Porcelain Philosophy 13: Branding

I came across an article on marketing that raised some very poignant insights about company branding, as well as reputation building. The article is about how some companies run themselves into the ground by overextending their brand (e.g. if Nike started to sell photocopiers).

It was something I only noticed implicitly; seen in the light, it makes a lot of sense. The most powerful brands become synonymous to their products. What do you think of when you hear the word Google, or Kleenex, or Xerox, or Febreeze? If I were in charge of a company, I'd love for the brand to one day become a verb the way Google has.

But that's not the point of the post. Below is the pertinent excerpt.

If you're working in a job, [...] be known as a genius for something. Know how several things work. But branding yourself in one skill makes you the expert. Every time the company has a fire in that section, you will be known for your fire-fighting skills.

On an ordinary basis, most employees are not known for any particular skill and wonder why they are on top of the redundancy list. Bosses don't know what you do and why you're special, because you haven't been doing the 'branding bit'. It's better to be a specialist than the 'safe unknown.'

The author recommends committing to a specialty to help you stand out from the crowd if you're vying for marketshare.

This got me thinking: what am I known for? What am I known for at work? At school in class? At home? What immediately comes to mind when you think of me?

At St. Florence, I was the guy who handled miscellaneous problems, particularly technology-related ones. I visited the school last winter just before Christmas holidays fired up; after making my rounds visiting teachers and students, I was paged by the office. It turned out that they were gearing up for an afternoon of watching a movie in the gym and the principal needed assistance with the computer and projector. Now, at work, I'm paid to be that guy. At church, I am that guy. Pretty much everywhere I go, I seem to become that guy, even if he is not exactly who I am. I wonder sometimes if this label was just some niche I slipped into because it was open.

But all of that is meaningless because it is temporary.

Let me put it this way: if the Bible were still being written today, what would I be known for? Would I be a hero like Joshua, or would I be a cautionary tale like Saul? Would I even be mentioned? I don't ask this because I want to be recognized or revered; I ask myself this because I know what I've been given and I want to know how to pass it on.

Porcelain Philosophy 12: On Handling Frustration

Part of a larger collection of peer-contributed devotional writings.

The best laid plans of mice and men
often go awry.

Frustration is the feeling you get when your plans just don’t seem to work out.
There is little doubt that you will face frustration and worry during this trip, be it finances, or rejection from the very people you seek to bring to Christ. Plans are the structures that we build to give us something to fall back on when things go bad. When your plans fail, the frustration often is debilitating.

But wait! There is hope!

Haven’t our sinful selves been crucified at the cross? Haven’t we been raised again anew in Christ? When we go forth to proclaim the Good News, it is not our plan, but God’s. In all things, God will provide; “consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them” (Luke 12:24). If God takes such meticulous care for the creatures of the Earth, why should we, His beloved Children and Bride of His Son, ever worry about anything?

The frustration of rejection need not bother us either. When Jesus sent His disciples out to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven’s dawn, He instructed them to “shake the dust from their feet” as they left the house or city that chose not to receive the News (Matthew 10:14). When you go forth to proclaim the Good News, you are to be like the voice and breath of God. What obstacle can bar the way of the wind?

i am so very slow at intarnet

the best Chuck Norris Fact in recent memory: Chuck Norris swallowed a Rubik's Cube; when he pooped it out, it was solved.

Puppet Supreme

but soft, what light through yonder window breaks? i woke up super early this morning and felt both relieved and empty at the same time. i'm not even talking about poop.

second practicum has concluded.

i have been stretched and pulled and spun about. flitting back and forth between excited-to-learn english students and i-hate-school science students was a mental hurdle too high to jump in one go. it took several tries.

i already miss them all.

navigating between existence as a teacher and as a student is a cobblestone road to tireless wheels. it is a bumpy, noisy ride and that coffee you thought of drinking is now making its way through your pants, but it does not invigorate you down below.

i have so many assignments awaiting my attention.

feelings are so much more multivalent now: there is joy and pain in love; there is fulfillment and frustration in teaching. i don't know whether to laugh or cry, leap or laze, fly or fall.

the finish line approaches and it is time for the rest of my life.
parting is such sweet sorrow.

words to hang my hat on

i had a bit of trouble in science class today. the lesson was fine, according to my associate teacher, but i felt like a bruised apple. it was very frustrating to have the students i've worked so hard to earn the respect of fritter away class time by disrupting things because i didn't know how to chorale them or focus their attention. hello, feelings of inadequacy. thanks for dropping by and ruining my life!

the educational assistant in the class (because it's a class that needs one) came over at the end of the period to debrief me on the guys who are the behavioural issues. usually, she tells me a bit about their backgrounds, and those stories are the ones you don't want to hear; they're really good kids and it kills me that this is their lot in life. today, she told me about a conversation she had with them because of today's antics.

