# Dopers , how will you react in this situation ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097 "2010-06-22T07:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/21 "2010-06-23T09:59:56Z")
Irrelevant grammatical nitpick: I see this a lot from Indian English speakers. “Will” is a prediciton of a definite future - something that is almost completely likely to happen. “Would” is a prediction of a hypothetical future - something that may or may not happen. Since the scenario described is hypothetical, then “would” is the correct word to use. E.g.: “How will you react when England get knocked out of the World Cup?” “How would you react if England win the World Cup?” ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/22 "2010-06-23T10:37:16Z")
Are you sure he’s napping? Might he just have his eyes closed, concentrating? Or is his head lolling and drool trickling? I wouldn’t do anything to call attention to his doze, and only ask for a break if it makes sense in the timing of the presentation. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/23 "2010-06-23T11:30:30Z")
Was this a Japanese owned company? Was the CEO Japanese? It’s normal and acceptable for Japanese executives to doze off during parts of meetings which don’t require their attention. I’ve seen this happen many times. The protocol is for everyone to ignore the sleeping exec. An underling has responsibility for following the discussions and will politely wake them if something comes up they need to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/24 "2010-06-23T12:53:40Z")
I pause to take a sip of coffee while staring at him and place the glass cup back on the table just a little too loud, the guy next to him usually punches him a bit if the cup doesn’t do it. If not, push on through. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/25 "2010-06-23T13:18:47Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Are you sure he’s napping? Might he just have his eyes closed, concentrating? Or is his head lolling and drool trickling? I was in a meeting wherein an senior-level person’s head was tipped way back resulting it really loud snoring. I’m talking buzz-saw snoring, the kind where you think “Okay he’s done inhaling…” to find that he’s still got some left. :: snoooooo… OOORE!:: It was a painfully awkward meeting because no one knew what to do, but the snoozer was very disruptive. At the end of the meeting everyone left quietly and left the guy sleeping there. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/26 "2010-06-23T13:21:10Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Irrelevant grammatical nitpick: I see this a lot from Indian English speakers. > > “Will” is a prediciton of a definite future - something that is almost completely likely to happen. > > “Would” is a prediction of a hypothetical future - something that may or may not happen. > > Since the scenario described is hypothetical, then “would” is the correct word to use. > > E.g.: > > “How will you react when England get knocked out of the World Cup?” > > “How would you react if England win the World Cup?” Its a gr8 privilge to get misstkes corrcted by a Brit from Oxford. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/27 "2010-06-23T18:00:03Z")
> [@indian](#): > > How about this ? > > "Let us take a break for 5 minutes ". The veeps are sure to wake up the CEO during the break . > > You are diplomatic and you achieve the intended result. Joking aside, unless your presentation is two hours long, don’t do this. By far the most professional way to handle the situation is to act as if everyone in the audience is listening attentively. They’re the customer, they get to not pay attention if they want. You’ll just lose points with those who are awake if you make any transparent attempts to wake the CEO so he’ll listen to you, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/28 "2010-06-23T18:17:31Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Continue giving the presentation, but sit in the CEO’s lap while you do it. Speak as if you were at the front of the room. I can’t stop laughing at this. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/29 "2010-06-24T12:58:06Z")
Some very funny replies in this thread !😉 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/30 "2010-06-24T13:45:02Z")
I’d squirt him with a water gun. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/31 "2010-06-25T14:54:50Z")
Dilbert weighed in today: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/](http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/32 "2010-06-25T14:59:16Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Dilbert weighed in today: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/](http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/) Scott Adams, where are you? What is your user name? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097/33 "2010-06-25T15:03:17Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Dilbert weighed in today: [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/](http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-25/) Wow !😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-how-will-you-react-in-this-situation/544097.md?page=1)