Winging it

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I was amused by this story in the Telegraph, in which a British engineering undergraduate mistakenly received an invitation to give a series of economics lectures in Beijing, all expenses paid, and thought he might as well bluff his way through and get a free holiday. It all went a bit wrong, and reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George take the unclaimed limo at the airport.

Have you ever blagged your way through something like this?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh no, he might be sued

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, this one place hired me to teach english and. . .

― Viva La Sam (thatgirl), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I really, relly want to be this guy.

(xpost except for the getting sued part)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Dr Ng said he had lined up an academic to deliver the
lectures to the businessmen and women studying for a
PhD but he pulled out over fears of contracting bird flu. In
haste he contacted a colleague who suggested Mr
Richardson.
"I was under the impression that Mr Richardson was a
doctoral student in finance," he said.

"I had no idea he was studying engineering. This only
became apparent when his CV arrived after he had flown
to China."

So why isn't this 'colleague' getting the brunt of the blame?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Well maybe he just suggested the name and it was Dr Ng who contacted the wrong Matthew Richardson.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Fair enough.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

It's funny reading about the reactions of the attendees in the first article, where it suggests that he'd pulled it off, the lectures had gone over fairly well, etc., and then reading in the second article that people had just too polite to say that the lectures were useless.

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 20 February 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

+ "been"

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 20 February 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

haha 'being chinese' they were too polite to say

― ferg (Ferg), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

This whole incident does sound like an old episode of Seinfeld.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

"Being Chinese, they were inscrutable"

f*ck him.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Being English, he was clueless.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 February 2004 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

a slacker hero for a new generation.

― My Huckleberry Friend (Horace Mann), Friday, 20 February 2004 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes. My first freelance job after leaving my editing job at an ad agency was ridiculously overpaid and I suddenly found myself cutting stuff for broadcast even though I had little idea of what I was doing. With expenses factored in, I think I was being paid just over a thousand pounds a week. And I did a terrible job.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 20 February 2004 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

That's not slacking!

I wonder of they'll recruit him for the next series of Faking It.

"Being Chinese, they were inscrutable"

That did make me laugh, sorry Spencer.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry - x-post.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

That story is fucking hilarious. No harm done, I guess...I'm sure everyone involved learned a thing or two that hadn't known before.

― andy, Friday, 20 February 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

That did make me laugh, sorry Spencer.

Being Nick, he mocked my pain!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 20 February 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

What a bastard!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 February 2004 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

Bosko Balaban Stats For Season

Name Bosko Balaban
Team Aston Villa
Total Appearances 0
Starts 0
Substituted 0
Total Minutes Played 0
Avg Minutes Played Per Start 0
Goals 0
Avg Goal Mins When Starting 0.0
Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 0
Goals Scored As Sub 0
Number of Bookings 0
Total Booking Minutes 0
Avg Bookings Per Start 0
Number of Red Cards 0
Total Red Card Minutes 0
Avg Red Cards Per Start 0
Avg Booking Minutes When Starting 0.0

― bosko, Monday, 14 June 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

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