"guys, you like mr. chan, right? you're smart; you know what effect your behaviour has and you know when you're crossing the line, so why do it? you're making him think it is his fault. this guy is brilliant and could be doing just about anything he wants, but he is choosing to be here to help give you guys a running start in life. don't you think he deserves a bit of your respect?"

damn well nearly made me cry on the spot.

the one in which a lot of things happened and then i wrote about them

placemarker post for the time being. i will decorate it with words and so on when i has have the time. see the wonderful labels for a brief taste of things to come.

[REALLY]
i went to the Ishskwaday 08 conference last weekend at TKPC. note to self: try to avoid conferences the weekend before school starts up after a march break holiday because you will be completely thrashed for the rest of the week. there was going to be a writeup with commentary and anecdotes, but who would read that? point-form play-by-play it is!

Friday:

got there early (2:40 pm) for a 7:30 pm start because i was told they needed volunteers and moyee was supposed to be there for worship team practice at 3. way too early.

saw Pastor Rolland for the first time since Longlac, and learned that his name had 2 l's.

so it turned out they had enough volunteers. commence loafing about and developing mental map of church. it is shaped like a Superman crest.

got a name tag. the registration desk was covered in Macbook.

listening to Broken Walls practice their set and struggle through trying to communicate with the AV team. the band was used to AV teams that understood the lingo (EQ, 128 Hz, monitors, drum sample, etc). it was pretty painful for me to watch and hear.

went for a walk. snowballed some geese. hopped a fence and trespassed through a snow-covered schoolyard on closed-circuit camera wearing aforementioned name tag. brazen!

Jaffray attendees arrive, hungover from TC. weird stories and giggling ensues.

program starts and everyone wants to wait for the bus from Longlac to arrive, but they're behind schedule.

speaker is hilariously candid and remarkably learned.

who hates colonialism? everyone.

who knows what colonialism is? i do, thanks to Early American Literature

looks like someone is not a fan of legalism and is not afraid to name names. they're like prescriptive linguists.

Longlac friends arrive!

Justin remembers me: "hey! it's robot man!"

man, they sure love their Koreans. who wouldn't?

Saturday

it's not as early as school, but it is still early. i wonder if i'll survive workshops (3 of them!). i should go pick them.

the first workshop was led by the keynote speaker. more elaboration on why colonialism is not the way to go about evangelizing.

"missions shouldn't be like putting a potted plant into the ground; it should be like planting the seed of the Gospel into the native soil and letting the nutrients of the culture feed the Word and allow it to blossom the way it is supposed to."

you can't have unity without diversity

lunch! settled for McDonald's. played Contact for way too long.

nothing much of note in other workshops, unfortunately

apparently, someone else out there came up with a cracked jar story.

final keynote message: repeat of first workshop. oh yay!

friendship circle dance = longest sideways conga line i've ever participated in

some people danced all night while others stood to watch.

there was a little 6 yr old girl in full regalia gracefully dancing her heart out. she was like a beautiful wind, twirling and flitting about amongst the legs of other dancers.

what happen?

as was my custom, i got to the room half an hour early and mentally prepared for the class by staring blankly at the wall.

about 20 minutes later, she plopped down into the seat beside me, a seat which was normally occupied by someone else; i felt a twinge of resentment because i was a big fan of the person who normally sat next to me. but wait, you say, girls don't plop; they alight gracefully into their seats and do not burp or fart or commit any bodily function that is unbecoming. actually, i know girls who burp and fart and they can do it pretty darn well. she plopped down into the seat; she was the perennially tired-for-class type of person. for sitting beside me, you get a brief nod of acknowledgment, so that was what i gave her.

she pulled out a soup.

"ugh, the line up downstairs was so long." it was the begining of a story. i like stories; it meant that i did not have to contribute much to the conversation.

