23 Unbelievable Conversations That People Had With Colleagues

Good conversations can spark great things, or at least good thoughts. But what happens when you come across people who have a limited viewpoint, the kind who don’t know much about anything? Here are some Redditors who had the strangest of conversations with colleagues and co-workers, making for some indelible, if hilarious memories.

• I work in IT. My former boss asked me to set up a new computer for some weird project. I asked what operating system she wanted on it. She had no idea what an operating system was. She was the IT manager. I was honestly offended at the fact that she was the one in charge. © Unknown author / Reddit
• Last week, I had to explain to our general manager that the “little paper clip on the email thingy” is used to attach a document. Then I had to explain what it means to attach a document. He is allowed to run a store that profits upwards of 3 million a year. © pancakeprincess / Reddit
• I told a manager that mixing bleach and ammonia might not be the best option for cleaning the floor of a crowded restaurant. She threatened to fire me for not doing so. Needless to say, her boss called her an idiot. © benkenobi5 / Reddit
• A former boss thought the word ’’plot’’ could only mean a place to bury a body. When I told her it had many definitions and showed her the dictionary, she called me an idiot and said that she doesn’t need to look up words she already knows. I’m still plotting my revenge.
  © Unknown author / Reddit
• I had to (repeatedly) explain that when someone works from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the night shift during daylight saving time changes, they actually only worked for 6 hours (or 8 hours).
  © brfoss / Reddit

• A coworker of mine and I were talking about physics when a girl we work with comes up and hears me say physicist. To which she interjected, “You mean the people who put all the fizz in pop? That sounds like a cool job”. So, I had to explain what a physicist is. © Fasan / Reddit
• When I was a youngster, I worked road construction in Southern Ontario. The part that is farther south than some states. Had an American family pull up and ask where all the snow was. They had skis on their roof. It was August. © Shamson / Reddit
• I had to explain to a group of co-workers—more than one being a woman—that hens can lay eggs without a rooster around. They were befuddled. I stopped short of coming out and directly comparing it to their period. I still don’t think they got it. © cbaileyau / Reddit
• A crew chief on a job of mine last week asked me if my girlfriend was still working with “authentic” kids. I informed him that yes, my girlfriend is still working with autistic kids, and no, none of them are FAKE! © Unknown author / Reddit
• An Italian-American friend of mine had to explain to her grad school roommate that the garlic in garlic salt actually came from a plant. I don’t want to know what she thought garlic was.
  © Unknown author / Reddit

• Just last week, I had to explain to my boss that my having two computer monitors does not use “more internet”. I couldn’t keep a straight face during that conversation. © rpodovich / Reddit
• This was a coworker, not really a superior, but it’s still the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever had to explain to an adult. We worked nights and, on our lunch, break we were commenting on the stars and such, and this coworker was completely oblivious that the Earth revolved around the sun.
  “This whole time I thought the sun revolved around the Earth!” She was close to 40 years old. © aswtx / Reddit
• I frequently have to explain to various coworkers that the seasons in Canada are the same as in Europe, and not opposite. This conversation happens about once per season. © mightyjake / Reddit
• No, sir, I do not have to save more than once for good measure. And the reveal codes don’t print. They help you see your mistakes. You can center the text; you don’t have to hit space a hundred million times. If you use a table, then your figures stay organized. No, Microsoft doesn’t hate the working man. I seriously doubt that they are out to get you because you didn’t upgrade to Office 2010. © Inulala / Reddit
• I once worked for a Silicon Valley startup and had a total of 250,000 shares of company stock. The company found a way to reorganize that wiped my equity out entirely. They were shocked when I explained to them that I would not be continuing to work with them.
  © MarcieAlana / Reddit

• Not my story, but an ex-girlfriend’s. Her boss thought that any place to which you could fly required a passport. My ex told her boss that she was flying from NY to Florida; the boss immediately asked her if she had her passport yet. © Itsjustb / Reddit
• A very pregnant checkout girl once heard my mom and me, talking to each other in Spanish. She asked us if it was hard to learn because the baby’s father was from South America. Since he had gone home for good, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to understand the baby.
  After an awkward pause, my mom and I explained to her how the baby will talk in English because that’s what she speaks, and it will learn it from her. She didn’t seem relieved, so I fear she might have not believed us. © HokieGeek / Reddit
• The brand of your computer doesn’t have to match the brand of your mouse. If you fax something to someone from one machine to another, and the image looks like there’s not enough ink, it’s NOT from the first machine. I just... I’ll end up talking for years if I say everything this woman and I have argued about. Yes, argued.
  She doesn’t quite understand that I’m just trying to help, she tries to battle with me over things. Like the time I told her we ran out of oranges, and she refused to believe me, because we couldn’t possibly had run out that fast. © PaniAnna / Reddit
• I once had to explain to my boss that the numbers 5-75 and the notches in between on the walls of our pool represented the feet in 25 yards. I’m a lifeguard, he’s the pool supervisor and coach of a college team. © Unknown author / Reddit

• My last boss at my last fast food job was 19 and... ignorant. We’ll just leave it at that. After interviewing someone who I believe would have been a great employee, he threw the application in the trash because the candidate had (extremely well-cared for) dreadlocks.
  His reasoning: People with dreadlocks don’t wash their hair, therefore they do not shower and are unhygienic. I argued with him, and he told me that I was the idiot. Furthermore, I even provided facts (I loathe ignorance) and he still refused to believe me. I quit not long after, and regret nothing. © motorcityvicki / Reddit
• Haven’t done it yet, but I’m going to have to explain to my boss why, since my job involves a good deal of computer programming, telling me that I “spend too much time on the computer” at my performance review is stupid. © el_muerte17 / Reddit
• In my second year of college, I took a Race in American Societies class. Our first day had an icebreaker, where we had to introduce ourselves to the rest of the class. I stand up, give my name and hometown, and mention that I’m Native American. To which a clearly SURPRISED student said, “Wait, you guys are real?” I had to spend the next few minutes explaining that yes, we did and do exist. Apparently, she thought that we were a myth, like wood nymphs.
  © tebrown219 / Reddit
• My mom worked at a clothing store. A woman with a beautiful but peculiar accent came in. As she checked out, mom asked her where she was from. She replied, “Wales.” After she left, the manager tried to locate Wales on a map. Mom told her to look in the UK, but she laughed and proceeded to look for Wales in SE Asia. © superluminal_girl / Reddit

If these conversations made you giggle, or at least facepalm, here are some even weirder questions these interviewees had to face.