How can you not know?!

[TittyGolightly]

I work with a woman (29 and a mother of one) whose lack of general knowledge I can't quite believe to be normal. Ask anything about TOWIE or IACGMOOH and she knows it (unlike me) but the following are just some of the things she hasn't known in the past couple of weeks:

• that we aren't "doing cows a favour" by milking them
• that tea grows on bushes (or that it's a leaf)
• that coffee comes from beans
• that bees are being threatened by modern farming practices and that if there are no bees we will have no plants (inc fruit and veg)
• that reindeer are real
• that early humans lived in caves
• that a month isn't 4 weeks

She "has no idea" how anyone can know this stuff.

Is this normal now? My 6 year old knows most of this!

OP is at the office to WORK, not to spend hours explaining the electoral system to her thick colleague, who is obviously actively disinterested in the whole thing.

OP if she starts with stupid questions about who Theresa May is, direct her to the BBC news website and tell her to crack on. Or even better, Newsround which is aimed at under 12s who probably have the same level of understanding as she is. I can't be doing with people who revel in ignorance.

I don't mind lack of interest in politics

It's the lack of common sense i mentioned earlier

I only mention politics because I just know that will be tomorrow's topic and she will be hurt that I don't want to engage

It's hard to keep patience with someone who won't report things like a door hanging off the hinges because "oh is it dangerous?"

She is responsible for reporting stuff like this as part of her job, and the post, even though she doesn't know what country anything is in. I suppose I should be annoyed with the people who hired her but she got there years before I did so I don't know.

Anyway, after her outrage over Brexit, even though she believes voting is pointless, everyone spent weeks explaining things to her. I can't face doing it again. And actually it's better to save nerves and patience for the times her lack of common sense impacts on the team.

Btw I thought the op was unfairly bashed on this thread
It's lack of common sense that she was talking about, a very basic level of knowledge
Some of the examples given here about history and horses are not what the OP meant.

When I was at sixth form somehow Fred Astaire came up in conversation.

One of my friends said "is that the man who ate a hamster?"

That could just be a mis-hearing, Fred Astaire and Freddy Starr sound very similar. You'd need some context.

YABU. What someone does and does not know about history, showbiz or anything not related to their profession is neither relevant to who they are or a concern of others. Emotional intelligence is far more important and the nature of your OP suggests you could work on yours.

What someone does and does not know about history, showbiz or anything not related to their profession is neither relevant to who they are or a concern of others. Emotional intelligence is far more important

Here we go again. It's not as if you get a single quota of intelligence, so you either have to use it on being reasonably well-informed OR on emotional intelligence.

And of course someone's ignorance of basic general knowledge is relevant to who they are. It says very clearly 'I have all the intellectual curiosity of a parsnip.'

Though I think the Fred Astaire/Freddy Starr thing may have been a joke, and if so, was quite funny

'I have all the intellectual curiosity of a parsnip.'

Chavelita "Here we go again. It's not as if you get a single quota of intelligence, so you either have to use it on being reasonably well-informed OR on emotional intelligence"

True. Also I when I say someone isn't very bright, I include EI in that.

You're right, Freddy/Fred could have been a joke. I was reading it too literally. But was the poster saying as a joke to us, or was the friend saying it as a joke to the poster?

Haha! I'm have a not very bright moment: when I read I include EI in that I wondered who EL was, maybe a poster or a celeb I'd never heard of.

Oh dear.

There are some things that are very basic knowledge, that everyone should know. Who is Prime Minister for example.

Chavelita, I was referring to the OP's lack of emotional intelligence in her decision to post this query. Why does this other person's general knowledge matter to her? I hate people who overly concern themselves and bash people for not being smart. Why do it? Why does it matter?

I don't see that OP (or indeed (goldfish, who seems to have the same problem) as 'emotionally unintelligent' (emotional intelligence isn't a synonym for 'being nice', either, though) for being irritated with a colleague parading her ignorance at work. I mean, I assume the OP didn't sit her down and ask her where coffee comes from, how dairy production works and whether reindeer are imaginary, so presumably it's the colleague being vocal about all of this.

She's gobby very loud and comes out with these changers regularly. She asked last week why vegans don't drink milk, so I explained why. That's when the "doing them a favour" came in. When I explained how the dairy industry ensures cows have milk she asked how I know "all this stuff". I said I read things and like finding out about things. She said she'd rather watch TOWIE.

Thanks Chavelita
I can't speak for OP but with my colleague, the endless questions and general stupidity/poor judgement at work does affect me on a daily basis.

Also, the op posted a genuine question to gauge whether this was normal, or, possibly just had a rant. If you can't have a rant about an idiotic colleague on anonymous board, where can you rant? It's much better to rant here, get it out of our system and not feel quite so ragey tomorrow.

Tbh, it wasn't the Astaire/Starr thing that amused us, it was more the thinking that anyone had eaten a hamster.

Elle, a lot of Sun readers believe what they read in there even years later.....

Goldfish I think that's a problem that's probably bigger than this thread, tbh

Having allegedly eaten a hamster is the only thing I know about Freddy Starr.

My cousin's wife didn't know where the Pyrenees are. Which might be ok apart from the fact that she is Spanish.

I think what's important is how nice she is as a person.

Bollocks. Yes, "niceness" is a valuable trait, but it is not the most or only important attribute. If it were, schools would focus solely on teaching pupils to be nice, instead of preparing them for GCSEs and A-levels; and university and job interviewers would be looking for how pleasant and friendly candidates were, instead of at their qualifications, skills and experience.

"job interviewers would be looking for how pleasant and friendly candidates were, instead of at their qualifications, skills and experience."

In a lot of jobs, personality IS more important than qualifications, skills and experience, though it's often not about being nice, but about being a team player, etc.