A crazy woman just talked to me at my job.

[RangerWickett]

I work at a medical/health science library. I was helping an old lady - who looked rather skinny and unhealthy - research nutrition and food content. I made the mistake of asking her what specifically she was looking for, and why, thinking I'd be able to help her better find stuff she needed if I knew the logic behind it.

Well, ten minutes later she stopped talking. She sure is an energetic speaker.

She starts with how she can't trust what's in food nowadays (and in my head, I think, "okay, she's a little odd, but I can definitely understand not trusting food additives and such"), and how she has lost a lot of weight because she's been trying to only eat what she needs (and I think, "I've known other health nuts, nothing too strange here"). Then she goes on with how some foods are better for men than women (I nod, since I know this), and how since I'm a man, I've been blessed (and I think, "uh oh").

She proceeds to tell me how, since I don't have any 'wet, dark places' for bacteria to cultivate, I'm better able to cross rivers and streams looking for food for my pregnant wife and newborn baby (I think, "both at the same time? I must be doing pretty well for my hunter-gatherer self"). Then she says that women are wrong to think they can do what men can do, and she says that Dr. Phil is the first man to take this intuitive understanding of gender roles and bring it to the public. (And I think, yes, "we never had misogynists before Dr. Phil.")

She says that people today have it all wrong, but she realizes the truth about how men and women are different. (I start casually touching the underside of my desk, hoping there's a silent alarm button I can press, but alas, there is not.) Women, she says, can't stick with projects for more than five years. They might be able to do things in spurts, which is why they can convince men that they're equal, but in the long run women can't accomplish what men can. ("I'll be sure to tell my female boss, supervisor, and coworkers you said that.") She starts touching electronic things I have at my desk -- the computer, the phone, the stapler ("stapler? what the hell?"), saying how without men we wouldn't have these things.

For instance, she says, Newton said all his things about science, and everybody thought he was nuts. But eventually they came around and we all know what Newton said was true ("Except," I think, "for that whole Einstein thing"). She smiles and says that maybe in fifty years people will understand what she's saying, and that it's okay if I don't grasp it right now.

(I start looking for an apple to throw at her head so she'll go away.)

I tell her that she's given me a lot to think about, and that I hope she finds what she's looking for in the books I helped her get. I hope this will get her to go back to work, and leave me alone. It does not.

[jaerdaph]

I attract that sort of conversation like a magnet. I must have one of those "you look like you'll listen to anything" faces.

[MavrickWeirdo]

I think she was flirting with you.

[ssampier]

You should have told her, "You have pretty eyes." That'd get rid of her.

If you love interesting and strange conversations, take a Greyhound bus somewhere. I met one gentleman that insisted the planet was inundated by extraterrestrial bugs called Roswell Rods. The rods are responsible for all the sickness in the world.

[WayneLigon]

Originally Posted by ssampier

If you love interesting and strange conversations, take a Greyhound bus somewhere. I met one gentleman that insisted the planet was inundated by extraterrestrial bugs called Roswell Rods. The rods are responsible for all the sickness in the world.

'Rods' are a big thing in the UFO community

That's a great story, RangerWickett.

[elforcelf]

He knows! He must be taken out! Er,what do you mean he can read this? :\

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

wierd

[paradox42]

Just goes to show, people can rationalize just about anything, doesn't it?

Now, for some real fun, try quoting passages from this book (warning: not grandma-friendly, and probably not work-friendly either if your company scans sites on keywords) to somebody the next time you want to get rid of them. Before you accuse me of being mean, note that I proudly count myself a follower of the- erm, religion? in question. But like one of the founders once wrote, it's "not just a religion, it is also a mental illness."

[Piratecat]

RW, I can't believe you were mean to my Mom.

I mean, how COULD you?

[Darthjaye]

I thought that it was insensitive to call em crazy now. Aren't they now referred to as "reality impaired"?

[MavrickWeirdo]

Originally Posted by Darthjaye

I thought that it was insensitive to call em crazy now. Aren't they now referred to as "reality impaired"?

I thought "reality impaired" referred to us

[Shadeus]

You should have killed her and taken her stuff. You could have been close to leveling up!

[Umbran]

Originally Posted by RangerWickett

("Except," I think, "for that whole Einstein thing").

You can let Newton by on that one - the differences between Einsteinian and Newtonian mechanics were mostly not measurable by the instruments Newton had available.

Mind you, Newton was also into alchemy, and had personality quirks only acceptable in genius-caliber minds.

[Nyaricus]

Originally Posted by jaerdaph

I attract that sort of conversation like a magnet. I must have one of those "you look like you'll listen to anything" faces.

You are in the same boat as me, sir, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Galeros]

I get random calls on my cell phone. Once I had a lady keep calling me and demanding to know where Jacob was.