# Does anyone, ever, in real life....... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948 "2016-09-14T17:34:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/61 "2016-09-16T15:53:06Z")
One of my cats hated to have her nails trimmed. Really hated it. Once when I got done trimming them she jumped down and swatted her brother across the face (apparently for watching), then ran off. Does that kind of count? ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/62 "2016-09-16T18:04:23Z")
I bet the brother had some kind of smug “neener neener” look on his face which needed to be smacked off him. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/63 "2016-09-17T02:44:59Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > A full range of disciplinary tactics are available (many of which involve losses of pay). Over the years I’ve discovered that dumping the board games or books on the floor along with a stern, “When there’s work to be done, we expect you to do your jobs,” is actually the most effective. There’s something about the physical act of picking up all the scattered cards that seems to leave a more lasting impression on late adolescent/early twenties males. Maybe it’s an alpha dog thing? Maybe it reminds them of their mothers making them clean their rooms? But I rarely have to do it twice or resort to further disciplinary actions. Where do you work that people bring in board games and play them while on the clock? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/64 "2016-09-17T03:53:56Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Has anyone actually kissed so passionately that is starts in one place, continues as it moves into the car, through the front door, up the stairs and while the clothes are coming off? Many times. ETA: Wait, did you mean with another person? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/65 "2016-09-17T04:25:09Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Has anyone actually kissed so passionately that is starts in one place, continues as it moves into the car, through the front door, up the stairs and while the clothes are coming off? Not “kissed,” but more interesting activities. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/66 "2016-09-17T14:47:59Z")
One winter my husband had a meltdown. Three feet of frozen snow on the ground, and more fell every day, every day for weeks. He had to get the snowthrower out every evening when he came home and do the driveway. (If you knew him, this feeling for him would be akin to anyone else having to come home after breaking up rocks with hammers all day and then being required to run around the block for a solid hour.) Then some phone call upset him and precipitated a meltdown wherein he opened the sliding glass door onto the deck and hurled his supper, on one of the good plates, into a snowbank. I retrieved it, and cleaned up the spilled frozen food, a couple days later. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/67 "2016-09-17T17:36:37Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Where do you work that people bring in board games and play them while on the clock? Claims to be employed [here](http://www.utexas.edu/) when not reading palms. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/68 "2016-09-17T17:53:09Z")
Maybe I’ll contact my nephews, who are students there, to see if they know anything about a woman on staff with odd notions about shaking hands who tosses student workers’ desks when they’re caught playing games while they’re supposed to be working. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/69 "2016-09-17T19:38:18Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Where do you work that people bring in board games and play them while on the clock? > > 😕 She said these were student workers, and IIRC she’s mentioned before that she works in a library, so presumably a university library. I work in a university library and while I’ve never seen students playing board games while working at the circulation desk, it seems plausible to me. When things are slow they definitely play computer games, check Facebook, and do their homework, although they’re supposed to limit this sort of thing and our desk supervisors have been cracking down on it more this year. Not by knocking their stuff onto the floor AFAIK, though – I don’t think that would be considered at all appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/70 "2016-09-17T19:53:24Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Does anyone, in real life, confess to past crimes and lay out their plans for new ones to the (captive) person who has been after them just prior to killing them? I guess we would have no way of knowing and it wouldn’t be much of a movie if they actually succeeded in the killing. I do this every time I’m about to kill someone… ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/71 "2016-09-17T21:22:37Z")
Has anyone here ever received a piece of bad news out of the blue and immediately reacted by vomiting? I’ve been so scared I felt nauseated, but no vomit was deployed, so it doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/72 "2016-09-17T22:57:48Z")
The wife of a guy who was on flight 93 did just that when he called her from the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/73 "2016-09-17T23:24:05Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Really, you would prefer I exercise my supervisor’s right (at will work state) and fired you immediately for playing on the job rather than pick up some scattered Settlers of Catan cards? Do you think maybe there’s a happy medium somewhere in between firing them and acting in such a dehumanizing manor? Do they not have written warnings at your place of employment? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/74 "2016-09-18T01:41:32Z")
> [@jehan](#): > > Or sit bolt upright in bed when waking from a nightmare? Did that a couple of times in my life. Don’t know exactly what the dreams are about, but they were scary as hell. > [@Cardigan](#): > > Does anyone ever really laugh diabolically as they throw the switch or otherwise set the wheels of a slow, torturous death into motion? Yeah, but it’s more for traditions sake than anything else. If you don’t, the minions start wondering if you’re sick, making chicken soup, trying to make you dress warm. Just easier to do the laugh. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/75 "2016-09-18T18:04:29Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Does anyone ever really laugh diabolically as they throw the switch or otherwise set the wheels of a slow, torturous death into motion? Just Yesterday. Curse you Perry the Platypus! My mom knocked over one of my bookcases once when she got angry at me. That was one of the few times that I recall her ever really getting angry at me. > [@](#): > > **Omega Glory** I knew someone who used throwing things as a parenting method. If her daughter was slow putting her clean clothes away, for example, the mom would trash the girl’s room. She’d sweep everything off flat surfaces and dump all the drawers onto the floor, then she’d make her daughter clean up the mess. My sisters room was so messy she would have never noticed if you did this to her. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/76 "2016-09-18T19:37:54Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Has anyone here ever received a piece of bad news out of the blue and immediately reacted by vomiting? > > I’ve been so scared I felt nauseated, but no vomit was deployed, so it doesn’t count. I’ve had my insides turn to cold jelly so I’d be more likely to shit myself. That’s harder to show in a movie. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/77 "2016-09-18T19:42:58Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Where do you work that people bring in board games and play them while on the clock? > > 😕 A university library. Settlers of Catan was a real problem when it first became popular. Now the students workers mostly play on their phones. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/78 "2016-09-18T19:48:22Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Do you think maybe there’s a happy medium somewhere in between firing them and acting in such a dehumanizing manor? > > Do they not have written warnings at your place of employment? Of course, we have written warnings, sometime they are used. Sweeping the board game, toys, papers, etc., are the precursor to the formal written warning. Over the years however, the “dehumanizing” junking of the play table however seems to be the most effective tool for stopping the behavior. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/79 "2016-09-19T00:36:20Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > She said these were student workers, and IIRC she’s mentioned before that she works in a library, so presumably a university library. > > I work in a university library and while I’ve never seen students playing board games while working at the circulation desk, it seems plausible to me. When things are slow they definitely play computer games, check Facebook, and do their homework, although they’re supposed to limit this sort of thing and our desk supervisors have been cracking down on it more this year. Not by knocking their stuff onto the floor AFAIK, though – I don’t think that would be considered at all appropriate. When I was a freshman in college I worked in the mail room. My supervisor taught us to play computer solitaire and didn’t care what we did on the clock when it got slow as long as the mail was all sorted and anyone picking up a package was helped. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948/80 "2016-09-19T01:37:38Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > When I was a freshman in college I worked in the mail room. My supervisor taught us to play computer solitaire and didn’t care what we did on the clock when it got slow as long as the mail was all sorted and anyone picking up a package was helped. I am not involved with supervising the student workers, but I’m told that there were concerns that 1) some student employees were becoming overly distracted from their actual duties and 2) some patrons were noticeably hesitant to approach the desk for help if the students on duty were doing something else, even if that “something else” wasn’t work-related. The student workers aren’t expected to sit there staring into space for an entire shift if no one is coming to the desk, but they’re also not getting paid to check Facebook while ignoring the printer crisis of the day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-ever-in-real-life/765948.md?page=5)