Funny reasons you may have been cut

[gotrojans!]

Originally Posted by Regina Filangie

IWell I guess I was just focusing too much on making small talk and not holding the cookie because it just slipped out of my hand and fell. They must have made the cookies in June and froze them over the summer because it was like a brick. It hit the floor and shattered into millions of pieces launching cookie shrapnel across the room. All the actives that saw it, including the one who I had been talking to, gave me this look like I was a bucket of manure that happened to find my way into their house. Most of the PNMs just laughed but I knew at that minute that I would be cut and honestly I didn't care at all!

You are too funny! I was laughing out loud at "cookie shrapnel" for 5 minutes straight!

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi_Husky

When I went through Recruitment the PNMs weren't told what to expect regarding door chants, talking with different people (ie rotation), etc. After visiting a couple chapters where the same pattern was followed - a girl picks you up, you talk to her, then someone else comes, the first girl leaves, and you talk to the second girl, etc etc - I thought I knew what was going on.

I went to one chapter where, as at the other chapters, one girl picked me up at the door and we started talking. A couple minutes in another girl came over and started talking to me, at which point I said bye to the first girl. Except she didn't leave. I thought maybe she had to hang around for a couple extra minutes or didn't hear me, so after a couple more minutes I said goodbye again. Except she still didn't leave, the other girl did. Obviously they were doing a sort of floating rotation, which I had no idea about. I was not invited back to that chapter.

I don't know what I would do if I were the active talking to the PNM! I was the total opposite. My first party of the first round, two actives were transitioning me and I was a little too dense to understand what was going on.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by bevinpiphi

I'm a part of the Medieval Combat Club at my school (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out www.belegarth.com). I joined that my freshman year, and I have a lot of friends in it. My boyfriend is also a member. So I went into rush figuring that the houses should know I'm involved in that, since it's not like it's going to stop anytime soon. I could tell exactly which houses would not invite me back after the, "So, what other RSO's are you in?" I started with my leadership position in the Association of Residence Halls every time, and then went into the "You know the people who dress funny and hit each other with foam sticks on the quad? Yeah, I'm one of those" explanation. The only house that reacted positively was Pi Phi, and that's where I'm at.

Somehow...I'm not surprised. Sometimes, when you portray an activity in a negative light (e.g. "dress funny", make yourself sound strange), organizations that encourage 'fitting in', like sororities, can be turned off a little. Good for you for being involved in a lot, though!

[AL♥]

I have two! First, my not-so-fun one. I was invited back to Sigma Delta Tau's pref night. I was so, SO nervous; I remember standing with my group, waiting for my RoCo in the student center (not all the chapters have houses, we have recruitment in rooms in the student center), trying to stop my hands from shaking so the sisters wouldn't think I was on drugs or something. As it turned out, I blew it before they got a chance to notice I was twitching like a boiling lobster, because the very first thing I said to the sister who greeted me was, "I am so happy to be back at STD -- STD -- SDT!" I started apologizing immediately, I was so mortified. The sister was a sweetheart about it and just smiled at my spaz attack, but I pretty much knew from there I was done. I swear, for the rest of that semester I could not see a girl in SDT letters without blushing.

This one's a happier story. My roommate freshman year swears she was cut because of this. Her family's from southern Cyprus, and her then-boyfriend's is from Greece. They dated all through high school, and the summer after graduating, got each other's initials tattooed in Greek. His are ALP, and she got it on her neck. Usually, she wears her hair up, and she does have really thick, dark hair, so she figured leaving her hair down would cover it. But one of our RoCos got a glimpse of part of it and freaked out, thinking it was an ADPi tattoo. We covered it with makeup after that, but ADPi cut her before pref night, and at our school you can only go to 2 pref parties max. As it turned out, she was invited back to DG's pref party and got a bid from them, I KNOW she loves her sorority, and it's really cute how much she loves to tell the story of how, in a way, a tattoo of her ex-bf's initials led her to DG!

