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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"I try," Josh replied with a smirk.

"Hmm," Sokka said, biting his lip and looking thoughtful. "Sorry about that. It just comes naturally for me."

"Being a man?" Josh smiled harder. "Write that up, add a few hundred typos and send it to a thousand strangers and we might be in business."

Sokka blinked at him. "All right, you lost me."

Josh blinked back. "Being a man doesn't come naturally for you?"

"Oh, no, it does," Sokka reassured him. "But how does that get strangers to send us money? And what's a Type-O?"

"People are very, very stupid," Josh said. "For every letter that made you boggle today, someone sent money to them to find out more. Of course, most of the time, it leads to credit card fraud and the Secret Service'll come after your ass, but maybe if you move to Canada..."

He shook his head. "I'm rambling."

Shocking. Truly.

Sokka chuckled. "No, seriously. Where'd you really get these letters?"

"My email," Josh said. "Scary, huh?"

Sokka raised his eyebrows and took a step back. "Whatever disease your email's got, don't get any on me."

Josh stared at him for a long moment. "Different reality, right?"

Sokka facepalmed. "JOKE."

Then he shrugged, and added, "...But, yeah. I'm also from a different reality. Email's kinda new to me, but I've used it some and I know what it is."

"I've been here almost two years," Josh said with a grin. "I've learned not to take anything for granted."

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

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