An oldie but a goodie: when parents in Queensland sued to make teachers responsible for their lazy/absent children’s poor grades, the teachers returned fire with this answering machine message. The good stuff starts at 0:30.
« Previous Dating Fails: Engage ALL The Couples! | FAIL Nation: Not The Kind of Air He Wanted FAIL Next »
School of Fail: We’re Their Teachers, Not Their Nannies
Incorrect source or offensive?
» 103 Failures in Communication
Leave a Reply
Popular FAIL Videos
-
Recent Failures in Communications
Fenrir on Music FAILS: Daft Punk Perform… bobs on Music FAILS: Call Me Sata… El_Barto on Dating Fails: I Pronounce You … Miguelito on Ugliest Tattoos: Born This… Chukles on Music FAILS: Daft Punk Perform… eeeicram on After 12: Whiskey ‘n… brian on School of Fail: I’d Be H… Starfish on Failbook: Well That’s… mama9cats on There I Fixed It: Yo Dawg, We … mattbl on Dating Fails: Stephen Colbert … 
Cheezburger Company Blog
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-94wNw88f65Rhk.gif?labels=MTVN%20Digital%20Tribes\")
Message and story: quite funny. The slideshow: needs a little editing if it is to be more supportive of teachers.
And they should re-record it using an Australian accent rather than an English one if they want to make out it’s from an Aussie school.
Either way, it’s clearly fake. And not particularly funny, at that.
Either way, the message is spot on!!
if you were a teacher, it would be hilarious.
It is from an Aussie school. This message is real. Not everyone in Australia speaks the way you think. There’s more down under than shrimp on the barbie and dingos eating babies, you prejudicial idiot.
Did you know that the word “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary?
Yes it is, you idiot.
Not sure if serious…
It is an Aussie accent. Especially accents in Queensland varies by a greater degree.
because everyone from Australia has an Australian accent.
And also, it is an Australian accent.
We don’t all sound like Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee or Lara Bingle.
Sorry to disappoint.
then australia is useless!! mwuahaha
fail? this is a WIN!!!
I agree! WIN!!
Yeah, I was trying to figure out what the “fail” was here. No fail as far as I can see.
“messege” is
The fail is most likely with the suit brought against the school.
The fail is that this is fake.
the parents are fail lol
*NOW* I remember why I didn’t like school when I was a child !
Because you were expected to actually go there and do work?
Because you were lazy, irresponsible, and expected other people to pick up your slack?
No, because I had to deal with such arrogant people and I can see they behave the same way all over the world.
Later, I went back to an highschool as a grown-up and fortunately, it has nothing to do.
“Later, I went back to an highschool as a grown-up and fortunately, it has nothing to do.”
It would seem you need to go back once more, dear sir…
Sir, I congratulate you on your epic win.
Enough. Message.
1:46 is like ramming a hot spork in my eye. Particularly after the video’s overall theme of “OMGZ! These teachers are so SMART and FUNNY!”
Clearly you’re a high school student who doesn’t want to be responsible for himself.
I believe snark is referring to the misspelling of message, not to the content of the video…
Funny, but… what if you were calling with a legitimate question?
That’s a silly question…you go to another school. I was on board right up until the last bit about going to another country that speaks other languages. Australia has a vibrant immigrant culture.
If they want to keep their language then they can do it. If they want to take advantage of all the government has to offer then they need to be the accommodating ones and learn the language their kids are taught in.
I’m sorry but what you are suggesting is racist.
Clearly the right thing would be fore the entire country to learn all foreign languages.
Can’t tell if trolling or just an idiot.
The right thing for immigrants to do would be to assimilate into the culture of the country they live in, not try to change it to suit their needs.
Also, racism is the discrimination based on race. Being told that have to learn the native language of a country is not racism, it’s called assimilation. If I moved to Germany, I would learn German. If you’re too d*** lazy to learn a second language, then stay where you are.
You, dear sir, fail to pick up on huhahuha’s sarcasm.
You’re all wrong, and full of it.
Immigrants shouldn’t be expected to “assimilate”, and locals shouldn’t be expected to learn every other language (not that any political campaign, ever, in the entire history of humanity, has suggested that locals assimilate to newcomers).
People should just act like human beings to each other.
Governments should provide immigrants with decent support and services, including classes for those learning English as a second language.
And anyone who uses the word “assimilate” should be kicked in the balls until they’re capable of relating to other human beings. (That should fix it eventually, by lowering their birthrate).
Star Trek fans are excepted.
First off, its clearly an Australian accent. Secondly it is fake, and thirdly, English is not the only indigenous language of Australia. How are you people not aware that Australia has a sizeable population of Aboriginal people with their own languages and cultures? Maybe you took too many days off school.
You can still have a vibrant immigrant culture, and, speak the language of the country you’re living in, as opposed to what we now have here, “Press 1 for English.” It riles me every time I hear it.
^^THIS^^
It riles you every time you hear “Press 1 for English”?
Life must be tough.
absolutely agree, was funny untill the casual racism at the end.
