Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Times People Unknowingly Challenged Experts


This fun AskReddit thread has people describing times that experts dunked on oblivious challengers. It can be a deeply humbling experience for one to realize that they've challenged an expert, soon as things get underway. Whether it's video games, swimming, or a landlord expecting that the tenant wouldn't be a construction worker with just the kind of knowledge that could cut through their thin layer of BS; experts know where it's at. 

1.

Text - NickKnocks • 4h My landlord tried blaming me for damage to the kitchen cabinets but didnt know that im in construction and am very familiar with home building codes. They placed the cabinets too close to the stove and the glue that held the laminate had melted.

2.

Text - OkComputerOK • 3h I'm not a great swimmer but there was a time when I would do laps for literally hours. I would go slowly to make sure that I had the energy to do the time I wanted to. This kid challenged me to race. I left him so far behind it was funny. He though he was about to humiliate me in front of his friends.

3.

Text - jumpercableninja • 4h Just graduated as a teacher and l've been working as a Casual Relief Teacher. I play lacrosse which is a small sport already and even smaller here in Australia. I tried out for the last World Cup team and made it to the final cut. I was team teaching with another teacher who worked at the school. Before the period he spoke to me and said "hey mate, we are doing lacrosse today. It's a bit of an odd sport and hard to teach so just wait over there and then you can just

4.

Text - Being a CRT from an agency, didn't really know how to speak to him/speak up. I tried to speak to him and say that I played but he didn't give me a second so I just listened and did my thing. Few minutes into the start of the lesson I grabbed a stick and ball and just started to work my around the class giving them pointers and hints. The way he was teaching was completely incorrect and I didn't want to say anything so when the kids broke off into groups, I kinda just taught them correctly

5.

Text - He pulled me over at a drinks break and asked how I knew so much/good perform the skills. I told him how I play lacrosse and my playing history. He asked why I didn't speak up and say anything and I said I tried to tell him. Anyway, I ended up running the rest of the class and even ended up sitting down with him and going through the correct and easier way to teach the game and skills.

6.

Text - CaptainWaders • 3h A local mall had a portable climbing wall with a "make it to the top and win $100" side. The route was actually pretty challenging. As I walked by the guy asked me if I'd like to try "nobody has made it to the top, you think you can do it buddy" At the time I was ranked top 12 climber in my age group and kind of laughed to myself. After taking my $100 I then proceeded to call the rest of my climbing team and one by one they went to the mall and claimed their $100 After

7.

Text - MoodyBernoulli • 4h 3 Awards Wasn't me, but there's a story about an old geotechnical engineer who used to work for the company I work for. Several senior staff had to attend a meeting with the client, and some government regulatory staff who were being awkward and not approving the design. This geotech guy is pretty much quiet the whole meeting. Throughout the discussion, the government guy keeps referencing this research document and shooting down anything anybody suggests. Near the end

8.

Text - lamAWorldChampionAMA • 3h While not a pro, I'm pretty darn good at poker. The church I was at had a Poker night and I was just going to watch. They insisted I join the 25 cent game. Came home with $200 and they decided to never have a poker night again.

9.

Text - iHateRBF • 3h 1 Award Still waiting to say the words I've been preparing for all my life: "YOU want to play Dr Mario with ME? You absolute fool."

10.

Text - sortefugl • 3h I'm 34. A young collegue challenged me to a 1vs1 in CS:GO. He didn't know this, but I used to play CS 1.6 competitively for 6 years back in my day. I let him know that I was rusty, but I used to be pretty good at it. He was like "Yeah sure", I think he regarded me as an old fart who was making stuff up. Turns out my skills translated pretty well from 1.6, and after the first 3-4 rounds I gained traction. He didn't win another round, and I wiped the floor with him.

11.

Text - Leepll • 4h 3 1 Award My wife and I were taking an evening cruise for adults in Portsmouth Bay. The ship drove around the shipyard, where my submarine and several others were stationed. My wife and I are having a quiet drink when a really loud know it all starts spouting misinformation about each submarine we are driving by. Calling them all the wrong class, wrong names, etc. When he literally points to my submarine and says "and that is a 637 class" my wife finally speaks up and says "ac

12.

Text - mkizys • 3h It was my first weapons qualification with a national guard unit I had just transferred to. A lot of NG soldiers only shoot a rifle once a year for qualification. A soldier in the platoon I took over was joking about how lieutenants are bad at basic soldier tasks trying to get me worked up. He bet I couldn't shoot better than him, we're not supposed to bet so I declined any wager, but I did accept the challenge. I hit 40/40 like I always do, he hit the minimum, 23/40. He basic

13.

Text - GravyxNips • 4h I'm really good at archery. My friend and I rented him a bow at the local range and he wanted to bet me beers for every round. I told him repeatedly no, you will not win. He could probably get lucky if we did one arrow shoot offs but he wanted to do proper three arrow rounds. He insisted. I drank for free all night.