[LionTamer]

A little off subject, but your post about Greeks and Cypriots reminds me:

I've said before that a huge rush without pictures or reccs is challenging, and sometimes we have trouble remembering people. My roomate Helen, who was ethnically Greek, was frustrated that people didn't seem to remember her friend Ellen, who was rushing.
Helen: "She's Greek,"
Someone else: "What do you mean, she went through rush before?"
Helen: "No, she's Creten"
Me: "I thought she seemed very bright."
Helen, smacking her head "No! No! No! She's Creten from the Isle of Crete. Which is part of Greece. Which means she's Greek like I am, which is how I know her. But you - you're a cretin"

The Creten Ellen ended up getting a bid and being a great ASA. My boyfriend at the time had a class with her, and asked her "what do you think of this professor?", indicating with his eyes that he didnt' think much of the guy. Ellen is such a nice person that rather than let him go on and embarrass himself, she said "Before you go any further, I should probably mention that he's my Dad."

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by LionTamer

Helen: "She's Greek,"
Someone else: "What do you mean, she went through rush before?"
Helen: "No, she's Creten"
Me: "I thought she seemed very bright."
Helen, smacking her head "No! No! No! She's Creten from the Isle of Crete. Which is part of Greece. Which means she's Greek like I am, which is how I know her. But you - you're a cretin"

Hahahah that's really funny! Thanks for starting my day off with a laugh.

[eltsert_TM]

Oh man... I read through all of these and feel slightly better about mine, though I still cringe when I think of it.

My school has delayed rush, so we come back a week early. Most other girls aren't doing anything else this week, but I was working on a show in the performing arts department, which, as most people know, is a huge part of my life. So quite literally for that week, when I wasn't at parties, I was at rehearsal, and when I wasn't at rehearsal, I was asleep.

I had the evening party slots, so I was at rehearsal all morning. In rehearsal, we spent a good hour and a half learning how to make shadow puppets - bunnies, turtles, fish, and then camels and elephants too. But I wasn't a character who needed to do these, so I was mainly watching, and my friend showed me the bunny, which is one of the more complex ones. I got it, and was really really excited about it. Can you tell where this is going?

Sure enough, at the first party, I mentioned it to the girl I was with, and she and I laughed as I tried to show her. Conversation moved on. However, at party two, at the requisite, "So what'd you do today" question I said I had made shadow puppets and showed. But this girl wouldn't let it go. And to make matters worse, not only did we have nothing else to talk about, this sorority only had you talk to one person the entire time! I was dying of embarrassment by the end. I'm so sure that I was cut that day as 'the weird one who kept talking about shadow puppets'.

[red10]

I rushed my sophomore year so a lot of the houses that cut me did so because I was a sophomore (I know this because I had girls in a couple houses literally STOP talking to me after I said I was a sophomore). I also noticed that houses I thought I had a good conversation with cut me while ones were I asked a dozen or more questions just to keep the conversation going invited me back.

One of my weirdest rush experiences was this one though.
I think I got cut at one of the houses because I didn't talk, not for lack of trying though. The girl rushing me didn't even ask me the usual generic questions. She went straight into a story about her and friends going to a local club and scaring freshmen by wearing masks. She also used the word "silly" a couple dozen times ("we were being so silly. isn't that silly? we're just so silly sometimes!"). I must have had the most confused and weirded out expression on my face. The worst part of all was that we were by ourselves and there was no rotation of sisters so I was stuck with one girl for 30 minutes who wouldn't let me talk. After that experience, I'm not exactly sad that I got cut.

[AOEforme]

I was cut from three houses.

One of them I'm not sure why....

The second house, I made a comment about how I could never be an accountant... and the girl rushing me was an accounting major.

I have an inkling why I may have been cut from the third.... It was first rounds and we were sitting on the ground. It was near the end and my leg was cramping (sitting on the floor in a skirt is difficult!) so I stretched it out..... just in time for a sister carrying a tray of waters to trip over it.