How is that racist? It is an English speaking country so if you can’t speak English then learn it. Who would go to live in a foreign country and not put effort into the local language? Pathetic.
What makes you think someone who goes to a foreign country should instantly know the language automatically?
Ever heard of being a good host?
It’s not pathetic at all. Learning a second language is difficult, and takes time (and immersion). It’s even harder when you’re confronted with d*ckheads who think you’re “pathetic” for only knowing 110% of the language they know, rather than 200%.
Honestly Tash, take a look at yourself in the mirror. F*cking pathetic.
Then show up in person.
It’s fake – look it up on Snopes
“Thank you for calling YOUR SCHOOL”… not likely to say this instead of where you are calling. Calling BS…I can tell by the audio pixels and I have heard quite a bit of shoops in my time…
Wtf is an audio pixel?
I believe it’s something people call a “joke”, making a reference to the I can tell it’s a shop meme.
I understand these things can be very hard to grasp.
Yup, “your school”immediately made me think of these emails calling me “dear client”.
The slide show is so bad that it fits right in with the fake message.
Where are the talented people?
. . . where are the responsible parents. If you choose their country to live in – CONFORM!
ZOMG! Kids and pare intel you knits half to be response able four there be have your… say it ain’t so.
School of fail – whoever wrote the captions needs to go back to school.
…and that’s why I love Australia, straight to the point. WIN.
I went to this school and I am amazed they didn’t do this when I went there (Class of 95
)
Yeah, in the mid-nineties they probably could have used it there. I loved Maroochydore High…they were the only school that made us look good at Kawana High (97). Ah the good old days…they all seem so sedate and boring now…
Was never actually used in the voice mail system in the school.
True. It was not used at this school, Maroochydore High School in Queensland, Australia. Nor was it used at Pacific Palisades High School in California where the urban legend originated in 2002.
The text circulated among the teachers and staff at PPHS in a “we ought to do this” sort of way, but that was as far as it ever went.
I agree wholeheartedly with the concept, though.
I agree
except apperently the problem at PPHS was that some kids who were absent WERE doing the work and getting good grades, but were failed regardless.
Just like PPHS, i believe kids should be given more freedom in exchange for greater accountability. If a child can prove him/herself to have learned the material and to work in groups, then mission accomplished. Arbitrary rules are as good for kids as they were for the school system.
Gotta LOVE the Aussies. Straightforward and to the point :]
This has so much WIN in it… It is a veritable smorgasbord of “WIN”. Nay, it is a cornucopia of “WIN”.
Wow–only heard this three years ago!
Pretty funny even if fake. Around here there are parents that threaten teachers with lawsuits if they don’t raise their child’s grade enough to be allowed to stay in the sports team.
This is an absolute Epic WIN!!!
*clap clap clap*
As funny as this is, it’s a shame that some uneducated American did the text for the audio. Australians don’t spell words with Americanised ‘z’ instead of ‘s’ (realise not realiZe), and ‘u’ is used in words like behaviour.
A great “messege” anyway.
I was going to suggest he used an American spell-checker, but that doesn’t explain “messege”
It also doesn’t explain why various parts of the Voice-to-text doesn’t match what is spoken.
Obviously a fake. “Your school”? THat alone is a huge tip off. The last part about “if you want this in another language, move to another country that speaks it” is another enormous tip off about the credibilty. Not only would a school never use that, if they did they would be leaving themselves wide open to litigation.
>> they would be leaving themselves wide open to litigation.
In the US they would – but from what I hear things are a lot different in Australia. It’s much harder there to sue somebody for hurting your feelings….
Yeah, none of that pansy suing here. Just the odd nutball trying it on in the court system. Unfortunately it is getting more common, but no-where near the levels that are present in the US.
That kind of message would never be allowed in an Australian school. It is racist and rude. Funny as a ‘what-if’ (minus the racist bit at the end – that wasn’t funny at all) but never would be allowed in reality. That and I live locally – if it had been real we would have heard about it through the news.
In order for you to call that bit at the end racist you would have to assume that all whites speak English and that anybody speaking another language MUST be a minority. What you did there actually is racist.
Suggesting someone learn the common language of their environment is not racist. If I typed plain English into a C++ compiler and got angry when the program I had written that way didn’t run and then sued the maker of the compiler (Microsoft) for not making the compiler around how I wanted to communicate into it people would think I was insane.
Same goes for talking to a group of chemists, would you get angry with them for not watering everything down and oversimplifying it when talking to you?
Learn the language of where you’re at and assimilate. Assimilation leads to less and smaller divides in and between communities, who wouldn’t want that?
It shouldn’t be so much assimilation as accommodation. Assimilation leads to the loss of immigrants’ original cultures while accommodation makes the various cultures coexist with members of the minority cultures functioning equally within the majority culture and their own. Like, America is now a tossed salad instead of a melting pot.
Almost believable since the creator stated it was from Queensland. XD
But this sort of thing would result in the Australian Government firing a whole bunch of staff for this type of behavior, and we have some crazy arse media here that would blow up over this sort of thing.
And yeah, that’s a English accent.
No, it’s a posh Australian accent: similar to English but with only the faintest Aussie twang. That kind of accent is dying out in Australia.
