[STICKIED] Community Question Post #41- ONE EYED, ONE HORNED, FLYING...

[theidolhands]

Each week we post a new question for the members of the community to answer! As usual, if you have a question you'd like to see answered by the community, leave it in a comment on this post.

theidolhands asks: Who is the weirdest person you've ever worked with?

What made them appear so quirky?

Comments

[theflyers]

Weirdest? Oh good gravy, how do I choose

Look up Korean "fan death" if you get a chance.

[theidolhands]

Do all electronics put off radiation??

I know the human body puts out electro-magnetics...and that too can be a factor with machinery. You know, in a lot of cultures they're obsessed with unplugging things (a habit they will then bring to America -- where I live). It is amazing that I am still alive considering how I leave all my stuff plugged in all the time; I believe that was explained to me as a circuit breaker issue, as in they had none/few where they were from, but I've had ex-pats argue me past that. Nope, they gotta unplug.

Note to self: speaker phone totes not dangerous!

(( and ever so helpful for eavesdropping when u don't want to be accused of gossip... i guess? ))

---

Oh yes, I've worked with former Islanders myself! Small world. Do you suppose they think you're "weird" too? I know my co-workers did!

Re: Look up Korean "fan death" if you get a chance.

[theflyers]

I have no idea what electronics put off, honestly. That was just his excuse and I was like "okay, you don't have to come in here, I'll go out there and shout at you!". He loved me because my personal motto is essentially "If you're signing my paychecks, I'll deal with whatever quirky you wanna dish out...unless you scream at me, then I'm going to leave." LOL

[theidolhands]

Oh, how nice to meet you, I'm sometimes assumed to be sex change!

Good thing I don't find that particularly insulting.

[springandsummer]

I used to work in an environmental laboratory, where we tested water samples at IBM (although my coworkers and I were contractors, not IBMers).

There was this one guy who had worked there forever (and had worked with my coworker at past jobs, going back about 15 years). Every Friday, without fail, he would make sure to say TGIF to everyone. He also wore a red shirt every Thursday, which had been in support for an IBM unionization movement that had been attempted years before I started (and keep in mind that we weren't IBMers, we just did all the work). He was the guy that went around the facility to do the sampling and powerwalked everywhere. He apparently shaved in the men's room.

Once, he even claimed that one of those automated tractor trailer-height garage doors hit him in the head, when really he walked into it.

But the actual cherry on the sundae is that he drove his officemate so nuts with all of his bullshit that the officemate put legit acid in weird coworker's potted plants and killed them (and got fired, whoops).

Is it an offense to kill plants?

[theidolhands]

Or...moreso misusing (company) acid?

And btw, for a split second I thought you were going to tell me that he put LSD in the guy's food or something just to drive him so beserk that he hoped it would get the other guy fired!

Oh dear, GREAT stuff, thank you for sharing that!

How did you get the skinny on the plant murders?

Re: Is it an offense to kill plants?

[springandsummer]

Oh my gosh, that would have been really funny :x

The side of the building was one big wall of windows, so plants thrived really well there. When these plants not only started to wither but to smell really bad, someone looked into it and realized they could recognize the odor. They questioned everyone and I'm not sure if the coworker owned up to it or they caught him on surveillance camera (they manufactured computer chips in another portion of the facility, so I'm sure they were recording.

It sucked because the coworker and I had started at the same time, so I had felt somewhat of a bond with him :/

[theidolhands]

It does suck, he was driven MAD. He should've pleaded insanity.

When I think of all the stuff my work places didn't catch or looked the other way on, this one zeroes in on plant murder and throws the book at him. Sheesh.

[velvetalchemist]

The one who truly believed all Jewish folk and politicians were going to turn into giant lizards in 2012. She was efficient, she worked hard, she had some serious resting bitch face... and she was absolutely and completely bat shit about her conspiracy theories. She also believed that I was a total burnout due to my knowledge about Weed Life even though I've never touched the stuff.

