posted
I have a fairly high LBT (Laser Beam Tolerance). With mean, jerky drivers, I console myself with imagining what a horrible lifethey must have that they need to find fullfilment by being a jerk.
But I do have a candidate for this thread.
So, going into the grocery store, I pass a guy who has parked his Lexus in the handicapped space, with no tag or temporary parking permit. He is sitting half in, half out of the car door, with the engine running so he can power his laptop which he is fiddling with while talking loudly on his cell phone.
This guy was such a jerk, I wondered if it was his major. O_O If he could have formed his hair into a neon sign reading, "I am such an important person!" I think he would have.
He would have got the laser beams, lemme tell you.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I agree, Tante. All people who are thinner than I am should be laser-beamed out of existence.
I would also like to laser beam this asshole in my business ethics class who pretty much looks down on women and feels the need to voice his opinions very loudly.
People who go slow in the fast lane. I don't mind people going slow in the slow lane, or even people going fast in the slow lane, but someone going slow in the fast lane is simply inexcusable.
Also, people who butcher the English language. "I sar it happen" "Not enough money got tooken out of my taxes" "Them hotdogs were good". Gah!
Aaannddd finally I would arbitrarily (sp?) laser random people who look annoying. That is why I am not blessed with the gift of laser beam vision.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Do the targets of our hypothetical laser beams we can shoot out of our eyes have to be in our direct line of site?
I can think of a lot of people I would like to reach by shooting my laser beams into my monitor (where it would traverse the internet and make contact with a user on the other side.)
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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LBS: girls with small dogs in handbags. I don't know why.
People who like to get on the bus and strike up a loud conversation with whoever has the misfortune to be sitting nearby.
People who say, "You know, those things will kill you," while I'm smoking. If I'm bothering you, ask me to move, and I'll gladly do so. But don't use that tired-ass line and expect me to fall all over myself exclaiming at your wit.
Anyone who eats noisily during lecture.
Hispanics.
People who don't hold doors open while I'm three feet behind them.
Just kidding about the Hispanics thing, just seeing if you were still paying attention.
Homeless who ask for money but refuse food.
Teenagers. I'm so glad I was never like that. Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: People who say, "You know, those things will kill you," while I'm smoking. If I'm bothering you, ask me to move, and I'll gladly do so. But don't use that tired-ass line and expect me to fall all over myself exclaiming at your wit.
One of my friends had people tell her that all the time. She generally responded with, "Man, I hope so."
Um, I believe that the politically correct term is currently "Latinos". If you are going to be offensive, there is no need to be offensive about it. <-- that's me winking to let you know that I got your joke and that I'm just playing along, so, in case you think I'm sincere or that I upped the ante on offensiveness, you can just look at the winky graemlin and decide not to be offended. Hope it works. Sometimes I think we put too much responsibility on the poor Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Dr Strangelove reminded me about this thread.
I have another car-related LBS: there's a T intersection with no light on my way home from work. The road is fairly busy, but there's adequate gaps in traffic for this to work.
Except that the people in the right lane turning onto the the vertical part of the T, who all have a yield sign, insist on trying to take turns with the people turning left onto that road.
Yes, it might seem fair to take turns. But there are limited times when the left-turners can make it across - probably about 10% of the time. All the rest of the time, the right-turners can turn whenever they want.
This is by design - it's why they put the yield sign there.
(The left-turners who pause to let them do this deserve a light scorching, too.)
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Stupid history professors are the lucky people today (or rather, this week). Though knowing my luck, the replacement teacher would just be worse.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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People who try to let others make a left turn across traffic when we're all at a light... except that one lane is stopped and the other lane is still filling up. The unfortunate driver in the moving (usually inner) lane is cruising along nicely, and all of a sudden a SUV turns across the lane ten feet in front of him.
Parents of 12 year old girls who buy "pornstar in training" type clothes for their daughters.
Posts: 1069 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Hmmm... reading this thread I have a feeling I've been the unwitting survivor of many, many laser beams on the road.
