Dealing with a GUNNER

In a class or in a small group there is always a GUNNER present. So let's define what a gunner is (as defined by the urban dictionary)

• A person who is competitive, overly-ambitious & substantially exceeds minimum requirements.
• Typically a medical student
• A person who raises their hand after every question asked by their professor, regardless of if they know the correct answer or not.
• They like to hear themselves speak
• They use complicated words to make themselves sound smart
• "They are trying to intimidate you & eliminate competition"

Wow, the urban dictionary is really precise at these kinds of things. Sa tagalog, sila yung mga bibo kid na sagot ng sagot. Tipong pabida lagi. Just being concrete here, I just literally translated the definition. Whenever a gunner opens its mouth almost all the people within the vicinity (sometimes including the professor) will have some absence seizure and be like:

So there are 2 ways to deal with a gunner. If you wanna know more, keep on reading this crappy post. -,-

First way to deal with them is to be IMMATURE.

These are the days you are recognizing the signs of that person being a gunner and you find that other people feel the same way. "Ayan na, magsasalita na naman siya." Here are some scenarios.

• This is the typical example. Few minutes before the exam, gunner comes within your social space. "Hala, di ako nakapag aral. Naglaro (natulog, kumain, naginternet) lang ako!"  Believe it or not? You also slept or did unrelated things night before the exam, parehas kayo ng ginawa so dapat parehas din score niyo. At the day of the release of exam results, yup you guessed it right. *insert sarcasm tone here* Oo nga, di daw siya nag aral niyan.
• A bulk of topics, let's say 8-9 topics, are compressed into 1 exam. And you'll hear the gunner say, "Di ko natapos basahin lahat!" Then you randomly ask another person about a topic, luckily the person you asked have no idea what are you talking about. Gunner comes into the scene, "Ganito kasi yan...."
• The professor randomly asks questions out from the lecture, and guess who is the first one to answer. "Is it the....." then explains a whole lot of crap that is somehow related but will eventually become tangential. Sa mga ganitong pangyayari eh pati yung prof nalilito na sa dami ng sinabi ng gunner.
• Isipin mo na lang, lamang ka ng tulog sa kanya. And you'll just hear the gunner say, "IKAW NA!"

Second way to deal with them is to be MATURE.

Gunners don't usually have a lot of friends. But if they do, they choose the ones that are too kind to tell them off. They can't stand another gunner because they will stand their ground on what they know is right and this will end in a conflict or a debate (which is a lot more exciting, tagisan sila ng nalalaman). Just remember to rise above them, wag na patulan. These people are the histrionic type. They always want attention and they'll do anything to get it. Just try to understand that it is their way of coping in an environment. Just let it go and live your life gunner-free. (But if you can't help it, b!tchslap would do. Just kidding) I remember during my nursing days, as a nurse of our intitution we are raised to have great confidence in ourselves. If someone is trying to step on your opinions, don't try to outsmart them. Try to state facts, sa dulo ng usapan eh mapararamdam mo na mas mataas ka sa kanya. Don't try to start a fight or a debate or a war or something that would cause harm. The best way to deal with them is to WALK AWAY because they won't stop talking until you back down. Just let it go and walk away like a boss.

Oh well, I have random thoughts about gunners. Sometimes, I just want to slap them in the face. But I thought it would be considered animal abuse. And I thought, they need this kind of attitude to gain attention and sometimes I pity them because they don't usually have friends to hang out (maybe because the group the gunner hang out with can't stand the attitude). This is purely my opinion and observation.