I'm a huge Futurama fan, and I made the mistake of quoting it in front of her once. A coworker asked me a question, and I replied, "Is the Space Pope reptilian?" The nutty coworker caught my eye and gave me this smug, knowing look with a little nod... and all I could think was NO NO NO NOT THOSE KIND OF LIZARDS DAMMIT. *sigh*

My Jewish roommate found this all too hilarious. "Hey, come here and look at my lower back. It's itchy and I want to make sure the scales aren't peeking through my skin yet."

TELL HER ABOUT THE REVERSE VAMPIRES

[theidolhands]

What in the hell?

You know...I recall the day I heard about the "Lizard People" and...I seriously could not believe anyone was that dumb past the age of ten. Like, you're a full grown man and you're seriously expecting me to believe this

I knew about the Reptoids ...

[gamingkitty]

... mainly because the only reason I kept my subscription to an online gaming mag going as long as I did was Ken Hite's "Suppressed Transmission" column. And I really wish Steve Jackson Games would release a collection of all the columns, since they pulled the online versions when they revamped the magazine.

[firebomber]

Sometimes these are the best people to mess with. I had some co-workers who were REALLY into the Illuminati and every time I'd try to tell them to stop talking, one of them would just go, "Look, one day... you're going to realize that we were speaking the truth."

They were talking about the music video for Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" and I loudly interjected, "C'mon guys, Katy Perry is totally not part of the Illuminati. That video is way too blatant and they don't like that over-the-top shit." Later, a co-worker asked me if I believed in god. Without missing a beat, I replied, "Which one?" and slowly backed out of the room while I watched his face light up in terror.

[kharmii]

My office is pretty boring. I believe there are a lot of people who like to think they are quirky. After hearing the same stupid stories for fifteen years, I think they could be anybody. Then I'm not the weird one because I keep my secrets.

Then there's Mr. Non-Sequitur, the curse of my life. IE: A bunch of us will be standing around talking about who is our favorite batman. Mr. N-S will butt in and contribute something like, "There used to be a guy named Adam West who lived on my route. Then he sold his house and one of my relatives bought it." -Like that ties right in with what we are talking about. Is it possible for an extrovert to be autistic?

-And the next time he says something like...... "I've been telling my dog for a week we were going to (this or that) restaurant for 'yappy hour', but she didn't seem happy when we got there." ......I'm going to reply, "Well, (goddammit all) maybe your dog speaks Spanish and doesn't understand you.."

-Only problem with that is Mr. N-S doesn't register sarcasm so he'd think I was being

[theidolhands]

That describes him perfectly.

My mother can be very guilty of Non-Sequiturs too, but not quite as bad as that. She gets huffy when I point out (and sometimes need to insist) that those two things are NOT related.

It's really okay to just find what someone said interesting without desperately trying to relate it to something or trump them (a huge fanboy problem too).

The people with Aspergers whom I knew appeared very "extroverted", although it could've been moreso a total disregard or lack of ability to identify boundaries. I found they very much craved attention, like very small children. I've encountered more than one who sexually harassed and stalked women, in example (one of those also proceeded to discuss his sex life in detail as well as develop the need to use profane language such as "n*gger" despite being a skinny white dude).

[kharmii]

LOL, Mr. Non-Sequitur would never sexually harass women or use profane language. He might worry his mom would beat on him.

[theidolhands]

GO MOM!

* I understand this fear.

[rusti_knight]

There aren't really any former coworkers that stick out in my mind as extraordinarily weird, really. There was the one manager at Petsmart that was legit into the Force/Jedi thing as a religion. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, but that was taking it a bit far for me

[ellex42]

Mostly I've come up against those convinced of their own superiority.

I just had a conversation yesterday with a nincompoop (thank heavens, not someone I work with) who just had to spout his opinions on shale drilling. I corrected him as gently as I could, and he told me how wrong I was, at which point I explained that I've been working in an adjacent field for the last 6 fricking years. I've spoken to industry bigwigs, read industry publications, investigated expert opinions (and come to the conclusion that it's time for a new career direction). Do not belabor me with your uninformed, amateur opinions.

[blueeowyn]

Did you perhaps mean 6 fracking years? GDR

[ellex42]

LOL! Yes, that's what I meant.