"The Outside Might Just Bleed Its Way In"

One thing above all others really annoys me. Yes, stupidity does, but I can accept that as just something the stupid person has no control over; after all, if they had control over it, they wouldn't be stupid. No, what truly pushes my buttons, every single time, is when someone makes an assumption.

Admittedly, I make them quite often. That's probably part of why they bother me so much. But what I'm really talking about are assumptions about generosity and the like.

For instance, yesterday, a student-athlete was trying to print something. He didn't know how to install our printer to his user profile, so instead, he just walked over to the computer I was logged on to (I was sitting at the desk at the time proofreading a paper), closed down the file I had open and proceeded to try and access his disk. About this time, I became aware of what he was doing, and berated him for messing with a computer that was clearly in use. He muttered something, and I told him to ask next time. He couldn't understand why it bothered me so much.

Why does it bother me so much? I'm not really sure. I don't mind doing things for people, being generous to damn near anyone who asks for generosity. But it rubs me the wrong way whenever someone just assumes I will generous without asking first. They assume I won't mind if they use my computer, or give them a ride (the particular incident that refers to has been resolved, though, so no worries, Ev--this isn't a personal attack), or anything like that. I reiterate--I don't mind being generous. In fact, I'm more than willing. But I have to be asked, or I have to offer--someone just assuming that I'll do fill in the blank action for them is the quickest way to get me in a bad mood.

Really, I think my distaste for stupidty stems from this as well. The type of stupidity that really annoys me is learned helplessness, where people are incapable of doing or thinking for themselves and instead become dependent on someone else to do it all for them. Willful ignorance, if you will. They just assume someone else will take care of their problems for them. The biggest example of this is that some of the athletes I have to deal with assume that just because we're here to proofread their papers, they don't need to perform any proofreading of their own, that we're just machines to do their work for them. And that always leaves me mad. I don't mind working with a student and a paper that the student has put time and effort into. On the contrary, I am more than happy to put forth effort if the student has. But not if the student doesn't care about the paper. If they don't, why should I?

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Van Morrison, "Somerset"