# Amazingly stupid things overheard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 28, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599 "2011-12-28T04:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/381 "2012-02-21T22:10:04Z")
Germans celebrate that? ---
**Author:** ![Arjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Arjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjay)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/382 "2012-02-22T00:04:15Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I still do this. I rarely need stamps, so I just leave money in my mailbox (when I leave letters and have the flag raised). My mail carrier puts the postage on for me. And if I just want to buy stamps, I leave the money and she leaves the stamps in my box. And if I get a package too big to put in my mailbox, she used to put them on my front porch. Now that the gate is latched to keep the dogs in the yard, she puts them in an old truck box I have by my side gate and puts a note in my mailbox. If I have to go to the post office, she recognzes me and gets my big packages without me having to tell her my name or address. And when I got lost in the further-out boondocks trying to find an auction, I stopped her and she pointed me in the right direction. > > StG Where do you live? 1965?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/383 "2012-02-22T16:07:59Z")
> [@Arjay](#): > > Where do you live? 1965?:eek: Might as well be. I live in semi-rural Tennessee. I don’t lock my doors (mind you, I have a doberman, two german shepherds, a giant schnauzer, a standard poodle and an english setter to guard the place), I don’t lock my car, and I feed my neighbors’ goats when they go on vacation. StG ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/384 "2012-02-22T16:32:04Z")
> [@Arjay](#): > > Where do you live? 1965?:eek: Actually that is part of ‘rural delivery’ and we do it also. Though we occasionally leave a dozen or so extra eggs in the mailbox for Mary. Mary and our roomie are fairly good friends, and she has fed the outside poultry on a couple of vacation weekends when we all had to be out of state. Getting to know your carrier is not a bad thing, back when mrAru was going out to sea frequently she noticed when I wasn’t at my desk by the front window when I was having a bad patch of pneumonia. I am sure that if I hadn’t answered the door she would have called in a wellness check on me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/385 "2012-02-22T16:50:01Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Might as well be. I live in semi-rural Tennessee. I don’t lock my doors (mind you, I have a doberman, two german shepherds, a giant schnauzer, a standard poodle and an english setter to guard the place), I don’t lock my car, and I feed my neighbors’ goats when they go on vacation. > > StG Your neighbor’s goats go on vacation? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/386 "2012-02-22T17:50:59Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Your neighbor’s goats go on vacation? Don’t yours? StG ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/387 "2012-02-22T18:47:33Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Your neighbor’s goats go on vacation? They go to a nanny state. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/388 "2012-02-22T18:48:48Z")
A-_hem_. :dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/389 "2012-02-22T19:27:36Z")
A certain someone was rapid-defrosting meat in a bot of hot water from the tap. She asks “Do you think it’s safe to use that pot, since the chicken was in it?” I said “Lemme get this straight. Normally, you take the ‘dangerous’ raw chicken, put it on a hot metal plate that you’d placed over fire, then eat that very same chicken, but you want to know if you can put a metal pot over fire to cook other food safely?” > [@jsgoddess](#): > > “How did the Egyptians know there was an afterlife? Jesus wasn’t born yet.” But…but…Bible…Moses…Pharaoh…😕 ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/390 "2012-02-22T22:59:43Z")
This isn’t nearly as stupid as many of the other ones in this thread, but I was riding the Metro home this afternoon and as we were stopped at Federal Triangle a woman poked her head into the car and yelled, “What color is this train?” OK, so Federal Triangle services both the Blue and Orange lines on the same tracks. Now, how would we figure out which train this is? Gee, I have no idea! Other than the 20 places on the side of the train with the blue marker, or the front of the train that says BLUE, or the electronic signboards every 50 feet on the platform that are constantly displaying what train it is, how many cars, where it’s going, and how many minutes until it arrives. Or, failing to notice any of that, the driver broadcasting “This is the Blue line to Franconia-Springfield” as the doors open. No, I have no idea what color train this is. So this woman got a bunch of baffled stares, after which someone finally said, “Um, Blue line.” She withdrew (guess she wanted Orange). Then the stranger next to me glanced over and we had the following exchange: Stranger: What? Is she blind or something? _stares out window at woman_ Me: I have no idea. _woman pulls out paperback novel_ Stranger: Nope, not blind. What the hell. Edit: The indicator on the side of the train showing that it was a Blue line train was literally right next to the door she leaned into to yell at us. I have never had that happen before, not even with all the dumb tourists we get. They can’t figure out how to use the farecard machines, but they seem to know what color line they’re on. The only instance I can recall was getting on the Red Line at Silver Spring and having the driver announce, “This is the Yellow Line to Huntington, next stop. . .(_cue half-asleep morning commuters suddenly shooting wide awake and looking wildly out at the platform to see if we’ve been teleported_). . .um, I mean, Red Line to Shady Grove. Er, good morning, folks.” ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/391 "2012-02-23T01:26:21Z")
> [@YoDoc](#): > > Are you a hoosier? I went to high school in Delphi! Born and raised in Naptown. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/392 "2012-02-23T06:56:35Z")
Last week my husband mentioned he was getting a sore throat, then he said “I got a flu shot too so I thought I wouldn’t get sick”. He was serious. I asked him if he thought getting the flu shot would protect him from non flu viruses such as the common cold or strep throat and he said “yes”. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599/393 "2012-02-23T08:03:18Z")
Continuing on the place-names theme, this one goes both ways. My mother wanted to visit me in my new home. She called a travel agent to book a flight and was told that the closest airport was Ontario International. She said, “I don’t want to go to _Canada_! I want to go to _California_!” They told her that Ontario is a city in CA and that it was the closest airport to my town. Luckily she gave me a call to check. Ontario \*\*\*is \*\*\*the closest airport to **Cerritos** , CA, but I live in **El Cerrito** – a mere 400 miles (644 km) away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazingly-stupid-things-overheard/607599.md?page=19)