This (ex-) Troper was a Deadpan Snarker today...

captainbrass · 2011-09-23 14:29:57

...and I really wish I hadn't been.

I was sitting at my desk as usual, surrounded by my colleagues (the office is open-plan). One of the guys from Facilities, the people who maintain the building, walked round the corner and asked if our printer needed repairing. "No", we said. He then explained he'd been asked to repair a printer by a guy who works on a completely different floor of the building and in a different department, which we pointed out to him, and he wandered off.

Now, this guy tends to give the impression of not being quite all there. He never seems to know where anything is or who anyone is and this is a bit annoying when you have to deal with him, so once he was out of earshot I said: "Did he escape from somewhere or something?" Everyone laughed, but one of my colleagues said that it was rather cruel. And thinking about it, she was right - whether or not the guy is actually mentally handicapped or just a bit stupid, I shouldn't have said that. Now I feel quite guilty about it.

So...has anyone else regretted their attempts at deadpan snarkery? And did you actually do anything about it?

AHR · 2011-09-23 14:31:56

A guy once said "there are no stupid questions, only stupid people" and I replied "I guess that makes you exhibit A, huh?"

I didn't feel sorry for it, but after the kids stopped laughing, the teacher made me apologize.

Don't know if I regret it though.

MillerCross · 2011-09-23 14:34:51

One great thing I love about Colombia's culture: Except for really really really mean jokes, people are hard to offend. And even then, most people learn how to not feel particularly bad about those.

Of course, I also learned some good decency and try to not be offensive to people who find this sorta thing...you know...offensive.

Waltzy · 2011-09-23 14:36:41

I know that feel bro. Last year I had an art teacher, a very nice old guy but he had the insufferable habit of getting long-winded at times and wasting time we could be using for work. One day he brought in a woman from the print-making class at the college, and she had a lot more brevity. I turned to my friend after the demonstration and was like "at least she gets through things without distraction, we needed some youth in here".

And my teacher totally heard every word, but was too nice to say anything.

Even if I was on my period, that was possibly the rudest and meanest thing I've ever done and I regret it so so much. The good news is though he probably forgot all about it. He also retired that year, so I lost my chance to apologize. I guess I deserve that much though, that was like...the epitome of bitchiness. I felt so so bad.