Every now and then you hear something so ridiculous that you can't help but be impressed... and then commit to memory so you can be sure to share it with everyone later.
After Redditor UnRealDreamsofLife asked the online community, "What's the dumbest reply to a serious question you've heard?" people were more than happy to share their stories.
As you read these, you might ask yourself, Wow, they didn't think that one through, did they?
No. The answer is no.
"I was a nanny..."
I was a nanny when I was in college for this very bizarre family who always pretended like I wasn't there. I was walking down the street with the mother and her two kids. It was February and the sun glare was really bad, so naturally I was wearing sunglasses. One of the kids, about 4, asked his mother why I was wearing sunglasses in winter, and the mother responds, "Well some people are not that smart and they just want to look cool." Please note, both parents were professors at an Ivy League college.
"The man looked at her..."
My friend was a second year med student and she was walking through the main floor of our hospital in scrubs. Stopped by a passerby asking for directions, she was asked "hey! where's the PET-CT?"
She said, "um...I think there's one in the nearby mall"
The man looked at her confused and was like "the PET-CT is in the mall?"
She replies "ya, like the second floor I think? It's not called Pet City though, it called pet world, I think"
"Do...do you think I am looking for a pet store?"
Two years of medical education and common sense returned to her in that moment and said "oh my god no you mean the scan! It's down that hall on the right I'm so sorry"
He shook his head walking away and we heard him say "I wish I was looking for a f***ing pet store.."
"I never went back."
Was in college, and went to the Calculus study hall to see if I could learn something.
One of the problems was something like "A man throws a ball on the moon at a speed of XXX mph at an angle of YY degrees. How long before the ball comes down"
The response from the TA (PHD candidate in math): "That's a stupid question- everyone knows there's no gravity on the moon!"
I never went back.
"Is the standard..."
GiphyMe writing a construction bid: "Is the standard flooring for these units going to be tile or vinyl?"
The client: "Yellow."
"My high school..."
My high school had a geography bee where one kid was asked what the capital of France was and he replied "Spain"
"Back in India...""
Back in India, my company had hired a motivational speaker to give a speech at an event. There were 300 odd people with senior people of HR also in audience. Everyone was bored but the lady instructor kept on going on how to build self confidence. Sensing that people are not interested she started getting audience involved. I, being a back bencher as always, did not care about it at all. I thought she would stay in front. I was feeling sleepy and not paying any attention to it. After some time I saw her coming to the back. She suddenly stopped next to me and asked me "Are you motivated?" I was not sure what was going on. I answered, "No, I am Dave."
Half of the crowd started laughing. She was taken aback by my answer and did not know how to respond to this. She did not come to the back to ask questions after that.
"When accused..."
When accused of nepotism after giving his son an important role as a politician, Brazil's president said "He has to be someone's son, why can't it be mine?"
Truly an argument you can't fight back.
"It was actually..."
It was actually me who said the dumb reply. This was when I was younger, just by the way.
(Texted to me by a friend) "Can I take a rain-check?"
A few minutes later, I text back,
"Nope, no rain."
I had literally checked the weather for the day. I was a socially awkward idiot, so... yeah.
"In law school..."
In law school we had a free clinic for qualifying and lower income people to come in. We couldn't technically "advise" them because we weren't barred yet, but we could guide and try to help them through some complex issues they might not have a handle on. One guy came in and wasn't even my case but being done by classmate next to me during a session.
The man, dead faced and scared: Would filing for bankruptcy ruin my life?
Girl, flustered how to answer: Um... well, it looks like your life is already pretty bad.
"Since then..."
Years and years ago I was working as a developer at a small company. There were 3 full time developers, Mike, Jake and me. I was working on one project and the other two were working together on a separate project.
The 2008 recession hits our industry about early 2009. And we laid off Mike. He goes to another company and gets a job pretty quickly. They were impressed with him. Which was no surprise to me. In fact, everyone else always assumed Jake would be let go during the layoff.
About a year later, Jake is fired. He ended up applying at the place the Mike went. It was one of the few places that was doing almost exactly what we were doing. Mike messages me and asks me how he should respond, because his boss saw they both worked together. He felt bad, and didn't want to be the reason Jake didn't get a job. But I told him, while that would suck, he also has to consider how HE will look to his boss if he recommends Jake. We all knew he wasn't a good developer, and if you tell your boss that Jake will be good, it can only backfire on you. In the end, he chose to not recommend Jake.
Since then, I think Jake has had 6-10 jobs in the last 9 years. And if it ever comes up, I will not recommend him for this same reason.