See, I tend to drive very fast. I try to be polite about it, but the fact of the matter is I really enjoy the speed and it's what makes long drives not only survivable, but down right fun. I do signal every time I change lanes, and I drive in the fast lane only to pass people, unless the slow lane is really crowded.
I do tend to laser people who go slow in the fast lane and refuse to pull over into the slow lane to allow people to pass them. The request to pass being when someone roars up on their tails.
See, I do this for people, on the rare occasion I'm in the fast lane and someone appears on my tail I pull over into the slow lane first chance I get. You'd think people would return the courtesy Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: I have coined a new term: Laser Beam Survivor, or LBS. These are all the people that would no longer be with us if I could shoot laser beams out of my eyeballs.
First on the list: People who feel the need to cut in front of me and slow down just enough so I miss the next light as I watch them cruise on through.
See, where I live, the general feeling is that if you would have made the light but for some LBS like that, you're entitled to sail through as well, lights be damned. It was fascinating to see it after having lived in Northern California for a couple of years.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Kristen: People who just stand in the middle of the sidewalk gaping at the city and hold up everybody. Double laser beam if the weather is being particularly Chicago-esque.
Professors who start class BEFORE its scheduled time, making you feel awkward for slipping in and interrupting him/her even though you are one minute early.
Dante: MA drivers. I'm originally from CT and I swear the minute I cross that border I am defensively driving to protect my life.
Quoted For Emphasis, I'm a New Englander as well, and you have to be near suicidal to cross the Mass border Posts: 67 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:People who say, "You know, those things will kill you," while I'm smoking. If I'm bothering you, ask me to move, and I'll gladly do so. But don't use that tired-ass line and expect me to fall all over myself exclaiming at your wit.
What about people who say, "Those things will kill ME?"
Which reminds me of a LBS story:
One time I was on the DART Rail and these (underage) teen boys were smoking. (It's also illegal to smoke on the train.) I am asthmatic and cigarette smoke is a severe trigger. I also had a baby with me who I did not want exposed to second-hand smoke. I asked them, politely to stop. They asked why, and I explained, whereupon they proceeded to swear at me and walk over and BLOW SMOKE RIGHT IN MY FACE. I got up and moved cars. They followed me. I did it again, and so did they.
I got off the train even though it wasn't my stop and they followed me off. I looked for a DART cop but there was none to be seen. So I went and stood next to a group of businessmen (the only people around.) The boys followed and continued to insult me. I asked them politely to leave me alone, again, by this time almost crying and, despite having used my inhaler 6 times, wheezing severely. They continued to insult me, whereupon one of the (rather buff) business men told them fairly menacingly to get the heck out of there or he was going to call the cops. (I didn't have a cell phone at the time or I would have done it myself.)
LBS, for sure. Thank heavens for polite strangers. (The same men sat me down, got me a drink of water, made sure I was still breathing, and helped put me back on the right train.) It is very scary, as a rather small woman, to be menaced even by probably fairly harmless teenage boys, especially when you have a baby with you.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
...you know, you could probably get them arrested for harassment, or possibly assault since the blowing smoke in your face was causing you harm. And they'd deserve it.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Alcon: ...you know, you could probably get them arrested for harassment, or possibly assault since the blowing smoke in your face was causing you harm. And they'd deserve it.
I didn't have a phone. I wasn't going to physically overpower them in order to make them wait 'til a cop got there (as if I could); there were no cops around at the time, and there were three of them to one of me, and I was encumbered with a stroller holding a frightened small child. My entire concern was to act in a way that kept me and especially my baby as safe as possible. But thanks for the empathetic comment. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Alcon: Hmmm... reading this thread I have a feeling I've been the unwitting survivor of many, many laser beams on the road.
...
The request to pass being when someone roars up on their tails.
Yeah, you're an LBS of mine. Don't roar up on my tail and tailgate me. If I have no way to get over, then tailgating me is not going to magically open up a spot next to me, especially if I'm going at the speed of most traffic (typically 10-15 mph over the speed limit). In fact, it's more likely to make me slow waaaay down (a la Primal Curve, above).
