Excuses, Excuses.
In the Singapore education system, we encourage our young to be innovative and entreprising. We encourage creativity. We try to think out of the box. And when stuck in the box, we try and see the box from different perspectives. Get the drift ya...
Was reading a great post in a blog that Slawek recommended and came across this article post on the site - 'My Dog Ate My Homework: Excuses We've Heard'. It's hilarious as I've heard these classic excuses a zillion times. I remember using some of these excuses as a student. And guess what, things have not changed. Some of these excuses are still being used by students today. Can we fault our kids for being creative in their excuses then?
Some other excuses students have used:
1. My book is in my locker but the locker key is with my friend. So I couldn't take the book out for class. (Must be a teen trend to carry things that belong to others)
2. I failed the test because the test paper was poorly set by the teacher. (Oh yes, it's never the student's fault, it's always the teacher's).
3. I cannot do the class work now as I have a Maths test later and if I do your work now, I will forget what I have studied for the Maths test' (Tip to doing well in a test: One must do NOTHING before a test to prevent loss of information in one's brain).
4. My homework was in the pocket of my uniform. When I got home, I forgot about it and washed my uniform. By the time I remembered, it was too late and I couldn't even find the pieces of paper in the washing machine (Yeah, students carry files and huge bags to school and yet, homework/assignments go into their pocket - how convenient).
Recently, I was looking for metal foil/tape to use for my craft work and went to a few places to see if they had them. A salesperson at Art Friend was nice enough to say that they don't have what I needed and recommended some D.I.Y places that might carry them instead. Very nice of him.
I went to a few D.I.Y stores and when I asked them if they had the metal foil I was looking for, I got a 'huh' look from them. Not one to give up so easily, I tried again and described the item using simple terms and hand gestures. It turned out to be a futile exercise. I reached a conclusion that these salespeople are trained NEVER to say that they don't know what I am talking about. Also, they cannot say that they might not carry it...big NO NO there.
Instead these are some of the excuses that I was given:
1. 'It's all there' (they wave their hands in a general direction and expect me to know where to look for the tape).
2. 'We're out of stock' (and when asked when they will have stock, the reply I got was 'it's out of stock' ).
I just ended up leaving the stores totally frustrated. Sometimes, I don't know whether to cry or laugh or bang my head against the wall when I hear the excuses that people use.
Maybe to maintain my sanity, I should just laugh and spread the silliness around....
posted by Me, Myself n I at 12:51 pm
In the Singapore education system, we encourage our young to be innovative and entreprising. We encourage creativity. We try to think out of the box. And when stuck in the box, we try and see the box from different perspectives. Get the drift ya...
Was reading a great post in a blog that Slawek recommended and came across this article post on the site - 'My Dog Ate My Homework: Excuses We've Heard'. It's hilarious as I've heard these classic excuses a zillion times. I remember using some of these excuses as a student. And guess what, things have not changed. Some of these excuses are still being used by students today. Can we fault our kids for being creative in their excuses then?
Some other excuses students have used:
1. My book is in my locker but the locker key is with my friend. So I couldn't take the book out for class. (Must be a teen trend to carry things that belong to others)
2. I failed the test because the test paper was poorly set by the teacher. (Oh yes, it's never the student's fault, it's always the teacher's).
3. I cannot do the class work now as I have a Maths test later and if I do your work now, I will forget what I have studied for the Maths test' (Tip to doing well in a test: One must do NOTHING before a test to prevent loss of information in one's brain).
4. My homework was in the pocket of my uniform. When I got home, I forgot about it and washed my uniform. By the time I remembered, it was too late and I couldn't even find the pieces of paper in the washing machine (Yeah, students carry files and huge bags to school and yet, homework/assignments go into their pocket - how convenient).
Recently, I was looking for metal foil/tape to use for my craft work and went to a few places to see if they had them. A salesperson at Art Friend was nice enough to say that they don't have what I needed and recommended some D.I.Y places that might carry them instead. Very nice of him.
I went to a few D.I.Y stores and when I asked them if they had the metal foil I was looking for, I got a 'huh' look from them. Not one to give up so easily, I tried again and described the item using simple terms and hand gestures. It turned out to be a futile exercise. I reached a conclusion that these salespeople are trained NEVER to say that they don't know what I am talking about. Also, they cannot say that they might not carry it...big NO NO there.
Instead these are some of the excuses that I was given:
1. 'It's all there' (they wave their hands in a general direction and expect me to know where to look for the tape).
2. 'We're out of stock' (and when asked when they will have stock, the reply I got was 'it's out of stock' ).
I just ended up leaving the stores totally frustrated. Sometimes, I don't know whether to cry or laugh or bang my head against the wall when I hear the excuses that people use.
Maybe to maintain my sanity, I should just laugh and spread the silliness around....
Was reading a great post in a blog that Slawek recommended and came across this article post on the site - 'My Dog Ate My Homework: Excuses We've Heard'. It's hilarious as I've heard these classic excuses a zillion times. I remember using some of these excuses as a student. And guess what, things have not changed. Some of these excuses are still being used by students today. Can we fault our kids for being creative in their excuses then?
Some other excuses students have used:
1. My book is in my locker but the locker key is with my friend. So I couldn't take the book out for class. (Must be a teen trend to carry things that belong to others)
2. I failed the test because the test paper was poorly set by the teacher. (Oh yes, it's never the student's fault, it's always the teacher's).
3. I cannot do the class work now as I have a Maths test later and if I do your work now, I will forget what I have studied for the Maths test' (Tip to doing well in a test: One must do NOTHING before a test to prevent loss of information in one's brain).
4. My homework was in the pocket of my uniform. When I got home, I forgot about it and washed my uniform. By the time I remembered, it was too late and I couldn't even find the pieces of paper in the washing machine (Yeah, students carry files and huge bags to school and yet, homework/assignments go into their pocket - how convenient).
Recently, I was looking for metal foil/tape to use for my craft work and went to a few places to see if they had them. A salesperson at Art Friend was nice enough to say that they don't have what I needed and recommended some D.I.Y places that might carry them instead. Very nice of him.
I went to a few D.I.Y stores and when I asked them if they had the metal foil I was looking for, I got a 'huh' look from them. Not one to give up so easily, I tried again and described the item using simple terms and hand gestures. It turned out to be a futile exercise. I reached a conclusion that these salespeople are trained NEVER to say that they don't know what I am talking about. Also, they cannot say that they might not carry it...big NO NO there.
Instead these are some of the excuses that I was given:
1. 'It's all there' (they wave their hands in a general direction and expect me to know where to look for the tape).
2. 'We're out of stock' (and when asked when they will have stock, the reply I got was 'it's out of stock' ).
I just ended up leaving the stores totally frustrated. Sometimes, I don't know whether to cry or laugh or bang my head against the wall when I hear the excuses that people use.
Maybe to maintain my sanity, I should just laugh and spread the silliness around....
posted by Me, Myself n I at 12:51 pm
2 Comments:
laugh?
that's pretty gracious of you!
as i get older, i realised i have a tendency to speak my mind :o
not good. lol
Trust me, patience is not something I am very good at nowadays :o) Tolerance level going down down down .... *laughs*
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