"it was weird. there were two pots of soup: barley and beef; and vegetable. the barley and beef one was almost down to nothing, but the vegetable one was almost completely full."

"and you got the vegetable one because there was more?"

"no, i got the vegetable one because i love vegetables!" i must have made a face because she followed that up with, "don't tell me, you're one of those people that don't like vegetables..."

i shrugged and made the conscious decision to make a face. "no, not really," as in, i don't like vegetables.

she shook her head and gave a sigh of exasperation.

"ugh, herman! we have nothing in common!" this was a baffling statement; i wondered how i was supposed to interpret it.

"i like potatoes?" was all i could offer while my upper mental faculties spun up their engines to decipher what she was talking about.

she did not speak to me for the rest of the class.

if life were like this, you wouldn't need a Visa

under the right conditions, your mind can wander to exotic places and ponder irrelevant things ad nauseum and ad infinitum, like at the top of mountains, where nothing happens. in such meditative states, we often ask the questions that would stump the common man. we reserve them for God, who being the Creator, knows all things down to the finest detail. in His infinite wisdom, God sometimes answers immediately. it is in these moments that we encounter the sublime and the ineffable.

speaking of ineffable, what would you consider the most ineffable animal? by this i mean, when you see a baby of this species, you think, how'd they do that? what are the logistics? the angles? the procedures?

the animal that comes to my mind is the porcupine; porcupines look pretty ineffable. and one day, at the top of a mountain, i asked this very question, to which i was provided an immediate answer. here's a more thorough answer.

and now you know too, and can share this powerful knowledge with your friends.

overheard in english

instructor: "bundling" was the term used when two people lay down together to keep warm from the winter cold. it was only allowed for married people or fiances.

student: i believe that's called "spooning" now.

instructor: "spooning" is something else. we can talk about that later. outside of class.

guffaws and nervous giggles

who i am is not quite who i was

i have been cleaning my room for the past 2 days (because there was that much stuff) and rearranging the furniture and swapping in new furniture, etc. a few minutes ago, i found an old assignment i participated in back in grade 10 or 11. it was an english writing assignment where we'd each submit a short blurb about ourselves as if we were meeting together for our nth year reunion (where n is an integer).

the following is what i wrote. you can clearly see where my priorities were back then; it's not so far off from where they are now.

After graduating from Woburn Collegiate Institute in 2003 as an insignificant student having made little visible difference, Herman quickly rose up the social ranks as a hackey sack champion in Brock University. He double-majored in Greek Mythology and Biomechanics after receiving a scholarship for Insignificant Achievement. While attending Brock, Herman wrote a novel, aptly titled Foot-Eye Coordination and the Flying Beaver, but it was never published.

Graduating from Brock in two years, Herman celebrated his 20th birthday by getting married. To this day, he still doesn't know her name (or does he simply forget? either way, if he doesn't know, she's not telling), but they worked around it. He moved to Zurich, Switzerland, quitting his job at Indigo for a higher paid job at the Indigo in Switzerland as manager. In 2007, Penelope, his first daughter, was born. She exhibited early skills in percussion and visual art, but later changed her mind and became an astronomer. His son, Edwin, was born two years later and grew up to play centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs. By that time, Herman and his family had moved back to Toronto, but outside the city. Herman became a computer game storyline consultant as a result of the move.

In his spare time, Herman enjoys reading, various sports and just plain living. He still occasionally plays hackey sack, but since no one else in his family does, it's not much fun. He had a pet kangaroo named Jenny, and they used to hold jumping contests. Jenny died of old age in 2024.

At the moment, Herman is Manager of Indigo again and resides with his family in Markham. He is contemplating adopting another kangaroo.

i'm sure you're dying to psychoanalyze this. i've taken the liberty of getting the ball rolling to maybe offer a bit of insider insight. it will help you develop your interpretation of my crazy.

the word insignificance crops up twice. self-esteem issues?

Brock? definitely self-esteem issues.

Greek Mythology and Biomechanics: early signs of English and Physics

the book title is... wow

graduating from Brock in two years: no self-esteem issues at all

marriage at 20: i still wish for that, but it's trickier now

"still doesn't know her name": didn't want to seem too wishful

Indigo: i heart bookstores.

Zurich: snow, mandatory military service for a neutral country that never goes to war, paid tuition for post-secondary education, chocolate

Penelope, born in 2007: i still have a few days to get on this. i've always liked the name (Odysseus' loyal wife).

