A few times I’ve had a just generally weird story to share that wasn’t a gripe or something to smile about. I figured it’s about time we had a thread to share our weirdest, more bizarre, generally WTF stories.
Yesterday my wife came home with a story about Coworker and her comment “you know a lot about animals.” It’s true, my wife does know a lot about animals, both because she’s interested in them and it’s kind of her job. Still, that’s not the weird part.
This all started when they saw a chart of whales in a certain region and my wife pointed out the sperm whale as her favorite. Coworker didn’t know what a sperm whale was, so my wife got to educate her, shocking Coworker when she pointed out the scars from giant squid. Then it got weirder.
Coworker was even more stunned when Dr. Wife had to explain that the 17 or whatever whales on the chart weren’t all the whales, and then got questioned why there would be so many different types. This led to a discussion about evolution and environmental niches, where my wife had to explain that, as mammals, whales evolved on the land and went back into the sea.
There were a few, slightly less weird side conversations, like explaining how big elephant seals and walruses are, but none quite as weird as the whale thing. I know our household has a lot more scientific and biological knowledge than most, but most of what they talked about seems pretty basic to me.
None of this would seem that weird if this had been, like, a finance person or something, but Coworker is a bedoctored geneticist. Now, it’s possible this was all just a bit of epic trolling, but I’ve met Coworker and can’t really consider that a strong possibility.
So, this would be the thread to bring up the old lady who expressed her condolences for my mom’s death while in the receiving line for the funeral, who then launched into telling my sister and me how her son was murdered by his wife but she wasn’t arrested?
Or the people who gave us the evil eye when we retrieved Mom’s flowers from the funeral home the next day? So sorry for your loss.
This is one of my “blow their minds” moments at the museum. We have a fin whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling and I enjoy pointing out the vestigial pelvic bones and explaining that the closest living relative to whales are hippos.
One of those job interviews I deliberately muffed (because BLECCHH!!) mentioned a charity drive they did where they’d lock a willing person in a pretend jail. Then donors would bid “bail money” so the volunteer “convict” could be let out.
I already thought those auctioning off of potential date things that some charities did were weird, but this…? Took it to a whole new level. My brain was broken for a month afterwards, I swear.
[MST3K “It’s not funny but it’s SURREAL” GIF here]
I guess this could just as easily go in several other threads. However… I have always been struck by the weirdness of plants that eat bugs. Yes, I understand the scientific explanations for this, as much as a layperson can. But even when watching RT go after that Moody Institute footage of the plants in action, I couldn’t pay attention to their riffs because I was as mesmerized and confused as I would’ve been at ten years old. I will forever see pitcher plants, sundews, and flytraps as Things Which Should Not Be. (Sorry, Yahweh. Sorry, Darwin. It’s nothing personal, I swear.)
I was working at OD Print & Ship counter and a young lady (late 20s?) came up and asked if i could fax something for her. She handed me her papers. I check if single or double sided. “Sure thing! Please fill this out.” Hand her the appropriate form to fill out and start to walk to the fax machine to set it up for double sided fax. “Oh wait!” She says, “I need a copy of that.”
“You want a copy, as well?” I inquire
“Yes, I need a copy and you can send the original.”
I pause…"So you want this copy and another copy?
“No, I just need a copy for myself and you can fax this one.”
Pause for small aneurysm.
“You’ll get the original back.”
Pause for her to have a small aneurysm.
“Oh.”
She thought the fax was physically transferring her file thru…air? space? idk!
The weirdest thing to me about Venus flytraps is that they come from North Carolina, and not the mysterious heart of the Amazon, or FernGully, which I have just now discovered was set in Australia.
I guess that’s why I’m 57 and still don’t have a career.