Another prominent LBS: Students who miss class and then email me with, "Did I miss anything important?"
Nah. I was just teaching for my own edification. Miss as many classes as you like. I'm sure it won't affect your grade at all.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Yeah, you're an LBS of mine. Don't roar up on my tail and tailgate me. If I have no way to get over, then tailgating me is not going to magically open up a spot next to me, especially if I'm going at the speed of most traffic (typically 10-15 mph over the speed limit). In fact, it's more likely to make me slow waaaay down (a la Primal Curve, above).
Oh I don't tailgate, roar up sure, but if they don't move over, back off. Especially if they don't have room to move over.
quote:I was just teaching for my own edification. Miss as many classes as you like. I'm sure it won't affect your grade at all.
Ok, teachers with that attitude are LBS survivors of mine. You're job is to teach us students, and teach your class. Our job is to learn it. The whole "Did I miss anything important?" is actually "Did I miss anything I couldn't have gleaned from the book?". No you're not teaching for your own edification, you're teaching to help us learn. But we learn in different ways, and sometimes attending every single class is not necessary in order for us to learn. Also sometimes to way you lecture or teach in class doesn't work for some students.
I actually have a specific prof in mind here... who's not you... so don't take that personally. I actually have no idea how you teach, you may be excellent, but the attitude displayed in that quote brought this prof to mind. Anyway realize that there may be more going on when folks miss your class than "Haha, I skipped your class "
quote:LBS? Anybody who interacts (or even looks like they might just possibly interact) with me before I have had my morning cup of tea.
Hear, hear! *raises his morning cup of tea*
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:But we learn in different ways, and sometimes attending every single class is not necessary in order for us to learn. Also sometimes to way you lecture or teach in class doesn't work for some students.
Both points are surely true. And neither makes it the teacher's responsibility to fill you in on what you missed.
Don't get me wrong: I occasionally missed classes when I was in college. In the case of one memorable (and not in a good way) professor, I learned more by attending one class a week (and the discussion section, with my excellent TA) than if I had been at all three.
But I certainly would not have had the NERVE to email (or call) him and ask "So, did I miss anything"?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Alcon, my class moves fast. Miss one class, and you are very likely to be behind. I despise have to re-teach material to students who couldn't be bothered to come to class. The phrase "Did I miss anything important?" implies to me that my class is not normally important to this student. This automatically makes me care much less about whether they learn the material. It's also very rude. If you don't care enough to come to class, why on earth should I care whether or not you learn the material? Go ahead, see if you can learn it on your own. I don't use a text; I use a course packet with supplemental material. The bulk of the information comes FROM me IN class. If you can't come to class, don't sign up for it, and sure as heck don't expect me to re-teach you the material in my spare time.
The biggest problem I have is that the people who ask me that question are usually the people FAILING and having absolutely no idea WHY they're failing. It most certainly is not the people who can learn the material on their own. THOSE people are in class every day, know when every homework assignment is due, and are on top of things.
And you know, if my lecture style doesn't work for you, drop the class. Or, continue to skip and learn it on your own, if you're able to, but don't email me with the implication that my teaching style is so flawed you couldn't have actually learned anything while in class. Do not, however, act surprised when you a) fail because you haven't learned the material or b) fail because you don't know when any of the assignments are due because you couldn't be bothered to come to class.
The sense of entitlement displayed by some students drives me absolutely insane. You're right that it's my job to teach, and their job to learn. That's why we have class time, and if that's not enough, I have office hours. I am not, however, going to re-arrange my entire life just because little Johnny was too hungover to come to my class on Tuesday.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:I am not, however, going to re-arrange my entire life just because little Johnny was too hungover to come to my class on Tuesday.
With you here.
But many teachers default to that assumption when a student asks if they missed anything. And often it is the wrong assumption. There are many perfectly valid reasons to miss a class, and I know that I at least only ask what I missed of a teacher when I missed class for one of those.
quote:And you know, if my lecture style doesn't work for you, drop the class.
