fandomhigh | Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, July 10, 2nd period]

Josh was still not exactly comfortable with the whole "being outside" thing as he perched on a picnic bench and smiled at the students as they assembled. In deference to the ridiculously hot weather, he was wearing short sleeves and khakis. No tie. Scary, no?

"Okay, one of the most annoying things you will encounter in your life will be other people," he began, rolling his eyes. "Most of us -- in my universe, anyway, some of you might have other experiences -- can't kill them by using our brains, so we have to come up with different coping methods. We'll get to the more advanced techniques -- sarcasm, the strategic use of an eye roll -- later, but today we'll start out with something that gives you a lot of chance to practice before you send out the final product."

He pulled out a sheaf of papers and dropped it onto the table. "Writing back to stupid people!" he said triumphantly. "In this exercise you need to reply to these obviously deranged letters in a polite way without asking if they've thought to seek professional help for their delusions. There are five different letters so pair up with a partner -- it's better to double check your language against someone else, at least at the beginning -- and write back to these completely insane people."

Josh grinned. "Questions? Problems? I don't really care, but ask anyway."

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A.J. nodded. "That makes a lot of sense, then. Although I have gone by John, Leaf, and the Artist around here, as well."

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Leaf?"

A.J. grinned at her. "Oh, look who's talking, Summer. One of the John's came up with it. I kind of liked it, so it stuck. As my John name."

"My name is an awesome name," Summer insisted. "Your John name? Now that is starting to sound like some sort of code."

"I agree!" A.J. assured her. "It is awesome. And, well...there was an email sent out, to all the male students, I think, about a meeting of the Johns because there's so many of them at the school. And..." He took a moment to look around the room for any other Johns before leaning in, lowering his voice to a whisper, "I successfully infiltrated it, so that all the Johns here think I'm a John, too, and not an A.J. They were thinking up alternate names for each other, and mine came out to be Leaf."

Summer snickered. "So should I call you A.J., John, or Leaf?"

"I'll leave it entirely up to you," A.J. offered her, with a grin, before taking a moment to consider the bizarre letter again.

"I'll think it over," Summer said, also glancing at the letter again. "Think we should politely tell this person to learn some common grammar?"

"Maybe at the end," A.J. suggested. "After we've...um, responded to the rest, but I....don't have a clue on how..." He frowned, looking it over. "What is it even telling us? So these women had a conversation while driving, maybe? About gypsies? We care why?"

"Maybe English isn't their first language?" Summer suggested.

"Ooh. Good thinking," A.J. nodded. "How do you think we should respond? If that is the case, we still can't really get what they're trying to ask, or communicate, so would maybe just a letter explaining the miscommunication work, you think? Or is that too...rude, or something?"

"It's not rude if it's worded nicely," Summer said.

A.J. nodded. "Right. So definitely starting out with a Dear Sir or Madam:...."

"Totally a good way to start," Summer agreed, nodding.

"How's this....?" A.J. asked, and then started to write:

"Dear Sir or Madam,

We deeply regret to have to inform you that, at this present time, we could not comprehend your recent correspondence..."

Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, July 10, 2nd period]

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