Ask and You Shall Receive (a Punch)

People said that there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

Well, ‘people’ definitely forgot that there’s this thing called a Stupid Person.

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Recently I received a student conference invitation from a university in Germany, 300 students from all across the world will congress, discuss (and party hard) in Ilmenau at the end of May this year.

A post about this International Student Week in Ilmenau 2015 (ISWI) I’m attending is published here.

19 other Indonesian students also received this invitation; some reside in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta. Some resides in Malang and Lampung, and there are also those who are pursuing bachelor degree in Aberdeen, Taiwan, Istanbul, Japan and France. So yeah, we’re an diverse bunch of people and we make odd conversation in our Line group.

The natural processes after receiving this invitation are to find sponsor, book ticket, plan the travel, convince your college that you’re doing an academic journey instead of a two-week paid vacation (shhh..!), and prepare passport + visa.

Preparing visa is a tricky thing. I will write another post about securing visa and the interview, but that will be on later terms.

Long story short, I assembled the required documents for visa application without any problem. Papers like copies of Identity card, invitation letter, insurance, passport, biometric photos and all those small details were secured in my folder. I went to the German embassy at Thamrin, Jakarta and undergo the short interview without sweat.

My visa will be available a week later. Alles ist gut.

Feeling elated and benevolent, I shared my interview process and some tips to other fellow Indonesian delegates via chat app. As I’ve expected, some of them started asking question and confirmation.

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There are smart-normal questions,

What kind of Schengen visa did you apply?

Were the interviewer nasty, asked hard question?

What does single entry, multiple entry means?

Is there a difference between applying for Visit Visa and Tourist Visa?

These are okay questions which needs simple confirmation. But there are also the stupid questions,

Taneee help, woy
Help me fill in the form, I don’t understand.
What’s the difference between manual and online form?
Should I print the form?
Should I print it in black and white or color?
Can I print my photo to HVS paper? In black and white?
How much is 1 euro in IDR?
What’s the size of the photocopy paper? Should I photocopy my identity card?
Should I print it in folio, a4 or letter size?
Should I enlarge it or normal photocopy?
Landscape or horizontal?
Taneeee?

Fuck you, use your logic.

(Please excuse my potty mouth)

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An Indonesian proverb stated that, reluctance to ask will cost you to stray from your path (malu bertanya, sesat di jalan). But asking too many question, and your tour guide will most likely give you false direction because you’re an invasive nosy tourist.

Asking question because you don’t understand is good, but asking question because you’re too lazy to do a simple research is testing my patience limit.

Asking question because you didn’t have the chance to read the direction is just dumb. It means that you don’t prepare and why should I help you if it’ll only burden me?

When people offered you help, doesn’t mean you got to throw your entire problem and demand them to solve it all. That’s just asking me to punch you in the face.

Grow up, get a pair of guts, use your logic and don’t ask me whether you should photocopy or color print your identity card!

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In this age of Google binge, searching information is as easy as spelling a-b-c. But sometimes people are just too damn lazy to do it their self. Instead they rely on others and expect somebody else to haul the heavy problems.

I guess this kid who asked these silly question is either too lazy or extremely inexperience. The former is a flaw in character, the later is a case of experience.

But do not ever let your inexperience became a clean slate for every single mistake you made. Ignorance is not cute.

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Point is, yes you can ask, but don’t ask dumb question.