Sorry, not always an option. I dunno about humanities classes, but at least with science and math I need to take the classes I'm taking, in the order I'm taking them. If I drop the class often I can't move on to the next ones, so I'll just have to retake it the next semester, with the same person. And I need to actually learn the stuff in it, I can't just BS my way through it and get good enough to pass. So I've gotten stuck a few times where the teachers style didn't work for me, but I couldn't bug out. And with Physics, which is what I'm taking, it's very very hard to learn from a book. To be honest, this very semester in fact, I've skipped classes in frustration because I knew being there wouldn't help me. I didn't ask the prof what I'd missed after wards of course, cause again, I knew it wouldn't help me. I spent the time I was supposed to be in class bashing my head against the text book... and getting no where fast.
In case you hadn't guessed, a lot of the frustration you're probably reading in my posts spawns from this one class. It's an electronics class, with a prof fresh out of grad school. I can't drop it cause I need to know this stuff to be useful in a research lab and it's only taught once every two years, so my next chance would be senior year probably.
Luckily I'm confrontational and forceful enough, that I talked to the prof a bunch and got him to change his style (it helped that 4/6 people in the class were just as frustrated and lost as I was). But he's still bitter about it I think and is taking snipes at me in class. So... yeah... I have no idea how common this is, I imagine most students are not nearly as aggressive as I am about actually learning the material and would probably drop the class and just give up on it.
Anyway, sorry to open up on you guys about this. I'm sure you're great teachers and are correct in your judgements of your students when they miss.
posted
There are many perfectly valid reasons to miss a class, and that's fine. What I was objecting to in my original post was the rude phrasing of the (unfortunately-not-hypothetical-for-me) email. I'm a firm believer in treating people with courtesy and respect, and I think the phrasing of "Did I miss anything important?" falls outside the bounds of both of those. The implication of that phrasing, regardless of why the student in question actually missed the class, is that the class simply wasn't important enough to attend.
Email me and say,
"I couldn't come to class on Tuesday because my piano caught on fire. What did I miss?"
or
"I couldn't come to class on Tuesday because my piano caught on fire. Could you please let me know what we covered in class that day?"
Neither of those bug me in the least. The original phrasing, however, may have been something like this:
"I couldn't come to class on Tuesday because my piano caught on fire. [Implied: your class doesn't normally have anything important about it, but I'll ask anyway:] Did I miss anything important?"
Do you see the difference? The first two are fine; the third one suggests that this student really doesn't care about my class at all. If that's the case, I don't really care to be re-teaching that student anything.
Honestly, I teach college. I don't particularly care why my students miss class, as long as they don't expect me to re-teach a whole class period to them. Then, they better have a good reason for missing class. Above all, though, if they're asking me to do things outside my normal classroom and office hour obligations (which, generally, I am very willing to do), then it behooves them to be courteous.
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You're reading the wrong implication into that I think. It's not implying that normally your class doesn't have anything important in it, it's asking if there was anything particularly important that the student missed that they really need to know. It's basically saying "I don't want to take up your time and ask you to reteach the whole period, just give me the stuff I really need to know in short form please." Least ways that's the way I, as a student, read it.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Is there a college staff community here that I didn't know about?? Because I'm staff, too. The faculty/staff distinction can get to me sometimes, especially when I feel we're underappreciated.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Why don't people in the US understand escalator etiquette? EVERYONE can get through the escalator if you just observe two easy rules,
1: Stand on the right 2: Pass on the left
I should probably be dead from Laser Beams as in my delinquent days I once decided it would be hilarious to reach the top of the "Ocean Park" escalator and hit the emergency stop button.
Problem is the Ocean Park escalator is the longest in the entire world, 224 m (745ft). I am positive that if somebody had done that to me I would be ready to burst into flames with my rage.
KQ: I am SOOOO sorry you had to endure that, were the other passengers on the train non existent or just apathetic? I am rather surprised those hooligans carried their aggression out so far.
But today's LBS survivor is the lady on her cellphone perpendicular to the left of me. She pulled up to the 4 way stop at the same time I did and then proceeded to almost ram me as I tried to clear the intersection before her. It's doubly irritating because she can't even apologize since she was on her cell phone, she has to just pretend nothing happened and continue her call because God knows slighting me is OK but not her caller!
