Today, I was asked to dumb myself down so the people I was training could comprehend what I was saying. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, at work, I took a call from an angry customer. After listening to his problem and fully explaining how we could fix it, he called me a stupid girl and said I need more training as I obviously know nothing about my job. I'm the company training coordinator. FML
Today, I confidently answered a question in a meeting, only to realize everyone was staring at me because I’d misunderstood it completely. My boss gently rephrased it while I nodded like that was my point all along. It absolutely wasn’t. FML
Today, I had to go to a boring, never-ending "sensitivity training" session, all because my douchebag coworker filed a complaint against me last week after I apologized for being tardy. Apparently I was insulting people with mental disorders. Or as she put it, "differently-abled" people. FML
Today, the people who gave me no training or instruction on how to do my job tried to fire me, because asking for clarification apparently means I'm incompetent. FML
Today, I was fixing something for a guy at a steel manufacturing company. His employees told me that their boss can't hear properly, so I'd have to be loud when talking to him. When I'd finished, he asked me if I normally talked like that, or if there was something wrong with me. FML
Today, I tried to impress my boss with my knowledge of a subject and ended up sounding like a complete idiot. FML
Today, in class I was teaching 6 year olds about the difference between short and tall, and I asked them how they could see that I was shorter than the other teacher. One of them raised their hand and said it was because I'm fatter. FML
Today, I was warned that I was failing too many students and it had to stop, so I showed my boss all of the easy assignments a lot of students didn't even turn in. She told me to stop using so many "big words" in them. I teach at a four year University. FML
Today, I yet again had to pretend to be a dumb bimbo so that my boyfriend wouldn't get upset over the fact that, in some cases, I might be smarter than him. FML
Today, at work I put myself squarely in the lame / old people category when I foolishly asked out loud what FML meant. FML
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Top comments
Pleonasm 36
Look, if you're trying to teach preschoolers what the difference between a prepositional phrase and a subordinate clause is, you're going about this wrong.
zed34 18
You can't fix stupid
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Comments (116)
ozpunker 20
I'm not sure if this is an fml. Sometimes people try and explain things too in depth.
zed34 18
You can't fix stupid
friedpwnadge 25
But apparently it can affect your job.
AKGirlinSD 20
3, No you can't. At my last job, I was required, quite often, to send emails out to all 200+ employees, nationwide. My boss took me to the side, after I had sent out my third one, and said I needed to word the emails as if a five-year-old was reading them. Apparently, an employee freaked out because she didn't know the difference bewteen "advice" and "advise." Sadly, that was just one of the hundreds of reasons. Ugh!
ApologyKick 25
If we can't fix stupid, what is the "No Child Left Behind" policy going to help with?
SymphonyGrrl 12
They should learn YOUR vocabulary. You shouldn't have to dumb down to them!
boredinjp 17
The OP's job is to train them. If she is talking over their heads she's not training them, so she's not doing her job.
nightbirdblue 27
For all we know, OP could be using advanced technical terms or words that people don't . Instead of saying that people should take notes of what they are saying with pen or pencil to be able to remember it later, OP could be saying "You should inscribe this correspondence with the writing implement of your desires to enhance your ability to recall the things I have instilled later."
Jemm_fml 29
Actually yes, OP should make it simpler. It's their job to teach, not pontify fancy jargon over people's heads. That requires keeping with the students' pace.
ryanpreiss 17
I guess my only thought is... does OP use the same language for posting and teaching?
ThatFancyPenn 18
No I think that OP should dumb things down because they're paying to be trained, so they'd expect the best out of it.
Zebediabolical 45
It's going to lower the bar to the stupid.
Pleonasm 36
Look, if you're trying to teach preschoolers what the difference between a prepositional phrase and a subordinate clause is, you're going about this wrong.
sjbartholome 14
or teach a preschooler how to prove the Mean Value Theorem
ElementaryEdGuy 18
Actually, I think that's in the new common core standards. :P
SuperPizzaMan_fml 11
Or maybe they need to smarten up..
NoFlippinWai 24
I understand how you feel, but you have to learn your audience. It will make you a better teacher and trainer... and perhaps better at your own job. It may suck now, but it will payoff in the end.
SuperSofie 23
Really depends on what you have to teach them and who it is that needs teaching...
lonewolf658 6
Don't sweat it OP, they should expand their inadequate vocabulary
ohro 10
Maybe you guys should find new people to train that don't need to have someone "dumb down" to understand
Ki11erC 18
Like already trained people?
your_ma 27
Nothing like intellectual snobbery. Not everyone is intelligent as you but the point is they're on some sort of training or education course with you so they're trying to learn. Maybe give them a little more credit and respect instead of making fun of them for being stupid? No?