View Full Version : Stupid Questions
who_stole_my_loofa
11-20-2005, 06:01 PM
We all know campers get a secret pleasure from asking us stupid questions.. so here's your chance to tell us what the stupidest question you've ever gotten from a camper is.
Loofa
audur
11-20-2005, 06:31 PM
"So... do you speak Icelish in Iceland?" (coming from a 14-year-old camper, towards the end of her two-week session, when she had probably heard my refer to my native tongue as Icelandic numerous times, since I often asked my campers if they'd like me to sing them a song in Icelandic before they went to sleep...)
Most of the stupid questions/comments I get from campers have something to do with me being from Iceland...
"You can't be from Iceland - you speak English!"
"Do you have TV in Iceland?"
"Do you have potatoes in Iceland?"
"Do you have to go to school in Iceland?"
"Are you gonna ride your bike back home to Iceland?"
"Does everyone in Iceland look like you?"
"So, I hear Iceland's really green, and Greenland's really icy... is that true?" (maybe not stupid, but so annoying! If you ever meet someone from Iceland, please share your knowledge of our country by saying something like "I hear Iceland has a lot of volcanoes" or "That's where Björk's from, right?" or "Didn't a lot of vikings settle there?" or SOMETHING other than the Iceland's really green... comment... it's SO annoying!)
campCardinal
11-20-2005, 06:45 PM
Camper: What's for dinner?
Me: I don't know. What have I been doing all day?
Camper: Hanging out at the pool.
Me: Exactly, so how could I know what's for dinner?
Camper: Um, you're my counselor, you know everything.
I get this question about 28 times a day.
We had a question rule at my camp (mostly just my cabin and a couple others) campers could ask 5 questions a day... we let it slide to however many- but when kids ask us stupid questions we'd say, "do you really want this to be one of your questions?" It helps them think before they ask. And of course, they can ask questions if it's an emergency. We don't really keep track.
speedx5xracer
11-20-2005, 06:57 PM
I had a few really stupid questions asked to me.
Are you married?
Whats for lunch?
Is the lake water safe to drink?
Are there sharks in the lake?
My favorite one was Are you and Melissa married?
camper
11-20-2005, 07:52 PM
my favorite was from one of my 11 year olds in 04:
"do people who work at walmart have to learn to speak a lot of languages?"
i have NO idea where it came from and it's really random and i didn't even know how to answer it haha.
who_stole_my_loofa
11-20-2005, 09:11 PM
omg camp cardinal we tried that rule too!!
The dumbest question I've ever had is "How many bug bites do you get?" I still to this day have no idea what the camper was talking about.
In my friends cabin there was a girl who asked really ridiculous questions that made no sense. They would be like "How far is it to.... ya know when we were...? (awkward pause) Well?" haha- all the time and we'd just be like WHAT?
Loofa
Skater Bubbles
11-20-2005, 11:29 PM
Oh man my kids would ask me crazy stuff. I got alot of questions about if I was a boy or a girl, it got annoying, just because I wore guys shorts and I skateboard so I dress like a skater, kids would ask me tons of questions, but the other counselors were bothered by it more than me, I just got used to it. Finally when an older kid asked me if I was a boy I was like, I am the counselor over twelve little 9 year old girls, what do you think? He was like, oh your a girl. Silly campers!!!
rockinsmiles
11-21-2005, 10:39 AM
yeah i had campers point out that "those are guy shorts" too skater...and ive also had the "are you married?" question (i also had a camper ask if i was pregnant!). but man there are so many stupid questions that campers ask. though i think im kind of going against my saying of "there is no such thing as a stupid questoin only a stupid answer." but camp might change that :) ok so some questions
Camper "How much longer till we go to the pool?" (pool was our next activity)
Me "We cant go to pool right now because it is storming"
Camper "So why cant we go to pool?"
"Will the beavers eat me?"
After telling the campers about 10 time that "anything with a mouth can bite" they still ask about every animal "will it bite me?"
The best one i think though was asked by this 14 year old boy to one of the aussies,
"Do you have cars in australia?" then he asks "Do you have kangaroos for pets?" she replied "No we dont have cars in australia. i jump in the pouch of my pet kangaroo and it takes me to work everyday." And he was like "really?" then awhile later he asks her "Do you only wear square earings in australia?" because that was what she was wearing. oh and another funny question asked the aussies during international night (by a 10 or 11 year old) "are you guys born the same way?"
Probably one of the stupidest questions I've been asked from a camper was when we were going to the tennis courts one time. We got there and one of the kids asked me what we were going to do. Uhh, play tennis maybe? :P
Indigo
11-21-2005, 10:37 PM
One of my campers in the last session of last summer was just full of stupid questions. She was just genuinely clueless. Here are some gems from her:
"Don't you think if you're a wrangler here, you should know how to tie a horse knot?" (to the Program Director, not a wrangler)
"Can I get a drink?" (the pump was 2 feet away)
"Can I open the door?" (it was lunch time and she was standing right in front of it)
"Is that an owl?" ("Yeah, I think it's a barred owl.") "Oh. I never realized there were different kinds of owls!"