Edwin, born 2009: TML player... pretty obvious where this is coming from.

kids' interests and professions reflect my own

computer game storyline consultant: English + Nerd

Jenny, the kangaroo: i've always wanted a pet, but something a little more obscure than usual

Chuck vs The Sandworm

Morgan: Ellie, let me ask you a question. Am I the kind of guy you would categorize as... immature?

Ellie: Do you really want me to answer that?

Morgan: Yes. Be straight with me; fire away, both barrels --

Devon (AKA Capt. Awesome): Would you mind stepping into the kitchen with me, Morgan? (to Ellie) I'll handle this one, honey.

Morgan follows Capt. Awesome into Ellie's bedroom. Morgan pauses at the door.

Morgan: Ellie's room. (inhales deeply) Wow.

Capt. Awesome: There comes a time in a man's life when he reaches... well, a crossroads; (as he leads Morgan to the mirror) a time when he must ask himself, "Am I a tucker?"

Morgan glances about, confused

Capt. Awesome: I'm talkin' about your shirt, Morgan. I wasn't always a tucker, you know. Then, one day, it just happened.

Morgan: How do you know it's time?

Capt. Awesome: Just feel it. Go ahead, tuck her in. See how she feels.

Morgan: (as he buttons his shirt) aw, I don't know. Nah, nah, I'm just kinda happy with how my shirts hang there.

Capt. Awesome: C'mon. You're safe in here.

Morgan: Um... (exhales deeply)

Capt. Awesome: Tuck her in.

Morgan: I don't know if I'm ready --

Capt. Awesome: Do it.

Morgan clears his throat and tucks his shirt into his waistband.

Capt. Awesome: Mm hmm.

Morgan: (exhales) I don't know. I- I kind of feel like my- (whispers) my junk's out there for the whole world to see.

Capt. Awesome: Maybe that's the point, Morgan. Maybe that's the point.

i walked into this one

me: i like bassoons.
lyris: you like fagotts?
me: haha

When I Grow Up...

today was Senior Kindergarten Graduation, a useless, but adorable event.

i was drafted to handle the audio (from two stereos) by kindergarten teacher (last year she got her husband to take time off work to handle it).

upon receiving their 'diplomas', each student would say, "when I grow up, I want to be...". a handful picked normal, worthy careers: teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc. others were equally worthy, but slightly less normal:

boy: When I grow up, I want to be a worker.

boy: When I grow up, I want to be a basketball player and a soccer player.
next boy: When I grow up, I want to be a basketball.

girl: When I grow up, I want to be a grizzly bear.

boy: When I grow up, I want to be a man.

"self-esteem is for everybody..."

kindergarten teacher: herman, i would never date you because you're so skinny.

other volunteer: yeah, me neither.

should i have:

a) considered it a compliment - two very personable, confident and attractive women finding me threatening to their self image? maybe i could become professionally good-looking.

b) cried myself to sleep - no one wants me =(

c) taken offense - hey, i try fairly hard to eat to bulk up a bit, and also to exercise on a regular basis (play tag with the kids, climb ladders to put up decorations) to make sure it bulks up in useful places. i'm pretty sure i'd be sitting pretty with a 1-pack if it weren't for this awesome long-lasting cough that is molding my abdominals into a washboard.

d) found it a sad and frightening indictment of the overwhelming pressure to be attractive our society burdens women with - two very personable, confident and attractive women finding me threatening to their self-image? they're not rail-thin supermodels, but they are not superhuge triple-cheese-and-mayonnaise-pizza-with-fries-for-breakfast type people either. this pressure doesn't just come from men. most of it comes from the media big-wigs who try to determine what is 'beautiful' and what sells. the worst kind, in my opinion, comes from the mothers who tell their daughters to stop being so fat and ugly or tomboyish or outspoken or any number of 'unladylike' things.