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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When I visited London, the student group I was with was told in no uncertain terms that we were to stand on the right and pass on the left while using the escalators in Tube stations. Failure to do this would probably result in irate Londoners running one of us over
To me, "Did I miss anything important?" means "Was there a quiz or some announcement that I need to know about?" But then, I generally ask that question of other students, not the professor. If I miss material, I either just read the textbook, get the online notes, or ask a classmate.
I don't have an LBS for today, but if I could laser inanimate objects, I believe I would burn all the pollen out of the sky. I hate plant sperm.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:were the other passengers on the train non existent or just apathetic?
We were the only ones on the train, for several cars, at least.
quote:I am rather surprised those hooligans carried their aggression out so far.
I cry easy. It made me a target in elementary school, and I guess to these kids too. I will add that those jerks were the exception rather than the rule in Dallas, from my experience. Almost all the young men and teenage boys I came into contact with were much more polite to me than I am accustomed to living in L.A., just by virtue of me being a woman and their mamas raising them to respect their elders and women. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I would laser beam people who take up extra seats on crowded public transportation. Or healthy young, people who don't give up their seats for the old or infirm.
Didn't their parents teach them anything!
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Too many people get yelled at for offering their seat to someone else now. I still do it, but I understand why some people have given up doing so.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:You're reading the wrong implication into that I think. It's not implying that normally your class doesn't have anything important in it, it's asking if there was anything particularly important that the student missed that they really need to know. It's basically saying "I don't want to take up your time and ask you to reteach the whole period, just give me the stuff I really need to know in short form please." Least ways that's the way I, as a student, read it.
Well, I'm a student and I read it exactly the way Megan stated. *shrug* See, I would never, never consider emailing a professor and asking if I missed anything. I would email a student in the class and ask them. The first thing I do every day of a new class is either find someone I know from a previous class, or make a new friend and exchange email addys.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: Too many people get yelled at for offering their seat to someone else now. I still do it, but I understand why some people have given up doing so.
Yelled at? Really? o_0
I've never seen that. I've seen people offer a seat and be politely refused, but never seen anyone get yelled at for offering-- and rarely see the offer refused, especially when the person s/he is offering a seat to is a woman with small children or an older person.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: I would laser beam people who take up extra seats on crowded public transportation. Or healthy young, people who don't give up their seats for the old or infirm.
Didn't their parents teach them anything!
On that note, some LBSes:
Women who get on the bus and give me an expectant look, waiting for me to surrender my seat, then glare at me when I ignore them, and/or smile at them. If a woman (or a man) has an immediately apparent need for a seat (disabled, elderly, pregnant, carrying lots of stuff/kids), I'll readily offer. But women who expect me to surrender my seat by virtue of their being female and my being male make me want to punch them in the face on behalf of feminists everywhere.
People who believe "customer service" means "I will bend over backwards and allow you to verbally abuse me, lie about me, and make false accusations without reprecussion." What "customer service" really means is that I will sit there and take it, then find ways to screw you over without hurting our business.
Seattle drivers.
Faux-indie people in Seattle.
Rabid democrats.
People who don't understand the flow of foot traffic. STAY ON THE RIGHT.
People whose entire conversational repetoire consists of "let's get drunk," then "so far I've had (drink list)," and finally "I was so drunk last night!"
quote:What "customer service" really means is that I will sit there and take it, then find ways to screw you over without hurting our business.
Come, now. I see customer service as a contract-- I do my best to be respectful, polite, and pay fully and promptly for what I have bought. In return, I expect to be treated respectfully and politely by helpful people whose aim is to see that I am treated fairly and that I recieve the full value of what I paid for.
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<-- that's me winking to let you know that I got your joke and that I'm just playing along, so, in case you think I'm sincere or that I upped the ante on offensiveness, you can just look at the winky graemlin and decide not to be offended. Hope it works. Sometimes I think we put too much responsibility on the poor ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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