[Rain Man]

There are different types of idiots. (It would be a good project to classify them, now that I think of it.)

A couple that spring to mind are:

1. The natural-born idiot. This is someone who was just born stupid and can't help it. When I was about 12, I would buy loose football cards at our local version of Wal-Mart. They were at some sort of counter that wasn't the checkout stand, and the woman who worked there was a natural-born idiot. The cards were two for a penny, and no matter how many I bought, she would ring up some random amount of money for anywhere from one cent to a dollar. There was never a pattern at all, and she'd get really nasty if I tried to explain the math to her. I finally just gave up and assumed that the costs would even out over the long run, so I just paid whatever number she rang up.


2. The socially hilarious idiot. There was this guy in my undergrad school who was often entertaining. He was American, but apparently of Italian background, because he had an Italian name and appearance, which really set him apart in Rolla. He had a thing for the ladies and was always trying to impress them, and he usually did just the opposite. The funniest little incident happened one time in the student lounge. He saw some ladies that he liked over near the pool tables, so he sauntered over, coolly flung his backpack onto the table nearest them, and did a nice little twisting jump to sit on the edge of the table facing them. Unfortunately, he never noticed the two guys three feet away who were in the middle of a game on the table, and they offered up a less-than-friendly reaction as his backpack went scraping through the balls. I also remember his Kung Fu demonstration during our Tae Kwan Do class, which was intended to impress the very worthy Sabrina but which drew guffaws from everyone but an irritated teacher.