So Bou puts up a post titled Sarcasm is the Body's Natural Defense Against Stupidity and it got me thinking. Now I know why I was so sarcastic when I worked for IBM, especially when I was dealing with management and idiotic policies like quality programs and Diversity (All Hail Diversity!). It's a natural defense mechanism. That explains everything.
I can still remember when I was an IBM Customer Engineer in St. Louis. My account was McDonnell Douglas Automation and normally the console operators were pretty good folks. I was called out to the console area one night because of a highlighted message posted on one of the consoles. I asked the operators if they had looked up said message in the message books they had right there. Nope. I then proceeded to look up the message and find out it was of no concern. I couldn't help giving them a little lecture that the message books were for looking up messages and not for keeping the table they were on from flying away.
Another time, when I was a programmer here in Atlanta, I sent out an e-mail about people not following my IPL procedures. I stated that I did not write those procedures to demonstrate my command of the English language. I didn't state who the person was who didn't follow my procedures (I didn't know and I didn't care) but she was in my manager's office shortly thereafter, almost in tears, saying that I was picking on her. As I told him when he requested less sarcasm and told me who it was, I told him to look at the e-mail and see where I had said I didn't know who did it and I didn't care. If I was picking on her, I would have said, "That dumb bitch didn't follow procedures."
Yep! Natural defense mechanism against stupidity.
My friend Cindy, who knows me quite well, gave me this sweatshirt for Christmas.
Eat your hearts out Bou and Mo! I know you two want one.
Posted by denny at June 3, 2009 11:30 PMI want 3: 2 X XL, and 1 X L.
It's the best I've seen since the sign in the last electronics maintenence shop I worked in.
"Sarcasm is just another one of the services we offer."
Pete
Posted by: Pete on June 4, 2009 01:51 AMSarcasm & irony have caused me to ALMOST get my nose busted more than I care to remember...Most people are bright enuff to figure out they've been made a Raw Fool out of, they're just not quite sure how, & that REALLY torques 'em off...How many times did I get told when I was a kid that I had a "Smart Mouth" ? "You shut your Smart Mouth, Boy !!"
Posted by: Sandy G. on June 4, 2009 06:42 AMDenny......
I like appropriate Sarcasm......There is a Wendy`s near my shop which has large yellow arrows marking traffic direction`s. Recently as I was exiting , some dipshit going the wrong way was blowing her horn at me to get out the way. I waited for her to park & politely pointed out the large arrows & said "These arrow`s are here to provide direction`s for idiot`s where to drive , they are not to let people know Indians used to live here years ago". Made me feel better!
Posted by: dudley1 on June 4, 2009 08:07 AMYou can always tell an idiot --- You just can't tell them much.
Posted by: Davec on June 4, 2009 10:01 AMPut me down for one as well. 2XL.
Posted by: Jeremy on June 4, 2009 10:08 AMI'd like a 3XL and a 2XL myself....maybe I better get a couple of 3XL's, as I'm sure to wear them out quick.
Posted by: Greg on June 4, 2009 11:28 AMI'm so glad my present is famous now !
Posted by: Cindy on June 4, 2009 01:45 PMDenny - Was your former manager a member of the Anti-Sarcasm Society (ASS)?
I'll take a 2XL. Reminds me of when I was a Sysprog. I was doing an install that had over 7 reel tapes. On the third one, started getting errors so I walked into the computer room to see what was up. One of the operators had put write rings on my input tapes and were using them for both input and output. I don't know who did it, but when I let out the old "AH, SON OF A B***H!!!" and went back to my desk. The ops supervisor came to me and told me that I had hurt the feelings of one of the operators and wanted me to apologize to his whole staff. I told him that would happen right after the idiot who destroyed my install tapes came to me and apologized.
Posted by: PB on June 4, 2009 06:37 PMIf anyone absolutely needs a weekly fix of Diversity Idiocy, I recommend the following:
http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/search/label/Diversity
Posted by: Grumpy Old Ham on June 4, 2009 06:46 PMOh, and can I get that shirt in XL, T-shirt style?
Posted by: Grumpy Old Ham on June 4, 2009 06:47 PMAs an educator in high school and middle school for 32 years, I refrained from the use of sarcasm in the work place. The young students under my charge, didn't really deserve it and my fellow teachers and administrators who did wouldn't have understood it was directed at them without my having to explain what I meant. And that just wasn't worth the effort.
I take an X-large, BTW.
Posted by: joated on June 5, 2009 11:57 AM