Board index › General Discussion › General Autism Discussion

Made people laugh at work, don't know why...

Page 2 of 2 [ 25 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

Previous topic | Next topic

VBeachLoner
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jun 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 7

19 Aug 2011, 10:20 pm

I started a temp job at a call center this week and was at the front desk with 3 women training, we were talking about nothing and I made all of them crack up and my supervisor keel over and laugh loud enough to get looks from people on the floor up by doing nothing (or being myself..hmm) and making statements that I think sound smart at the time. It's an interesting dynamic because I went to by far the best school out of all of them but my awkwardness overshadows all my other traits. All you can do is smile and chuckle I guess..stuff like that makes me more and more introverted though.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,265

19 Aug 2011, 10:28 pm

Australien wrote:
So, a few weeks ago we had a meeting which everyone from a group of teams had to attend, to discuss what the teams had been doing. This is of little relevance to anyone below management, as the teams' functions have little to nothing to do with each other, so I quickly became bored and started browsing the web on my phone. I started paying attention when my boss started talking about what our team was doing. When he mentioned a particular project, he asked me to explain to everyone what it was about. The thing is, the project only really has relevance if you have a whole lot of background knowledge in software development, IT security and ISPs, and these other people do not have this background knowledge, so I said something like "basically, we're redeveloping it to make it work more efficiently" and everyone laughed. I don't get it. What I said was a) true and b) about the only thing I could think of to say to pitch at their level.

Can any of you think of what I might have missed?


They laughed because you said something negative about the software the company developed. When someone says something critical in front of a group of people, they laugh to relieve tension in the room. You might compare it to nervous laughter.



swbluto
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization

19 Aug 2011, 11:38 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Australien wrote:
So, a few weeks ago we had a meeting which everyone from a group of teams had to attend, to discuss what the teams had been doing. This is of little relevance to anyone below management, as the teams' functions have little to nothing to do with each other, so I quickly became bored and started browsing the web on my phone. I started paying attention when my boss started talking about what our team was doing. When he mentioned a particular project, he asked me to explain to everyone what it was about. The thing is, the project only really has relevance if you have a whole lot of background knowledge in software development, IT security and ISPs, and these other people do not have this background knowledge, so I said something like "basically, we're redeveloping it to make it work more efficiently" and everyone laughed. I don't get it. What I said was a) true and b) about the only thing I could think of to say to pitch at their level.

Can any of you think of what I might have missed?


They laughed because you said something negative about the software the company developed.


Nuh-uh. He was too general and simplified (And, can I say, obvious?) when the questioner was expecting a more specific, detailed response that more "fully justified" their development efforts. The fact he responded in an oversimplified way was most likely taken as a playful jab which they laughed at in response.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,265

19 Aug 2011, 11:48 pm

swbluto wrote:
ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Australien wrote:
So, a few weeks ago we had a meeting which everyone from a group of teams had to attend, to discuss what the teams had been doing. This is of little relevance to anyone below management, as the teams' functions have little to nothing to do with each other, so I quickly became bored and started browsing the web on my phone. I started paying attention when my boss started talking about what our team was doing. When he mentioned a particular project, he asked me to explain to everyone what it was about. The thing is, the project only really has relevance if you have a whole lot of background knowledge in software development, IT security and ISPs, and these other people do not have this background knowledge, so I said something like "basically, we're redeveloping it to make it work more efficiently" and everyone laughed. I don't get it. What I said was a) true and b) about the only thing I could think of to say to pitch at their level.

Can any of you think of what I might have missed?


They laughed because you said something negative about the software the company developed.


Nuh-uh. He was too general and simplified (And, can I say, obvious?) when the questioner was expecting a more specific, detailed response that more "fully justified" their development efforts. The fact he responded in an oversimplified way was most likely taken as a playful jab which they laughed at in response.

That assumption would be fine and dandy if these folks are a bunch of techies but OP does explainthese people are laymen and the boss and he are the techies. Therefore, his response was appropriate considering the level of the people he talked to. Basically, they didn't know enough about the software to realize the OP was being too vague and general. They would have no reason to laugh at him for not using technical language in his lexicon.

This leads to the conclusion it must be something else.



swbluto
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization

20 Aug 2011, 12:52 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Basically, they didn't know enough about the software to realize the OP was being too vague and general.


Lol, what? They *knew* he was a techie, so they were expecting a more technical and specific response. The fact he came off with some vague, short explanation that was bordering on a business sound-byte was a bit unusual to them and they likely thought it was sarcastic so then they laughed.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,265

20 Aug 2011, 1:01 am

swbluto wrote:
ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Basically, they didn't know enough about the software to realize the OP was being too vague and general.


Lol, what? They *knew* he was a techie, so they were expecting a more technical and specific response. The fact he came off with some vague, short explanation that was bordering on a business sound-byte was a bit unusual to them and they likely thought it was sarcastic so then they laughed.

Given the context, it wasn't vague. It would have only sounded that way to fellow techies. Maybe these people were worried about problems they were having with it and the laughter expressed relief more than anything. I still think they laughed at the content of his explanation, not lack of.

In a situation like that there simply isn't enough time to think, "oh, that response wasn't jargony enough therefore I must chortle at it."



swbluto
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization

20 Aug 2011, 1:30 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
I still think they laughed at the content of his explanation, not lack of.


Well, they were probably laughing both the content and lack of. It sounded like a superficial claim that a salesman would make and the explanation wasn't "full enough", so it was both unusual to hear from a techie (A salesman pitch) and not quite what they were expecting (A well-justified, detailed response).


Quote:
In a situation like that there simply isn't enough time to think, "oh, that response wasn't jargony enough therefore I must chortle at it."


Lol, you underestimate neurotypicals. Neurotypicals live and breath stereotyping people/thinking/speech-patterns/facial-expressions/tonality/everything and they're quick to identify inconsistencies by intuition. It's one of the reasons why neurotypicals so quickly identify something "off" about aspies.

In this case, they had an expectation of what "type of thing" he'd say before he even said anything. When the expectation isn't met, people are quick to react. (In this case, laughing because of the qualities of his response.)



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,265

20 Aug 2011, 1:07 pm

Something seems "off" about the idea these people are laughing because that response is simplified. I have heard responses like that from techs and no one laughed. In fact, people usually ask questions after hearing something like that. It is unusual for people to laugh over something like that. The idea they are laughing because the response is parleyed down seems borderline paranoia when you think about it.

Just the idea of it. All these people have the same thought and all of them start laughing for a reason that is far from obvious. The odds they were laughing for that reason are very low when there are other more obvious ones.



swbluto
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization

20 Aug 2011, 1:56 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Something seems "off" about the idea these people are laughing because that response is simplified. I have heard responses like that from techs and no one laughed. In fact, people usually ask questions after hearing something like that. It is unusual for people to laugh over something like that. The idea they are laughing because the response is parleyed down seems borderline paranoia when you think about it


To an aspie, neurotypicals are usually 'off'. :lol: