People who talk as if they know

[cjsmith]

I have a coworker who talks as if he is an authority -- full of confidence, very firm statements -- when he doesn't have any information or experience to back it up.

Random person: "Hey, where's a good dosa restaurant?"
Him: "Restaurant A is the best."
Me: "I like Restaurant B, too."
Him: "A is way better."
Me: "Have you ever been to Restaurant B?"

No, of course; he hadn't. I had to ask him twice before he admitted it, too. So he knows when he's doing this, and he doesn't like getting caught at it.

In another hallway conversation, just now, he spouted off about flying airplanes, a subject I have some minor experience with. Now that I know he doesn't like being confronted, I stopped myself short of asking outright if he had a pilot's license. (Obviously, I'm convinced he doesn't.) I did go ahead and mention what "my flight instructor" had "taught me" about the topic "when I was getting my license". He had the grace to stop making shit up for a few minutes.

How the heck do people deal with somebody like this? Dude, you're POLLUTING THE DATA STREAM. Shut UP. But maybe I'm oversensitive about people making things up and presenting them as truth. Maybe people are smarter than I think, and there isn't any increased tendency to believe a person just because he's confident and loud. (And maybe the Easter Bunny really is ten feet tall.)

Comments

[recordersmith.livejournal.com]

Tho there's a difference between making stuff up and repeating what people around you are saying. I hear conversations around me about sports a lot (on the commuter rail, about the red sox at the moment). So I have a vague idea what's going on and if someone asked me about a game right after I've been on the train, I could certainly answer with what people around me have been saying, and probably it's mostly accurate. Certainly, I believe that the scores they quote are right...after all they've just come from the game...and the discussion of what player is doing well or not sound like they have been paying attention. Never doubt the attention to detail of a rabid Sox fan!

It's pretty hard to fact-check every last thing you hear before passing it on. But it's a good idea to preface it with "I hear that..."