[Stupid,] You're A Genius!

[monkey0506]

I've been thinking recently about my behaviour...particularly around particular people. I've noticed that around different people I become a completely different person. I've always recognized the way I might adapt the way I speak depending on who I am talking to, but I can't say I've ever really noticed such a dramatic complete change in the way I act.

I'd like to think of myself as a somewhat intelligent person. I'm fairly good at math, at least what I have learned of math. I know of a lot of more advanced mathematical concepts which I've never had the opportunity to actually learn about, but what I have learned I've always grasped well. I also did well in my language and grammar classes when I applied myself.

But at work I find myself masking all this quite well. It's hard to say how it really all began, but for some reason when I find myself posed with the question:

"Michael, what's one plus one?"

I find myself responding with the likes of:

"Eighteen. You see, you have to wrap the first one around the second one, and then you end up with the symbol for infinity. Then you multiply that by the first one and divide it by the second and that turns it on its side into an eight. After that you're left with a one and an eight. Eighteen."

Its all done in good fun of course, but most of the people I work with don't realize how far below normal capacity I am actually operating with such a statement.

I think I probably do it for the laughs, and Stephen seems relatively easy to please. After explaining why 1+1=18, he invariably responds with "Michael, you're a genius."

I work at a burger joint and just the other day we had 3 burgers that were supposed to be made with mayonnaise. We normally, by default, make all our burgers with mustard. So I started making all three with mustard. When I realized what I'd done, I cursed myself for my mistake, and Stephen dropped three more buns into the bun toaster. So I was presented with three mustardized buns that had to be thrown away. I stacked them all together into a bun-sandwich and was about to put them in the trash when I saw the way Stephen was looking at the sandwich. I said, "I'm gonna take a bite out of this." So I did. I said, "Mmm...delicious." Stephen found it hysterical.

Stephen also operates below normal capacity in order to gain laughs, and he can often make me laugh with some of his own stupidity. At work we've become somewhat of an infamous pair for clowning around. Though I do get my work done.

In any case, it just truly struck me to see how dramatic a change in my own behaviour the situation can evoke. So how about it then...does anyone else here suddenly turn into a blithering idiot for laughs?

[ildu]

Its all done in good fun of course, but most of the people I work with don't realize how far below normal capacity I am actually operating with such a statement.

You're functioning at a lower capacity because you're acting silly? I don't really know what this has to do with changing behaviours, though. Do you feel that you shouldn't be acting juvenile, even in a silly-prone environment? How do you act normally then?

Of course your behaviour changes by the company you keep. It has to do with hierarchies and commonalities between people. For example, when I was in the army, behaviour for everyone degenerated to a silly and wild puberty-centered teenage state, even though we had just graduated from high school, and finally become serious and independent adults. The army really does make a boy out of a man. But I still don't really understand what you're saying. Is it somehow demeaning or below your value to act silly once in a while? Even so, the two examples that you noted really just exhibit banter and playfulness, which I would expect in any 'fun' work environment.

[monkey0506]

I guess it's not necessarily "so terrible" it just struck me somewhat how extreme the change was. And it isn't really a "sometimes" kind of thing. It's pretty much constant. Stephen somehow puts me in a very juvenile state of mind.

I suppose the thing that really impressed me the most is that I'm actually a pretty self-conscious person and now I'm beginning to worry everyone really will just think I'm an idiot.

[Stupot]

This sounds familiar.
At school I always used to be a bit of a clown, despite being quite an intelligent chap, I would always call out silly answers in class because I knew it would get a laugh.  This despite the fact that more often than not I actually knew the right answer,  But I chose the funny answer over the correct one.

Friends didn't really help.  They would all say 'Haha, you're so quick, you should be a stand-up', when what I really needed to hear was 'Stu, shut up and concentrate on trying to pass your exams'.

Now I'm a little older and wiser and I'm taking a diploma to try and get into university.  Tempting as it is sometimes to shout out a funny remark I'm trying to choose the more professional approach, and it's paying off.

The trouble with low-brow comedy is that it gets you the quick laughs, but in the end people take you less seriously.  And it's extremely difficult to change peoples minds that you are actually an intelligent person.

[Oliwerko]

It is veeeery and I mean veeery difficult to learn when you have to bite your tongue and remain quiet or say something normal. It is still happening to me from time to time that I say something (very) stupid and people even don't laugh.

I am an idiot.
That's it. The jokes (hell, they are not jokes!) I laugh at with my best friends (and schoolmates at the same time) are terrible! I am even not going to write much about them, because we laugh at totally dumb things and you would no more talk to me.  ;DOnce, we found that it was helluva fun to sing Slovak anthem during a maths class louder that the teacher was talking. And this is only one of that totally stupid things we laugh at. You got it now, we are total idiots.

But that does not mean that we talk to everyone using our "idiotic" behaviour. Ehmm...would you spend half an hour writing to your girlfriend about the gray slime you spit to the toilet every morning when you are ill? Of course not. But we two (me and one of the schoolmates - the best friends) can afford it.

What I tried to say to you is, that there is NO way to talk to everyone the same way. If ANYBODY I know (except these people that are so close to me and we can know what the other is thinking about - 2 maybe 3 are like this) heard me speaking like to these 3 people, I would have absolutely no acquaintances, no friends, and everybody just curving their eyebrow when looking at me.

It is simple - you cannot afford to tell somebody things, you would tell someone else.

Hope this long post helped.

[Tuomas]

It's not a bad thing as it is, but one must realise, that some people might nt want to hear the things some do. Say, when we're off with my mates, like all of us, we play around quite a lot. Then when it's just the two of us, everyone tends to tell stuff the herd would never take in seriously. It's just the way it works.