14.

Text - Raptor01 • 3h Went with a big group of college students to a bar. I was challenged by a cute little girl (and by that I mean she was maybe 95lbs, 4'11") to a drink contest with a pint of beer. I'm 6'1", 200lbs, so I just chuckled and agreed to it. It seems like I had just enough time to tilt my head back to start chugging when I hear her empty glass hit the table. Turns out she had the ability to just open her throat and pour the beer down. We dated for about six months after that. Seriou

15.

Text - squeakycleaned • 3h I was a competitive swimmer for 14 years, including 4 years of NCAA, but l'm on the shorter side so people don't assume I was any good. Was at a friends house on a lake one summer, and a macho guy challenged me to race to a buoy in the middle of the lake, to prove... something, I guess. The lake is deceptively large, about a half mile across, so I warned him that if he isn't a strong swimmer it could be dangerous. He was running out of gas after about 2 minutes, so I o

16.

Text - maleorderbride • 5h 3 1 Award My nephew challenged me to Super Smash Bros Ultimate once. Once.

17.

Text - sadpanda_• 4h Co worker - "I'm pretty good at running, I run every day. I could probably beat you in a marathon." They didn't know I used to be a pro runner. Ran under 14 minutes in the 5k, sub 29 in the 10k, and under 15 hours for 100 miles on trails. Won a national title even. So l agreed to run with them and jumped in the local marathon with no training. I took the prize purse and made myself a few hundred bucks and took everyone out for beers with it. Was an interesting next Monday at

18.

Text - DaddyAiello • 4h Guitar Hero. That poor bastard didn't know what he was getting into. He suggested we play and was making joking comments about how he could totally beat me. We played on expert and I absolutely demolished him. My man was even struggling to hit the orange notes smh.

19.

Text - andereerenuth • 5h We had a golf work outing and he challenged me at golf. Now I've played golf my whole life, I also played in highschool and have played at public courses every year since. He did not know this. The first hole, he gets to witness a 200 yard drive down the middle, he tries to play it off like I got lucky but no, every hole after that was the same. He drank alot after the first couple holes. He, to this day, refuses to say I won because we didn't keep a scorecard..

20.

Text - ITworksGuys • 4h 3 1 Award My dad was into video games before they were really a thing. He had a Magnavox Odessey, intellivision, etc... In the 80s you could rent Nintendo's and games from video stores. He would do this when he visited and I would almost always smoke him at whatever game. I didn't see him that much, but he was visiting and decided to rent one and the game Double Dribble (old NES basketball game). It was pretty new at the time and he knew I didn't really like basketball. H

21.

Text - Unsolicited_Spiders • 6h Hahaa, yeah. So there is this old SNES game called "Tetris Attack" that's a "Panel del Pon" port with a Super Mario World 2 theme. I played the shit out of that game when I was growing up and I was pretty good at it. I'm actually still half-decent and I only play every few months when I visit my family. Anyhow, I was kinda- sorta seeing this guy and I have NO idea how the topic came up, but he challenged me to beat him at "Tetris Attack". I had sincere doubts that

22.

Text - RollerDerby88• 3h I have studied memorization techniques and mnemonics. I decided to have a bit of fun with my teacher. He wanted us to write down a list of 20 items. He was the type of guy to quickly call you out for not paying attention in class. I sat there memorizing the list in my head (knowing full well he would see me not writing anything down). He chewed me out for not taking notes - as predicted. He took the bait. I said I "have it all in my head". I KNEW he would call me out the

23.

Text - doogievlg • 4h Not a physical challenge but I sell building materials for a living (think Home Depot but for guys that build skyscrapers and stadiums). There has been many occasions where an old man with zero construction knowledge tries to lecture me on what I do for a living.

24.

Text - charlzandre • 5h A tinder date bet me dinner that I couldn't beat her in smash. I've been playing competitively for around 6 years, so she ended up paying for dinner.

25.

Text - KaeTheGSP • 3h This kinda qualifies. Not me but my brother: He works for a scientific instrument company as a technical expert in gas chromatography. He and his colleagues went to a trade show to show off their new instrument. A couple of German scientists come up, ask a bunch of questions, breaking the conversation intermittently to speak to each oth brother is fluent in German. He lets them talk amongst themselves until one of the Germans says (in German) "I bet this one is just as shit

26.

Text - Ryobia • 2h I was a whiz at Rubik's cubes throughout elementary and middle school, I got to the point where I could solve the regular 3x3 in about 15 seconds. It's nowhere near world record time but it's still pretty good. Fast forward to high school and there was this popular kid who also happened to be able to solve a Rubik's cube in about 90 seconds, a minute if he was lucky. I complemented him because it's still impressive to be able to remember all the steps but I must have sounded s

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