# Good grief. How old are you, anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344 "2007-03-02T20:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/21 "2007-03-03T05:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] For the life of me though, I can’t understand how a grown man would continue to think of them as endless sources of entertainment. [/QUOTE] Gah. I work with a guy like that. He just thinks it’s endlessly fun to, as he puts it, “Pick on people.” Most of the time, picking on people means saying stupid and insulting things. Sometimes it’s sneaking up on people and then yelling “Rarr!” He just never stops. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![tiger\_lily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tiger\_lily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiger_lily)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/22 "2007-03-03T10:40:19Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Sometimes it’s sneaking up on people and then yelling “Rarr!” [/QUOTE] Ha ha! Gotcha! \*:: shoots the finger guns :: \* ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/23 "2007-03-03T11:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] There’s something on your shirt. [/QUOTE] I know, did you know your flies are undone? ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/24 "2007-03-03T11:40:37Z")
Next time he’s standing idle, sneak up behind him and nudge the back of one of his knees with your foot. And then piss on him when he’s down! That should teach him. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/25 "2007-03-03T12:14:21Z")
[QUOTE=Speaker for the Dead] I love that trick! At one point, all of my friends knew to watch out for me, so when it happened, it was just like my saying “hi.” Nowadays, I do it less, but it can be fun when I’m in a playful mood. That said, it gets annoying when it happens more than, oh, once every couple of weeks. And that’s too frequent if it’s the same person, or even the same social group. [/QUOTE] I have to ask, in what way does this constitute “a trick?” Did you spend years in front of a mirror learning the exotic arts required to get your fingers to “tap someone on the shoulder?” Perhaps you read books by master shoulder tappers, ever learning how the fingers should be held, the firmness of the tap, timing, placement and other arcane secrets. No, I know, no doubt you travelled to the mysterious East, ever searching for the guru who held the universal wisdom of shoulder tapping. Or maybe like the subject of the OP you are a dickhead!? I think it gets annoying after the first time you do it in your lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/26 "2007-03-03T12:42:53Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Gah. I work with a guy like that. He just thinks it’s endlessly fun to, as he puts it, “Pick on people.” Most of the time, picking on people means saying stupid and insulting things. Sometimes it’s sneaking up on people and then yelling “Rarr!” He just never stops. Ever. [/QUOTE] I hate that guy. Fucking hate him. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/27 "2007-03-03T14:38:38Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I have to ask, in what way does this constitute “a trick?” Did you spend years in front of a mirror learning the exotic arts required to get your fingers to “tap someone on the shoulder?” Perhaps you read books by master shoulder tappers, ever learning how the fingers should be held, the firmness of the tap, timing, placement and other arcane secrets. … I think it gets annoying after the first time you do it in your lifetime. [/QUOTE] I agree with that. It’s annoying after the very first time that you do it. Look folks, there’s no cleverness involved in this “trick.” No great skill, no special talent. Anyone who feels a sense of accomplishment at this “trick” is simply delusional. It’s the sort of thing that a nine-year-old might find amusing, but grown adults should know better. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/28 "2007-03-03T16:17:37Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I know, did you know your flies are undone? [/QUOTE] Oh, thanks…btw, your socks are untied. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/29 "2007-03-03T16:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I have to ask, in what way does this constitute “a trick?” [/QUOTE] I believe that the prestige is what makes it a trick. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/30 "2007-03-03T16:35:21Z")
It’s a really good thing I’ve never worked with anyone like that, since I don’t take well to people sneaking up behind me and touching me regardless. There’s quite often swearing and smacking involved. My little brother is twelve years younger than me and has all the maturity you’d expect in a fourteen-year-old boy, but even _he_ knows better than to do that. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/31 "2007-03-03T16:56:48Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Consider yourself lucky. I once worked with a creepy guy who thought it was great fun to come up behind a woman and grab her in a big bear hug. The first time he did it to me I told him he was never to do it again. “Oh, it’s fun. You have no sense of humorl” I told him I didn’t care and don’t do it to me. The next time he did it to me I ran backwards and smashed him into a wall. He complained, but he never touched me again. [/QUOTE] You should have run him forwards, into the HR department. ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344/32 "2007-03-03T17:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Gah. I work with a guy like that. He just thinks it’s endlessly fun to, as he puts it, “Pick on people.” Most of the time, picking on people means saying stupid and insulting things. Sometimes it’s sneaking up on people and then yelling “Rarr!” He just never stops. Ever. [/QUOTE] He doesn’t look like [this guy](http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/wallpaper/images/colin_1024.jpg), does he? That’s a character from the old UK comedy series The Fast Show, who I assume was inspired by somebody like this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-how-old-are-you-anyway/394344.md?page=1)