Am I the only one who’s just a little bit frightened at how many commenters actually believed this?
Nope. I also find it surprising how gullible people are.
Teachers are smart enough to know that parents are their biggest allies. I’ve been a teacher, and I can say first hand that a parent can easily turn around a child’s behavior or academic performance, but only if you can get the parent “on board”. Not all parents can be won over, but you’re going to have a lot more success with parents if you express how much you care about their kids and want them to succeed than you are if all you do is show how angry and snarky you can be.
Kids lie to their parents all the time, and parents usually come around when they learn that, no, the teacher isn’t picking on little Johnny. Little Johnny is turning in lousy work or no work at all. Teachers know this, and they wouldn’t sabotage themselves by deliberately alienating parents with such a foolish message.
there’s NO WAY this could be real. a school could NEVER get away with doing this-even though it is so so so so so so TRUE!!!
On board until the xenophobic crack about language. Yuck.
That’s how I felt too. It was pretty funny when they were aiming at lazy kids and parents. But when they threw all immigrants under the bus, they lost me.
It was unnecessary for this particular message, but the concept of people needing to learn the country’s native language is not xenophobic. For efficiency’s sake, a country needs a main language. You cannot afford to get every public school taught in every language. You cannot afford to put every sign in every language. You can’t afford to have “Press 1-9″ options for multiple languages. I’m not saying someone who speaks a different language shouldn’t be able to live in another country, but they should be the ones to adapt to the country, not the other way around. Obviously I speak English but if I moved to some tiny country that spoke little English I would have no expectations for them to provide me services in English.
If expecting you to learn the country’s language is xenophobic then I DEMAND all posts be in Russian. I was forced by the oppressive state to learn English so now as restitution everyone needs to learn Russian so i can communicate in my native tongue.
See how stupid that argument sounds. I learned YOUR language why do modern immigrants get a pass?
im so-so about it.
the way they said it was very tactless and offensive… but I don’t disagree with the point.
I think that for many countries, a healthy culture of immagration is important.
it is likewise important for the country to be accepting of incoming cultures
but it is not the responsibility of the country to adapt to incoming cultures, just to accept and welcom them.
If I moved to france, I wouldn’t EXPECT everyone there to speak to me in english, but I WOULD expect people there to accept that I do speak english with other english speakers.
if your values fundamentally conflict with the values of the country you moved to in such a way as they cannot be reconsiled (such as women’s rights laws, age of consent, etc) then you should probably pick a different country.
Are you serious??? Anyone that believes it’s true is more moronic than the “stupid Americans” that they claim it to be from
1. This is clearly an English Accent, not Australian.
B. Australian schools do not serve lunches, that is a ‘merican thing.
8. No-one in our education system has a sense of humour, so this would not exist.
I love the thing about languages at the end. I support that 100%.
Teachers can’t control what their students are doing at their free time. And, just a question, but: why would people want info in another language if Australia only has one official? (and if it has a second official language, there should be schools that teach in that language).
America only has one official language but people often request Spanish. Just because a language isn’t a country’s official one doesn’t mean people don’t speak it there.
the best part of it is the ending. if you want to hear this message in another language, move to country that speaks it”
Just sayin… http://www.hoax-slayer.com/maroochydore-school-answering-machine-hoax.shtml
Move out to the country that speaks it.
Yeahhhh…Australian are racist bastards…
Not racist….realist & nationalists.
You know what’s funny?
Australian don’t speak australian..They speak English !!
Go back to England !!
If everyone who spoke English went back to England it would be a disaster…that’s why English decent went out looking for new land.
That’s the point.
Being multicultural is to learn as many language as we can. Not just stick to one.
Like girlfriends…
Most of them doesn’t even know the Aboriginese language. Their true host. Or Maori in NZ.
Their ego is too high…way too high…
Ever heard of translators?
I don’t argue the fact that learning multiple languages is a good thing but there is a reason countries have national language. The native Americans in America where conquered by settlers from Spain France and England, along with the Russians who had Alaska for sometime but since Alaska is completely useless they gave it to the English. Eventually all those other countries lost in a war and America’s primary language became English because the English won that right to make it so. And I’m pretty sure something a long that same line happened in Australia and New Zealand and any other country that was taken over by a different language speaking country. Its not racist for a country to suggest people learn the native language. Racist would be not allowing them in the school system or not allowing them a job.
Translators are to help people understand it doesn’t mean that just because they have someone to translate for them they shouldn’t learn the native language.
Faker than a box of fake delivered straight from Faketown.
This hoax is older than dirt.
The fail here is that the woman didn’t speak it in Strayan.
Oh man all schools need this on their machines. I think that this is 100% grade A materiel needed to get lazy itdot parents to grow up and realize school doesn’t equal babysitters.
Fake hoax adapted from a real event at a US school, which was only ever a parody (though meant to make a serious point), and never actually used. In short – everyone who failed to spend 30 seconds researching are the real fail here. LEARN TO GOOGLE YOU IGNORANT MORONS!
P.S. love the spelling error/typo in the video. Very professional…