"So does this mean I should be a WIT again next year?" (after being shown her failed evaluation, and being told clearly about 5 times that she would have to repeat the WIT program before moving on to AWIT)
"Can I get a drink?" (the pump was 2 feet away)
"Can I open the door?" (it was lunch time and she was standing right in front of it)
I've gotten those two questions a lot as well. :P
rockinsmiles
11-22-2005, 07:19 PM
i havent had the door one but i have had the drink one. like i havent pushed drinking water enough! of course you can get something to drink! please get something to drink!
Indigo
11-22-2005, 10:24 PM
I'm usually pretty patient, as long as I know they're not just being annoying, but this girl was just SO clueless, and the program I'm in charge of is a staff/leadership-training program... After the first few days, I started answering with things like, "What do you think? It's your decision to go to the bathroom or not."
Fallen
11-23-2005, 11:48 AM
This past summer I worked with the only male counselor at a day Girl Scout camp and we both would get:
"Are you too siblings?"
"Are you guys married?" (neither one of us has any kind of rings on)
"Do you two like each other?" (as in friends or like each other enough to be around each other 12 hours a day)
I also have gotten the what are we doing when we just told them or are walking into the craft tent or something like that.
campCardinal
11-23-2005, 01:45 PM
I find it so funny how campers always assume that male/female counselors must be dating. Our cabins are paired so a boys cabin and girls cabin walk around together. Naturally, you get to know the male counselor you're paired with quite well. So I was skipping one day with one of the guys I was working with because we were so stressed out. We ran out of food on the overnight and had to run back to get some... some how we ended up linking arms and arms skipping. The rest of the week we were "dating" according to all the kids. So there were all kinds of questions...
"Are you guys dating?" "If you're not dating why are you talking to each other?" "I saw him talking to another girl counselor, are you going to yell at him?" Oh man, it was crazy... but totally funny.
Whenever I'm with female counselors, my kids always assume we're dating. Then they sing the k-i-s-s-i-n-g song. To get them to shut up I just tell them that they have a girlfriend. They get disgusted and run away. Their reactions are always priceless when I say that.
CampNameBob
11-23-2005, 08:11 PM
we were lining up the kids for lunch, and one cabin was being slow. i went to knock on their door and called thru the screen "hey guys, time for lunch!" and as everyone scrambled around to leave, the girl sitting on the bed closest to the door says "hey! where are we going?"
Indigo
11-23-2005, 09:53 PM
Oh I got "Where are we going?" constantly. Nevermind that the schedule was posted in plain sight where everyone passed it each morning.
Yeah the "where are we going" question is pretty common at my camp as well. :P
camper
11-23-2005, 11:55 PM
whenever there's a question that i know the "asker" can ask by herself i don't make her feel stupid about asking the question, no matter how frustrated i might be at the question. for example, especially for a younger camper, if it was first activity and the question was "when is lunch?" i would say, "well, what usually happens before lunch?" and the camper would hopefully answer, "letter writing" to which i would say, "when we get to letter writing, listen for the first call for lunch bugle and then you'll know when lunch is...but we didn't even get to letter writing yet!" sort of steering her towards the answer. most of the time it works really well, and if i need to help her get to the answer i do!
That's a good idea camper. I'll have to try that next summer. :)
CAMPFRIEND
11-24-2005, 11:02 AM
I got to work with our campers this week and I got the lunch question all the time. I have to say campers you do have a great idea. I think that I a going to make a shirt for myself for the next break camp and put the schdule on it so campers can see what is going on during the day. I have done that for counselors who can rember when thing are. It's kind of funny.
camper
11-24-2005, 01:45 PM
thanks guys haha definitely try it. when you think about it it makes sense...it gets the kids to realize that sometimes they can answer their own questions. it also doesn't help with the lunch question to just give the kids a time...since some of them don't wear watches at camp plus a lot of times the kids lose their concept of time at camp anyway.
rockinsmiles
11-27-2005, 12:49 AM
Yeah sometimes when a camper asks a question for like the 3rd time i will try to have them answer their own question. sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.
and i completely know about the "dating" game. my co-counselor and i are awesome friends which made some of the campers think we were together. so once one of the campers asked my co-counselor if he had a girlfriend. he said yes so the camper asked her name. turns out his girlfriend's name is the same as mine! oh lord i was fast to state that it wasnt me!
CAMPFRIEND
11-28-2005, 11:05 AM
I also love when campers ask me how old I am. When I ask them to guess the come up with ages that are 20 years older than I am. It's fun to see how old they think I am.
