Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Moron alert


Overheard the following conversation between two academics, a man and woman from two European countries:

M: So, how long are you here for?

W: A couple more months.

M: Where will you go after this?

W: I don’t know yet.

(A normal person will leave it that that. But this gentleman continues. It gets  worse after this.)

M: Have you applied for jobs?

W: Yes.

M: But you don't have an offer?

W: (Laughs)

M: Are you staying in the residence here?

W: No. I stay elsewhere with my children.

M: Oh, you have children. Where does your husband work?

W: I don't have a partner. 

M:  Oh. I am married and my wife stays with me.

Hats off to the woman for maintaining her composure through this conversation. I would have replied, “sorry to hear that”….(and then regretted afterwards of course).

2 comments:

Ordinary Person said...

Contrary to what some people may believe, Europe is a very diverse continent with cultures varying wildly between different countries. It is quite possible that M didn't even realised that he was making W quite uncomfortable with his questions.

This reminds me of this interesting answer on Quora about culture differences. Things that are normal for one set of people may severely offend others.

https://www.quora.com/Manners-and-Etiquette/Lost-in-translation-what-polite-customs-and-manners-dont-translate-very-well-or-at-all-between-Indian-and-North-American-cultures/answers/13149384?srid=n2VQ&share=1

Kaneenika Sinha said...

@Ordinary Person, true that! One can easily guess the European country that M belongs to :)