where You Live But Crazy Anywhere Else | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Free Money
"When I was 10, I had to explain to my 18 year old half-brother that he had to have money in a bank account to back up what he wrote on checks. He thought a checkbook was a magical book of free money everyone got when they turned 18."
Criminal Activity
"At university, some intro to business class."
"This girl didn't understand profit. That you could buy a good for a certain price and sell it for a higher price. She thought that was illegal."
Earth's Expiration Date
"Back when I was teaching, I had to tell a classroom of 9 year olds that the Earth wasn't going to end in December 2012 and then having to tell THEIR PARENTS that the world wasn't ending in December 2012. When they asked how I was so sure, I said, 'Come see me in January 2013 and I'll explain it to you then.' Four kids' parents showed up in January 2013 and demanded to know how I knew the world wasn't going to end.... THAT was the most ridiculous thing I've ever had to explain. Fact: Stupid parents are the primary reason teachers quit teaching with bad administrators being a distant second."
Powering The Sun
"I was sitting outside looking at the stars with the person I was dating. The sky was exceptionally clear and dark and I mentioned how bright the stars were."
"They replied with 'Yeah, it was super sunny today so they got a good recharge!' Straight face, not an ounce of sarcasm or hint of a joke."
"I had to explain, to a 40 year old parent, that stars are similar to our sun and produce their own light. They are not the same as the glow-in-dark star stickers that their child had in their bedroom."
Having patience with clueless customers can really test your limits.
The Mocktail
"At the beginning of the pandemic I worked at a grocery store and we had Pedialyte on an end cap. I had to explain to two men that it was not alcohol and you shouldn't wash your hands with it. It took me like 5 minutes to convince them."
Now, Picture This
"Working in Michaels frame department a lady said she was looking for a 10x8" frame, but all she could find on the floor were 8x10' frames. Grabbed a frame, flipped it horizontally and sent her on her way."
Coupon Computation
"I deal with the general public on a daily basis. Needless to say I die a little each day. 5pm today until 5pm tomorrow = 24 hours. Loads of basic math. Here is one example though: Customer buying a 12 pack of beer. Beer had a $3 coupon that required the purchase of two bags of chips. Lady proceeds to buy the two bags of chips (about $7) so she could use said coupon. Then gives the chips away because she didn't want them she just wanted to save $3 off her beer. I tried explaining that she just paid four extra dollars instead of saving three. She didn't believe me."
The Bagging Method
"I worked at a grocery store and we packed the customers items for them."
"Customer had an insulated bag he brought with him, so I put the cold food in there."
"He got mad at me because I did not also include the hot rotisserie chicken."
"He believed that the bag would keep hot things hot and cold things cold even if you put them in together."
"I could have explained this to him. But I didn't care. So I just said my bad, put the chicken in and sent him on his way."
Many of these comments involved mathematics, revealing most people had problems with numbers – a common insecurity.
One would hope in time, they actually grasp basic computational skills.
But when it comes to claims of mythical creatures existing in real life, or our sun requiring a good charge to power through another day of brilliance for the denizens of earth, some of these out of touch individuals are just way off their orbit.
May they get back on track to a better understanding of basic common knowledge.
Unlike introverts who tend to shy away from engaging in random discussions, those who are comfortable–or too comfortable–in their own skin love to get all chatty.
That doesn't mean they have anything significant to say.
"What’s the weirdest thing someone casually told you as if it were totally normal?"
People whom you don't know tend to overshare as these Redditors experienced.
A High Request
"A story from a friend - in Colorado, someone once asked, 'Could you watch my wolves, I can pay you in weed.'"
"There's a lot to unpack in that question!"
– surlymoe
"You don't unpack wolves, you keep them together."
– hwarang_
Unsolicited Prediction
"Husband (30) and I were pushing our shopping cart out of the grocery store when a random man (who honestly looked like dumbledore) looked at my husband and said 'take my hat, you're gonna need it, you'll be bald very soon.' Obviously my husband didn't take it. It was super odd of him to say because my husband had a FULL head of hair."
"Three months later, my husband was diagnosed with a condition that made him lose all of his hair. Weird coincidence."
– hollyjollyaf
Self-Casting
"A guy once told me how he loved the feeling of wearing casts, so he'd put casts on himself- for days or weeks on end. Even if it meant he couldn't drive and would be stuck at home the entire time. He'd use vacation time just to wear full leg & arm casts."
– Present_Dust_2308
Homophobic Homosexual
A homophobic guy I know: 'Being gay is a choice.'"
"I said something like - ok, choose to be gay for a day, an hour, a single minute if you can."
"Guy - That's easy, I'm attracted to men all the time, I just choose to only like girls because I'm not gay."
"Me - Ummm..."
– discostud1515
Longheld Grudge
"Once, an older woman came up to me on the street, took hold of my wrists and simply said 'they ripped out my afterbirth', and then carried on walking."
– JennyW93
"It's strange to grab strangers. But one day in Walmart, my granny walked ahead of me, and reached to grab me to show me something, without looking and she was pulling on an old lady's arm obliviously, and the old lady's eyes were like O.O."
"My grandma didn't even apologize, she just let go and yelled at me to stay closer."
– chzygorditacrnch
A Hairdresser-In-Training
"I was getting my hair done this last weekend by my daughter at her cosmetology school. One of her fellow students was excited to meet me. She talked nonstop and eventually told me that she has hemorrhoids and that she has her husband push them back in. So much TMI from a stranger!"
– Digjam823
You never know about the personal lives of people you see on a regular basis.
Squeaky Clean
"I had a college professor on the first day of class say that she is obsessed with Q-tips and cleaning her ears and that her family has to limit her to 3 a day-"
– lokeilou
Here's The Story...
"That they have 6 kids, all with different dads & each dad is in prison."
– ChyCgx2
"I once had a coworker who had seven kids with five different women and he'd constantly complain about how most of his paycheck went to child support. You uh, dug your own grave, pal. I'm really not sympathetic to your plight."
– apocalypticradish
It's the end of the world as we know it.
End Of Civilization
"I know a guy, we don't talk often but due to business we cross paths on occasion. More or less every time we talk he asks if I'm ready for the total societal collapse coming next week, or Tuesday, or at the end of the month.. and so on."
"I just tell him that it's not gonna happen; he usually then asks about my "crystal ball" so I remind him that I've been right every time."
– rkpjr
Zombie Apocalypse
"I went to a ComicCon type event in my city years ago(Walking Dead was a new show, first season for reference) and went to a panel about zombies. They talked about historical zombie lore, the first zombie movies, and the exciting first season of the new show Walking Dead, with some actors on the panel. When they opened it up to the audience for questions one of the first ones was, 'what kind of zombies do you predict we’ll have in a real zombie apocalypse? (Fast vs slow)'…panelists don’t really know how to answer, each gives their personal favorite or worst case scenario. Then we get to, 'What do you think the timeline is for the start of a coming zombie apocalypse?' Panelists are kind of like….? Talk about how things usually play out fiction."
“'No, but exactly WHEN do you think we’ll need to be fully prepared for zombies in real life?' Like, guys, these are actors and media studies academics, first of all they don’t have the level of belief you do and second, the people you should be asking about this stuff are probably biologists."
– AlternativeAcademia
Whenever I feel threatened by a homeless person who is pressuring me to hand over them cash, I tell them, "I''m allergic to corn."
The random phrase throws them and in the brief moment they assess what they heard I'm afforded more time to distance myself from them.
It always works, especially when they realize I'm all kinds of crazy and not worth targeting.
