such a fine line between stupid and clever

there's a person in my office who is catastrophically stupid.  and i almost feel bad saying that because she is a really nice person, but damn.

 

i'm sure most people work with at least one of these people.  they try so hard to contribute to a discussion and may even chip in with an idea or two, but all too often those ideas are just... um... ridiculous?  absurd?  retarded?

 

tough to say.

 

like imagine establishing a fact in a meeting - perhaps your next scheduled meeting should be on a friday, but you have to reschedule it to wednesday because the office is closed.  everyone agrees and makes the notes on their respective note pads.  after agreeing on this fact, the office idiot pipes up saying "maybe we should reschedule friday's meeting because we won't be here..."

 

no kidding!  really?

 

i find as well that it takes exactly three explanations of a fact in order for it to sink into this person's mind.  in the meeting i will say "okay, so this event is monday then, and we're doing this" - this person's follow up would be something to the effect of what should this event be, and when should it take place.  someone else in the room will see the obvious look of frustration on my face, re-explain the situation and be presented with a second set of equally simple-to-answer but entirely ridiculous questions.  person three will chime in, reiterate what has been reiterated and finally, the information will be assimilated.

 

and the total elapsed time from explanation one to explanation three:  no more than five minutes.

 

it's kind of like watching a Pepe Le Pew cartoon, knowing full well that skunk should bloody well realize that not only should he realize that the cat doesn't want anything to do with him, but also that she's a fucking cat.  not even the same species dude.  she just has white paint on her back.  cats don't even look like skunks, and they certainly don't smell like them.

 

the only problem is that the office idiot isn't a cartoon and it's not funny at all, it's just frustrating.  frustrating like getting a double-double instead of a black coffee.  frustrating like watching Nancy Grace interview a defence attorney.

 

i swear before i'm through at this place i'm going to be one of those TGIF people.  if i set my screen saver to reference the end of the week or the end of the business day, please shoot me.