What was the weirdest presentation you ever gave?

Mine was in high school.
I hated reading.
I was just too impatient for it.
I loved writing though.
I always used books that could be put on auto read.

So one day we had to make a book report, but my mother had put all the books in boxes and brought them to the basement and they were stuffed under thousands of other boxes.

Only one book was available still.
50 Shades of Grey.
My mother just finished reading it.
It was a hype at that time.

So what did I do as a suboptimal solution? I read 50 shades and gave a book presentation about it.

The English teacher was also our '' catholic religion '' teacher.

Goes without saying that she turned blue when I told her what I was going to present about.

Especially since the presentation was with pictures.

My classmates had a good laugh.
The teacher thought I brought it in a mature and literate way, which she congratulated me for.

Still, it was embarrassing because the principle came in while my dia's with pictures were playing and I was presenting.
The principle had this smirk on his face and said : '' I thought you were a little Saint because that's what you look like, but apparently I must revise my opinion. ''

I was quite embarrassed afterwards.

Sometimes I still meet that principle when I go to the local supermarket and he has this smile on his face every time he sees me.

I learned my lesson :
Next time if you find yourself in such a situation, choose a boring normal topic to talk about.

Even my classmates from back then immediately think back about that incident when my name is mentioned.

My own fault I guess.
Next time I'm going to move all those boxes and choose a normal book haha.

These types of things keep haunting you, even 8-9 years post-dato.

What was your most embarrassing presentation you gave?

 

I can remember an embarrassing presentation - not mine but how I reacted to it makes me cringe now. It was a Cultural Issues class and we needed to present on an introduction to a culture and a subculture, so Vietnamese Youth or Elderly Combat Veterans, HIV+ Teenagers or LGBTQ Indigenous People, etc. One of the groups delivered a presentation on Indo-Canadians. "Indo" refers in this case to India, but their presentation was on Indonesia, a different community altogether.

They also spent most of the presentation, talking about honor killings, which isn't really about India or Indonesia. After their presentation, I made a Facebook post about it. It was just one sentence, but it was clearly about them.

The school called me into a meeting with the program coordinator and told me the group members felt bullied by my comment. At the time I thought it was ridiculous, but I agreed to delete the post and they closed the incident without any other action. In retrospect, it was unprofessional and impolite of me to even bring it up, and a good reminder to be more careful with my social media.

Nowadays I "live and let live."

 

Hello!

In this high school geography class, we were watching a boring video about pedogenesis. I was chatting with my high school crush until, at the end of the video, a very angry teacher asked me to do a spontaneous presentation about the movie we were just watching. But I would not be intimidated that easily. I stood there, all eyes on me, and with loud and clear voice and all of my confidence I declared:

"In this really boring and pathetic excuse for a film, we just learned that plants grow best in earthwork shit."

That was my whole presentation. I got an E-minus for it. - Fair enough, I think.


Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

I also believed that first one, but only because (If I'm remembering correctly) the research that first came out was rather slanted and funded by those with conflicts of interest. Can't say that anyone ever taught me about demonic hypnotic possession, though.

 

Blasted autocorrection. My presentation was, actually:

"In this really boring and pathetic excuse for a film, we just learned that plants grow best in earthworm shit."

 

Do you know the comic from Jack T. Chick? If no, have a look: https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=0046

 

To be fair the reaction of your teachers was also ridiculous. They made so much fuzz about something so minor. Typical for high-school I guess.

For me it was differently. They never called me out on it. It was entertainment for them.
I was always known for talking about taboo topics that other people would rather put their shoe in their mouth than talk about it.
That and my presentations always lasted 20 minutes when we were allocated a time slot of 3 minutes each.

Most people thought I was articulate though and so they forgave me my eccentric choice of topics and my long presentations.

 

Oh it's even worse, this was a second year college class!

 

Talking about weird...
I had a very weird encounter today.
I'm a professional negotiator and I had to negotiate the budget for a case I'm working on.
The guy I had to negotiate with made me extremely uncomfortable.
Sometimes you meet people who are unfriendly but sometimes you also meet people who are too friendly. Sadly, he was one of the last kind.