Sometimes in social situations you have to think of what kind of an image you want to give from yourself. (someone correct that sentence, I can't consentrate now with a good song on the background). Anyway, we had this guy at civil service classes that would just talk and talk and talk and talk, and every once in a while throw a funny joke that would interrupt everyone learning. Then in the morning in the quiet classroom he'd just talk and talk alone. And some found it fun, but the ones that I thought of as intellectual, the majority were quiet, and in fact annoyed by him. (Intellectual because, well, none of US made a scene in the middle of the night with lots of alcohol).

We weren't that much better, me and mymates, we'd go about talking about gaysex and farting and how women love someone better than the other and stuff. But not during classes because, well, in my opinion it should come naturally, that you don't make an ass of yourself if you care at least a little. I'd rather be thought of as intellectual than an ass, though I often act the other way at #AGS or so, but the thing is, choosing the circles where you can be silly and lay off, and the places like work of uni where you want to stand out as someone people actually might respect. Especially when you yourself are interested in what you do, and it really matters. Now if you act like that idiot there who most probably will have a much more pathetic life than me, it really gives the impression, that you are somewhat socially restricted, ADHD or just a bit of an idiot.

[radiowaves]

There are several equations that prove that 1+1 is indeed 1, 3 or even 0, and of course, the infinity

As for myself, I am the kind of person who doesn't know what being an idiot is, so i guess i am an idiot. Ah, the talks of morality... You know it is extremely good feeling when you don't have to be worrying how idiotic some joke or sentence may turn out, you just let it go and eventually people get used to accept you as an idiot idiots have happy life.

[Oliwerko]

idiots have happy life.

I can confirm that 

[Emerald]

Funny, I just read this article which ties in a lot with what you're saying... (almost errily so, if you ignore the dating-context)

[monkey0506]

Well...me and Steve really bottomed out today...I HOPE. :o

It was completely retarded, but I couldn't help myself but to laugh at how utterly stupid he was being. For about the last hour of work, while the managers were busy counting down inventory and things, he kept...doing the dumbest things. For an example...he took a cooked patty off the grill, quickly ate about half of it, started laughing, dropped the rest back onto the grill, and then stood up quickly to make sure no one was looking...at least not the managers.

Or, his "10 second burger" he showed me how to prepare: Mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. That's what we put on our burgers...by default. So he was showing me how to move faster through the process. At the end, he had a little lettuce, a whole (sliced) tomato, two pickle slices, and about 2 oz. of onions. I couldn't help myself...I was literally laughing so hard I started crying.

So maybe we are just idiots. Or maybe I should learn a little more self control over my giggles and stop supporting Stephen in this unhealthy addiction. Well...so long as we don't actually get fired...it's fun at least.

[Emerald]

Heh, that doesn't even make sense. You guys just sound like you're perpetually high...

[auriond]

I think it just shows that you're really good friends.

I think you're lucky that you have someone that you can clown around with and not feel judged. Don't worry about the opinions of other people; when they see you when you're not with Stephen, they should be able to tell that you're not always an idiot. And if they don't... then I wonder who's the idiot 

This is always assuming that you hang out with anyone else other than Stephen

[Sam.]

Hmm..sounds a bit pretentious doesn't it?

"I'm too clever to be THIS silly"

Being silly and having fun is nothing to do with intelligence, although I would suggest the more intelligent you are with silliness, the more people will find it funny.

Don't censor yourself man, thats what THEY want.

[AntmanJB]

Yeah, it's true that your behaviour can change around certain types of people.
I also used to work at a fast food place, and some of the people there were the funniest I've ever met in my life.

Actually, working there kind of slowly turned me into an asshole (lol). One of my co-workers agreed that it was happening to him, too.
Once I got to the point where I was pretty much a veteran, I was pretty confident, and I used to be a smartass and stuff. But not in an extremely bad way, it was more just to tease the girls. Some of them gave it back, too.

Also, apparently that was construed as flirting by one of the female managers (who was the same ages as me). I was surprised at the accusation but I suppose she was sort of right.

[deadsuperhero]

In all honesty, I think a sense of humor MAKES you intelligent.
Lately, I've been using a more ironic sense of humor. Playing dumb has its perks. For example, I handed a test in to my teacher. She said "Thank you.", and I replied "Oh, gosh, it's no big deal. I'm used to taking them by now."

Or the other day, my dad's phone rang. He said "Oh, is that my phone?", to which I replied "No, that's the stove."
I joke around like that alot. But, I get good grades, so that's okay.

[ThreeOhFour]

I remember in high school when we got new computers for the computer room, and one of the teachers walked in and said "Are these new computers?".

Feeling very clever I said "No, miss, they're chickens". She proceeded to tell me that sarcasm was the lowest form of humor. I personally believe slapstick is the lowest form of humour, and waited for her to push someone over and start laughing at them before explaining this to her, but it never happened.

I am not sure why I posted this here. But I think you're just having fun, Michael, and there is nothing wrong with having a good laugh - especially if you can do it at yourself.

[OneDollar]

Sarcasm is frequently referred to as the "lowest form of wit", recent repetitions of this phrase can include a further comment stating "but the highest form of humour"

says Wikipedia. So there you go, next time you need a comeback.

[ThreeOhFour]

Sarcasm is frequently referred to as the "lowest form of wit", recent repetitions of this phrase can include a further comment stating "but the highest form of humour"

says Wikipedia. So there you go, next time you need a comeback.

If only I had this intellectual ammunition during highschool! I am pleased that someone thought of a better parry than my waiting for a teacher to push someone over .