Day 21 at St. Florence: "What are you still doing here?"

at long last: lunchtime talk turned to pregnancies.

we went through 8 cm dilations, not-false pregnancies, icky-placental guck, 34-36 wk births (4 pounders that fit in the palm of your hand), hospital policy, sleepless husbands (troopers!) and this story:

"when my mom's water broke for her fourth child, my dad said he was hungry and asked her to make a sandwich. she made it and he ate it. when they got to the hospital, the nurses asked, 'what took so long?'"

until kindergarten teacher asked, "Herman, what are you still doing here?"

it was late into the lunch hour and the only people left in the staff room were mothers, soon to be mothers and one male volunteer doing his elementary school teaching placement.

i shrugged. "gotta be prepared for this some time, right?"

kindergarten teacher: aren't you grossed out?

me: [shrugs again]

kindergarten teacher: that's your reaction to everything! i love Herman; [to the principal] can we keep him?

principal: yes, we should! can you come to our play date on June 25th? we're having games and hot dogs!

grade 5 teacher: and you can help set up...

principal: oh, and you can come to the bowling trip. [to grade 5 teacher] there, now you have one adult volunteer. you'll just need two more.

me: i'll come whenever i'm needed.

grade 5 teacher: oh, just come from June 2nd to the 27th...

by the end of the day, i had been suckered into spending at least half of June volunteering at St. Florence, which is great since i have steadfastedly refused to look for a summer job, even though this is the big year that i really need to.

Day 20 at St. Florence: Powerless

for the first half of the day we operated without power. this was scheduled electrical maintenance; some switches needed to be replaced and for some reason this couldn't be done on the weekend. the replacement procedure required a complete shutdown of the power in the area, and it took a few hours to reboot. this makes for a crazy day for kids because they need routine, or else their wires get all crossed up. most of the older students were off to Track and Field today, making for a further break from routine.

the one advantage of power outages is that everyone naturally becomes quieter with the lights off (on top of cutting out the white noise of air intakes, etc). and it was a gorgeous day. not overbearingly hot, with a gentle breeze and almost no humidity.

the rest of the afternoon after recess was spent enjoying the lovely weather at the playground with three other classes. while the teachers were busy chatting, i tried to supervise about 60 kids. fortunately two of the classes were grade 5 and 3 respectively; they didn't need too much monitoring, and they took care of their younger siblings.

LCG pulled me aside and told me she needed to talk to me in private. this struck me as a little bit weird for a 6 y.o. girl to ask of me, but it turns out she only wanted to ask me some personal questions.

LCG: how old are you?
me: i told you two weeks ago.
LCG: fifty-two?
me: yep.
LCG: are you hairy?
me: [points to head] yep.
LCG: and on your legs?
me: very.
...
LCG: do you have hair on your nipples?
me: no... [LCG], what do you talk about at home? these are some weird questions.
LCG: whaaaat? do you have hair on your bum?
me: yes. it's like a carpet.
some random grade 3 girl listening in: EEEEEWWWWWW
...
LCG: do you have a girlfriend?
me: no. why do you keep asking me that? do you want me to have one?
LCG: if you don't get a girlfriend, you can stay a kid forever!

Day 17 at St. Florence: Two Fire Drills in One Day

kid: [hugs] you're the best mr. chan!
me: oh, thanks! don't get too close, i'm a bit sick.
kid: [holding] that's okay, i'm sick too!
me: okay, now i'm a lot sick.

---

lcg: are you famous?
me: yes, i am. would you like my autograph?
lcg: no... do you like girls?
me: yes, i like girls.
lcg: do girls like you?
me: do you like me?
lcg: yes.
me: then yes. girls like me.

---

lcg: mr. chan! i found you in the newspaper! [points to asian boy in the background]

---

peace prayer, written by a grade 1 student:
"my prayer of peace is for M______ to stop fighting and making fun of people and getting into trouble."

---

girl from next door classroom: do you love A_____ (other volunteer)? K______ (her sister, in my class) told me that you do.

---

my teacher: those kids in New Guinea need these rosaries like they need a hole in the head!

---

@ the 10:30 staff meeting
principal: okay, we have to choose between two dates for our staff retreat next year: Sept. 28 or Jan. 25.
custodian: i vote for Jan. 25 so we can go to Rama (the casino).
my teacher: [with raised hands] how holy!

Day 15 at St. Florence: Siiiiiiiick

i managed to go to school today, though i probably should've just called in sick. i wasn't able to speak until about 11:30 am, so i relegated myself to working in the corner, stapling and labeling folders for next year's grade ones or photocopying stuff.

my teacher forgot her purse at home this morning, so her husband, my program coordinator at UTSC, had to drive it up.

student 1 - "Mrs. D---, was that your husband?"
mrs. d--- - "Yes it was."
student 1 - "I thought that was your grandfather!"
student 2 - "I thought he was your dad!"
mrs. d--- - "i will let him know, it will give him a good laugh."

for your reference: he looks like Colonel Sanders, but with a full beard.


