Have you ever pretended to be stupid?

I have a high IQ. Not in the clouds and away with the fairies high, but lower levels of Mensa high. All it does for me as far as I’m aware is make me a good problem solver, and helps me to retain information.

At work, this makes me the worst kind of know it all. I got sick a long time ago of colleagues rolling their eyes when I come up with a workable solution again, or reminding someone yet again of blah-de-blah policy verbatim. I’m sick of being cajoled into promotions I don’t want. I’m sick of my immediate colleagues resenting me for breezing through work that they struggle with. I’m sick of having work dumped on me because I’m capable of getting it finished, and I’m sick of completing my day’s work in the first hour of my work day, leaving me with nothing else to do but hide from my team the fact that I’ve been typing up my novel all afternoon on company time.

So now, I’m not exactly pretending to be completely stupid, but I’m certainly taking care not to shine. It’s not working very well, I’m being promoted 2 grades in the next few months as I’ve been job matched to a post above my boss. I never even wanted a career and it’s all gone horribly wrong! People are even trying to headhunt me. I’d take redundancy rather than this new job but that’s not an option available to me. I’ve been promoted to management within a year of every job I’ve ever had, even one working in a grovcery store while I was at at college, and every time it’s been against my will to some degree.

This sounds like bragging but really, it’s not. I’m not that bright (which is fairly obvious from my few posts on this message board), I’m not that capable and I’m not that hardworking… I’m just a good combination of the 3. I can figure out what needs doing in a short period of time in most jobs that don’t take specialist skills, and I pick stuff up fast. I’m an organised, logical thinker at work and it’s difficult to pretend otherwise, but I’m really trying.

It happened at university, too. I had to learn to keep my mouth shut in lectures and seminars - my tutors liked me and we had some fantastic debates but the other students would start rolling their eyes, and I’d start keeping my mouth shut so I wouldn’t have to sit by myself in the canteen later on.

Whenever I buy new wiper blades for my car. I hate putting the damn things on.

Nope, never. I am apparently never going to get away with it.

Uh-oh catsix, you just admitted to playing helpless female so men will help you? This is probably going to lead a good thread in some other forum. :slight_smile:

I used to pretend to be stupid on dates. I didn’t do it on purpose, I probably picked up that behavior from my mom and from TV and movies. Eventually I got over it. It didn’t make for great dates.

I don’t do it often, but, sure. I’m petite, blonde, and I’ve got that blank look down pat. I can get away with just about anything (provided I’m dealing with a man – women never buy it).

Female Cop: I’m getting a ticket
Male Judge: singing I’m getting out of the ticket!.. :smiley:

In social situations I don’t bother. Playing dumb gets old fast and I’m not looking for someone who’s looking for someone stupid.

I tried to get into an exclusive VIP party. I quietly waited around one of those doors that opens from the inside. When someone was going out, I caught the door and proceeded to go in. But before I had my foot in the door, a security guy grapped me. :eek: “What do you think you’re doing!” “I’m going to call the cops on you!” Me: dah, I don’t know wha, where da party at? Happy Birthday yay! “Get out of here!”

While the guy was pushing me out of the crowd, I looked at one of the VIP guests…and winked. Dah I’m rewtarded… :wink: He could see I’m just trying to get in, would return BS with BS, and would be the life of the party. So he gave me a pass and let me in.

The lesson learned: at celebrity events, it’s not the guy at the door that lets you in, it’s the guy in line. You just gotta know who to give the wink.

When I meet new people, I’m very careful to not let them know I know things. I pretend when people want solutions to their computer and car problems. Because once they know you know, they will call you to fix their problems for life. So no, I don’t know what CD-RAM projecters are, nor do I know what blinker fluid is. :slight_smile:

ALL the fucking time… Its an advantage all the time really. Unless your working with people you absolutely must impress.

Yep

from the age of 9 (when i was skipped up a year), and all my new classmates stared at me like a was a 3legged mutant just crawled out of the sewer, until the age of about 14, when i gave up on all social interaction at school and started bringing a book to read at lunchtimes.
since then i haven’t really found it useful, i find cops generally respond quite well to my nice well-spoken intelligent girl act, but thats just because they expect most teenagers to be barely literate and completely unintelligable.

Any time someone at work asks me a computer question.

First of all, we have tech guys for that.

Second…they never, ever, EVER write what I say down. EVER. And they never use it again, so it goes out of their brain (if it was ever there to begin with) in two nanoseconds.

I was wasting my time.

But not any more…

I play dumb whenever I play poker, but then it’s called bluffing. If people want to assume that I’m just a silly little girl with good luck, then I don’t mind taking their money.

Any time someone at work asks me a computer question.

First of all, we have tech guys for that.

Second…they never, ever, EVER write what I say down. EVER. And they never use it again, so it goes out of their brain (if it was ever there to begin with) in two nanoseconds.

I was wasting my time.

But not any more…

Pass the salt please, and a big helping of those delusions of grandeur. Thanks.

In a church home group, I made a stand for women not turning on the “I’ll let you get somewhere” voice to get men to do things for them.
There is almost no level to which I hate that, unless you happen to be married to me. Otherwise, it’s a lie.

But how is it “pretending to be stupid”?

If you get them at Jiffy Lube or wherever, they won’t even ask if you can put them on yourself, they’ll just offer to do it for you at no extra charge. IME.

What’s the difference between a software salesman and used car salesman?

A used car saleman knows he’s lying! :slight_smile:

Sounds fun. How would you pretend to be stupid, for instance?

When I want to get away with something, for example if I’m photographing in the metro and I think the cops are going to hassle me about it. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you couldn’t take photographs here…” [Actually, according to the transit company you can, but a lot of the metro cops think you can’t.] By this time I usually have the photographs I wanted anyway.