Do you think that impacted their decision at all?

Its hilarious looking back on it now, but I was MORTIFIED at the time. Especially because I loved that house. The room went silent (except for the girls who had had water dumped on them... they were shrieking). The girl rushing me just stared at the scenario with her mouth hanging open slightly. I don't really remember what happened after that. Someone brought paper towels and then it was time to go....

Oh well! It all worked out for the best!

[twinkle555]

Originally Posted by AOEforme

I was cut from three houses.

One of them I'm not sure why....

The second house, I made a comment about how I could never be an accountant... and the girl rushing me was an accounting major.

See.. reasons like this make me really wonder..are the sisters in that house really that ridiculous that they would cut a PNM based on their own OPINION of something? Even though it happens and its not unheard of, it just seems outrageous to cut someone for that kind of thing...

[Lightning Bug!]

Stories about cutting and being cut...

First day of rush, I got invited back everywhere, so I had to make three cuts for my next party list. There were two houses on campus that were just not "together" at all...so I cut them, and for the third cut I picked a house that just hadn't made much of an impression on me at all. My rush counselor kept asking, "Are you sure about that?" Clueless me just kept nodding yes. Turns out she was in that house, and it was one of the top houses on campus...she must have been mortified that I cut her house along with two houses that weren't doing so well. Worse than that, we were in a class together for the whole semester! She never spoke to me again.

At one particular house, I was asked, "Where do you vacation in the summers?" I knew exactly what they were asking...how much money does your family have? Fortunately, I had just been to France on a class trip the summer before, so when I said "France", their eyes lit up. I got an invite back. The next day, however, I wore a pair of shoes that I should have road tested first...flats with a little strap on the back to hold them around your heels/ankles. I could NOT keep that strap on my heel, so I ended up shuffling around all day in those flats, walking on the straps...it looked AWFUL, kind of like I just couldn't bother to get fully dressed. I will never know if that's why I got cut from the "where do you vacation" house after that day, but I later found out that this house got in trouble for secretly videotaping PNMs walking up their walk so they could review the tapes later!

When I was on the sisters' side of rush, I made sure three particular girls got cut:

1) I asked a sophomore what campus activities she was involved with...she said, "Boys, drinking, and parties." And she didn't then laugh and then list her actual activities...she just left it at that.
2) A freshman asked me, "What frat houses is it safe to pass out in?"
3) I was sitting on our porch talking to a PNM when she saw someone she knew walking up the street, waved at her, and proceeded to have a 5-minute conversation with the girl, completely ignoring me until she had finished talking to her. When she was finished, she looked at me and said, "I haven't seen her in a really long time." All I could figure is that she really didn't want to be at our house and didn't mind getting cut.

[twinkle555]

Originally Posted by Lightning Bug!

I will never know if that's why I got cut from the "where do you vacation" house after that day, but I later found out that this house got in trouble for secretly videotaping PNMs walking up their walk so they could review the tapes later!

Creeeepppyyyy!!!!!!

[red10]

Originally Posted by Lightning Bug!

Stories about cutting and being cut...

I later found out that this house got in trouble for secretly videotaping PNMs walking up their walk so they could review the tapes later!

what were they looking for in the tapes? Like recording them to hear what the PNMs said or like "she walks funny lets cut her!" ? haha

[Lightning Bug!]

Rumor has it that when it came to making some tough cuts, they reviewed the tapes to check out the outfits PNMs selected for house tours (sundresses, sandals, nice jewelry)...I actually had something of a hard time believing this. These were not insecure women, and individually all of them were very nice and down to earth...as a group, however, they were sort of monstrous at times, so maybe the rumor was true.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by Lightning Bug!

but I later found out that this house got in trouble for secretly videotaping PNMs walking up their walk so they could review the tapes later!

Am I the only one who thinks this could be helpful if you're meeting hundreds of women a day?

Creepy, yes, but so are most things in recruitment. (bump groups, distress signals and target rushing, anyone?)