[EDIT: 9:17 pm]
on a shallower note:
my abs have never been sexier than they are now, and they were plenty sexy to begin with according to the Ladies ("Fred, Harmony... the girls in Transcription"). no need for special diets or exercise; firmer abs are a natural by-product of trying to invert your bronchial tubes.

Day 13 at St. Florence: Satisfaction

the students here are subjected to biannual testing in their aptitude for spelling. 32 common words are dictated, with a demonstrative sentence, and they are to spell it. i think the same list will be used for grade 2 as well. they take the test at the beginning of the year and again around Feb/March to track improvement. this year, the second round of the spelling test fell on today (well after Feb/March, we realize, but we do not care). the words were fairly simple, but phonetically tricky (good, soon, pretty, would, train etc.), so the test measured experience with words more than anything.

at the beginning of the year, a majority of the scores were 0 - 9, with three outliers hitting 16, 21 and 22 out of 32 respectively. the little cute boy (who licks himself) got 0 in October, and scored a 21 this time around. he talked throughout the test and supplied sentences at times ("would... would you like to kiss me?"). improvements like that were across the board. the kid who scored 16 the first time scored 31 today, only mispelling the final word pretty as 'pritty'. nerd girl (of pee-pee foot fame, was away again, so she did not play -- i assume she would know how to spell pretty). the girl who scored 22 actually transferred to another school the day before i first arrived. juding by the scores i've seen and the tones of veneration i hear when teachers and students speak of her, she must've really been something special.

putting those two scores side-by-side and seeing the huge leaps of improvement really make all the yelling and haranguing worthwhile.

Day 12 at St. Florence: Put on the Spot

this day was all about flying by the seat of my pants -- slow flying mind you, as i was verging on zombie again by 1:30.

the day started out, interestingly enough, where it left off the day before. nerd girl was absent (for the first time EVAR, so i'm told). we surmised it must have been an issue with getting peed on, a therapy session perhaps. her little brother in kindergarten was absent as well, but i found out about that a little later.

i was sent down to the office to ascertain the reason for nerd girl's absence. in the process of returning i was stopped by the kindergarten teacher, who reminds me a lot of someone who now lives in China, to take attendance for her class because a kid got hurt in the morning. the kids were neatly arrayed in a circle with their name cards on the ground or in their hands, sitting quietly, completely unsupervised until i got there. my, they were well-trained. taking their attendance was pretty fun; i only mangled three names. here is where i found out nerd girl's brother was also absent. they were both sick, according to later reports.
this wasn't the first time i'd been stopped to watch her class; yesterday, a kid got whapped in the head with a clock (not a real one) -- literally "clocked in the head" (kindergarten teacher and friend in the motherland pun alike), so i had to watch her kids as she fetched ice.

i got back to the grade 1s to find them in the middle of a probability lesson, concerning dice: which would occur more often when rolling two dice, doubles or non-doubles? well over their heads, i'm sure. my teacher introduced them to the dice and to the concept of doubles, then promptly handed off to me to explain which one showed up the most often. fortunately, my math did not completely fail me, though my chalkboard management skills did, as my list of possibilities (1|1,2,3,4,5,6...) verged on gross. i'm pretty sure no one got it, but we still had a high old time counting to 36. i have to learn to speak to the kids, not to the chalkboard. they start crawling all over each other once you turn your back. one tiny little boy, who is very, very cute in looks and mannerism and even voice, does the weirdest thing when he thinks no one is watching. when he raises his arm to answer a question, sometimes he'll lick his arm (like a cat). later i saw him licking his knee. these weren't little nips and dabs, they were long, langourous licks (like a cat). it cracked me and the other volunteer up.

yes, the other volunteer was in today. when little kids see a guy and a girl in the same setting more than once, they automatically assume romance is, or should be, in the air. i was prepared for this, due to years of Day Care. so Little Cute Girl asked me if i liked her, and if i would ask her out, etc. she seems way more concerned about my personal life than i am.

me - "do YOU like her?"
LCG - "yeah, but not like that!"
me - "i like her the same way."
LCG - "ooh."

and when one asks, everyone within earshot will ask too. ignore them and they won't pursue it further, because their attention spans are not that long.