Indigo
11-28-2005, 08:35 PM
My campers have guessed my age at anywhere between 13 (because apparently I'm the height of a 13 year-old) and 52. Most of the older ones get closer to my real age (22).
ocean
11-28-2005, 08:54 PM
Oh the age thing yes. I am always told that I look like I am 27 and I am only 17. GRRR it makes me mad because the younger kids tell me that while the older kids tell me I look like I am 19 which then I dont mind.
who_stole_my_loofa
11-28-2005, 10:18 PM
Haha they always think I'm a camper and so do their parents and like anyone pretty much. I ALWAYS wear my staff ID because of that!
Indigo
11-28-2005, 11:03 PM
A lot of our younger-looking staff members make shirts that say "I am not a camper!" to clear things up!
rockinsmiles
11-29-2005, 12:09 AM
Haha..i like that one indigo...i think i should do that! Ive gotten everything from 10 (well i was a cit then...) to 40 something. Its always entertaining to see how old the campers think you are...or anyone else for that matter :)
CAMPFRIEND
11-29-2005, 10:49 AM
I think that I have a few staff over the summer that I need to make a shirt that says they are not campers.
Flukie
11-29-2005, 03:50 PM
My second summer as a CIT, I had a mom driving out of camp, stop, roll down the window and whisper out, "Is there ANYONE in this camp that is over the age of 18???" I wanted to ask her why she was asking the 17 year old that! We just reassured her that the director and assistant were both over 25. She didn't really seem to believe us though...
We do have a couple staff that height-wise blend right in with their campers - their co-counselors often get confused why they have one too many campers!
CAMPFRIEND
11-29-2005, 03:55 PM
My second summer as a CIT, I had a mom driving out of camp, stop, roll down the window and whisper out, "Is there ANYONE in this camp that is over the age of 18???" I wanted to ask her why she was asking the 17 year old that! We just reassured her that the director and assistant were both over 25. She didn't really seem to believe us though...
We do have a couple staff that height-wise blend right in with their campers - their co-counselors often get confused why they have one too many campers!
I wonder how old the parent thought you were! You have to love when parents are looking out for their kids. We have so many who just seem to dump their kids off at camp.
I wonder how old the parent thought you were! You have to love when parents are looking out for their kids. We have so many who just seem to dump their kids off at camp.
I agree with that. I always feel bad for the kids that are sent to camp with no snacks/drinks (for the bus ride), a towel that may still be wet from the day before, etc. Then there's the parents who may care a bit too much about their kids, packing 3 towels, two bathing suits, and quite a few changes of clothes in their backpack. Well I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. ;)
CAMPFRIEND
11-29-2005, 04:05 PM
I have had parents that have told me when their kids get in trouble that it my problem when they are at camp. I have to deal with their kids not them. I have also had parents refused to pick up their children when they are in trouble.. What can you do?
rockinsmiles
11-29-2005, 07:10 PM
My second summer as a CIT, I had a mom driving out of camp, stop, roll down the window and whisper out, "Is there ANYONE in this camp that is over the age of 18???" I wanted to ask her why she was asking the 17 year old that! We just reassured her that the director and assistant were both over 25. She didn't really seem to believe us though...
We do have a couple staff that height-wise blend right in with their campers - their co-counselors often get confused why they have one too many campers!
Haha...my co-counselor had a problem with that with me. He was looking around and asking where his co-counselor was (we had a bunch of campers all together and they were older groups also taller) and i was standing right beside him!
code3cadet
12-03-2005, 11:20 PM
there is a lot of them I just can not thing of one at this time
CAMPFRIEND
12-04-2005, 11:31 AM
Haha...my co-counselor had a problem with that with me. He was looking around and asking where his co-counselor was (we had a bunch of campers all together and they were older groups also taller) and i was standing right beside him!
That's great. Staff are looking younger and younger! That means I am looking older:eek:
rockinsmiles
12-04-2005, 02:28 PM
Or are campers looking older?? ack either way its scary!!!
CAMPFRIEND
12-05-2005, 10:39 AM
I am not sure if the campers are looking older! I think that young people are just not ageing as fast.
code3cadet
12-05-2005, 11:52 AM
whenever there's a question that i know the "asker" can ask by herself i don't make her feel stupid about asking the question, no matter how frustrated i might be at the question. for example, especially for a younger camper, if it was first activity and the question was "when is lunch?" i would say, "well, what usually happens before lunch?" and the camper would hopefully answer, "letter writing" to which i would say, "when we get to letter writing, listen for the first call for lunch bugle and then you'll know when lunch is...but we didn't even get to letter writing yet!" sort of steering her towards the answer. most of the time it works really well, and if i need to help her get to the answer i do!
I ask is that somthing that you or another peer can solve. or is that a camper or adalt problem. it works all the time they tell me camper and then ask a firend
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