This is how the conversation goes :
<< Me : Hello, my name is (I tell him my name).
Nice to meet you. I'm the negotiator for (insert corporation's name).
Him : Hello, I'm so happy that you are here.
Me : thank you. Do we start negotiations for (insert case name)?
Him: you don't want to have a bit of chit-chat first?
Me: I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have time for that. I have another meeting in 1 hour from now.
Him: That's bad. I like getting to know each other.
Me: It's always nice to have a good relationship with your business partner.
Him: *starts giggling*
Me: So about this fee, that fee and this one (start to tell him my budgetary proposals).
Him: You're cute when you explain it like that.
Me: (feeling embarrassed but decide to ignore it)
Him: What age are you?
Me: I'm 25, sir. So what about that fee in the left table?
Him: do you live alone?
Me: (Decide to ignore it)
So what proposal do you have for this fee?
Him: Do you have WhatsApp?
Me: I don't have a corporate account.
We still need to finish two budget schedules
Him: We can negotiate those tomorrow.
What's your favorite movie?
Me: When do you expect to have the contract signed from your side?
Him: Normally it takes two weeks.
(the only time he reacts neutral and normal).
Me: great. I propose we discuss the other schedule for the 20 minutes we have left.
Him: from now on, you can ask my boss that we negotiate every contract together. We have a great connection already so.
Me: ( thinking to myself : what connection? I have known you for exactly 40 minutes and didn't enjoy your creepy behavior)
I don't have any influence on who will negotiate the next contract. It's equal for me who negotiates it.
I don't have any preference.
Him : looking pissed at me.
Me: (after the creepy comments continue for another 20 minutes).
Oh I see it's time. I need to go. I have another meeting in 5 min.
Him: Oh no. Is our time up already?
Email me to see each other again tomorrow. I have 3 hours of spare time for meetings tomorrow.

Me: We'll see about that. By for now.

Him: big kiss. Byee.

~

Especially that last comment was the drop.
I was so shocked about that last comment/answer.
How in a name do you consider it professional to tell someone you're negotiating with '' big kiss ''.

I was creeped out by him asking for WhatsApp and all his other personal questions but that last one was so creepy.

I'm nervous to collaborate with that individual a next time.

I wonder if people like that behave so creepy on purpose or if they just don't know that it's inappropriate to behave like that.

He has a PhD.
I didn't expect someone with such a high degree to behave that creepy to be honest.
I thought he would have had more manners / better manners.

 

Hello!


Looks like he has you exactly where he wanted you to be. You were nervous, you were repulsed and you will be this way the next time when you deal with that individual - and probably give him more concessions than you would just to get away.


Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

The thing is that I have been in this job for only 4 months.
If I'm going to report him, it will come over as if I am the one making drama.
What I don't understand is how he can get away with it.
People like that must do that to everyone they meet. So someone must have said something at one point?
I was just so disgusted because it seemed so unprofessional.
Especially because I didn't entertain his weird behavior. I just ignored it and tried to stay focussed.
I was however super uncomfortable.
Shocked.
I just wonder if he knows that he's being creepy and saying inappropriate things or if he does it on purpose.
Friday I have to sit with him together again.
I hope he will have understood the message and that he will behave.
I don't want to have to confront him because I am a bit embarrassed by this situation.
I wonder how that individual even passed a job interview.
I mean he is clever, but so creepy in his behavior that I can't be the only one he has treated like that.

 

The harsh truth: Because of people like you.

 

Because you would think a fine education comes with fine manners. But I mistook myself there.
This guy was one example of a creepy person who acts predatory despite having enjoyed a very expensive education and gone to schools that claim to deliver dutiful citizens with good values and beliefs.

 

This idea right here is EXACTLY why he's been able to get away with it. "He has a PhD so my feelings must be wrong." or "He has a PhD so nobody is going to believe me if I say anything about him being creepy." are both possible reasons why he hasn't been smacked down yet.

 

Have you not read through a thread with Steve? Not the one above, the other one...