Endless Thread - Bridezillas and Quiz Traps

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Ben and Amory share stories about potential pettiness from Reddit. Ben shares a post from r/weddinshaming post about a bride who changed her wedding to a weekday in another state. Amory counters with a teacher who used AI to foil his student's cheating. Petty or just? You be the judge. Credits: This episode was produced by Frannie Monahan. It was co-hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.

Support for endless thread comes from Mathworks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink Software, to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com. Support for this podcast comes from Nature is the Solution, a podcast from The Nature Conservancy. This show tells climate stories like a stubborn optimist, because hope, innovation, and nature itself are key. to solving the challenges ahead. Follow on your favorite podcast app. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. How you doing, snappy-dappy? I'm doing spiffaroo. All right.

Tickety-boo. Tickety-boo, which is a real phrase that I thought you made up. But you're still the only person I've ever heard say it, so that says something. Most Britishisms, I feel like, are one of those things where it's like, Is this a bed knobs and broomsticks? Where did this come from? Is it a, what's the lady's name with the umbrella? That lady?

You know what I'm talking about. No, I don't. Come on, the umbrella lady. She floats in the air, the umbrella lady. Oh, what's her face? Supercalifragilistic, exealda. Yes, yes. Mary Poppins.

My God. It took way too long for us to figure out umbrella lady's name, but thank you for saving us. Yeah, we need more whimsy in our lives. That's what that means. Can someone mail us some whimsy, please? We're too busy thinking about revenge. Revenge.

Which is the focus of today's episode. Uh-oh. Did you get revenge on me by not bringing a story about revenge? It's sort of like pre-venge, maybe. It's in a place of pettiness. And I feel like petty was a word that we used with one another when we were planning this conversation. And so I sort of dipped into the petty zone

and away from the revenge zone. But the background of my story surely has vindictive behavior and revenge seething beneath the surface. And there will be revenge exacted after the date. Well, then maybe we should just dive right in. I'm Ben Brock Johnson. I'm Amory Seavertson. And we're both petty.

Today we are on endless thread. Okay, before we get into the pettiness, I want to say that these are a couple of stories that sort of took place over the summer. And when I first discovered this post that we're about to talk about, it, it, it, was about an event that hadn't happened yet. And so we're going to be talking about an event in the future, but it was really an event that happened in the past if it happened at all, because this is one of those posts where you're kind of like, is this story real? It's hard to tell. It's hard to tell. It is so crazy that it's hard to tell. But we maybe also all know someone a little bit like this. Oh, yeah. Who's done something. A little bit like this.

Yeah, very crazy but also relatable. Okay. This is a subreddit that I didn't know existed called Wedding Shaming. And the name of this post is Wedding Date changed last minute, dot, dot, dot, to a weekday, dot, dot, dot, dot, in another state. I'm imagining the venue being like, oh, we double booked. How's Wednesday? How's Wednesday for you and 150 of your closest friends and relatives? Right.

But if it's now in another state, then maybe the venue is like, we double booked. You're screwed. And then at that point, you're just scrambling to try to make something else work. But do tell. There is certainly a venue problem here. But it goes so much deeper than that. Okay. And I'm going to say that, like, the another state thing is a bit of a, like, red herring.

Because as near as I can tell, this takes place upon the border of Washington State and Oregon. It's not like they went from Oregon to, like, Connecticut. You know what I mean? But the emails, the emails about this wedding are... gold. The original poster has been like in the comments and I've been reading their comments. At the time of recording this, this wedding has not happened yet. It's one part of it is happening on June 27th, which is a Friday. It could be fake, but it kind of checks out. And once you'll see what I mean by it could be fake once we get into this because it's just, we'll see. All right.

First message. Subject, important all caps, three exclamation points. Date change, all caps. You ready for my dramatic reading? Yes. Hi, everyone, smiley face, exclamation point. We want to make you aware of a critically important update. The ceremony date is now June 27th, and the location is changed.

Please note this down carefully. We've decided we want to have a church ceremony. in addition to our planned beach ceremony and reception. The officiant of our choice does not do weddings at locations outside of his church. Having a church ceremony is very important to us morally and ethically. We are canceling the beach ceremony to spare redundancies. There will still be a reception on the beach. Hmm. Okay.

There's a little more to this. The ceremony will now be blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oregon, the reception will be the following day at blah, blah, blah, blah, Port Angeles, Washington. If you cannot make the 27th, we understand, but please be aware, that will be the only opportunity to participate in professional photos. That's why I go to weddings, to participate in professional photos. It does come out later, by the way, that the recipient of these emails is a groomsman.

Okay. Message continues. Bridesmaids, we kindly ask, you wear this yellow dress for the 27th. Still reserved the gray dress you already purchased to wear on the 28th. After viewing the interior of the church, gray just would not work. Thanks. Groomsmen, yellow ties will be provided for you on the day of the ceremony. Ain't that just how it goes for men and women sometimes.

Anyway, if you have any concerns, go ahead and reach out to our super-girly wedding planner, redacted. Thanks. Can't wait to celebrate with you, Hart. That's a weird detailed descriptor to put in there. Our super girly wedding planner, that's what they said.

Dude. It gets so much better. And all I can do is read these emails because they're so good. Okay. Okay. Response. Am I understanding the above message correctly

to mean your wedding ceremony is now on a weekday during the day? So, I have to admit, I'm pretty surprised and disappointed. My family booked tickets months in advance to travel to Washington, and the church appears to be several hours away, necessitating another hotel stay. Between that and the unexpected day off work, we can't afford this extra day. I was not participating for the party aspect so much as the special memory of seeing you and so-and-so get married and be part of this milestone, et cetera, et cetera. I apologize for the confusion, if so, but please let me know ASAP. And that was like a reply all from, you know,

a wedding party member. Okay. Okay. Response to that reply all. Let's be respectful and take this offline, please. Ladies, friendly reminder, contact wedding planner directly with any concerns so as not to spam everyone's inbox. K-T-H-X-exclamation point.

Like, you know, K-thanks. Oh. No, I did not get that. Okay. If you have any problems, you can talk to the manager. Exactly. You're certainly not a dear friend of mine that I've included in my wedding day. Exactly.

Sheesh. Okay, you ready? I'm ready. Hi, everyone. We are so excited to have you as members of our wedding party. Thank you to those of you who actually care and stuck with us. A few quick notes to do's in FYIs. General, we will no longer be using a wedding planner.

Redacted and I are just too quirky to fit into a box. We're doing things our own way. Please do not contact Megan with any more questions. She is no longer involved with the planning of the wedding. Bye, Megan. Please come early on the 28th because we have been unable to secure enough chairs. We won't really need them. We'll be dancing all night.

If you're in the wedding party, you are not expected to send a gift. Your presence at our special day is gift enough, heart, heart. As previously stated, we are unable to accommodate any dietary needs or requests. Please bring your own food if you require that. It goes on. It goes on. After careful consideration, we have decided that with the exception, misspelled, of our boys, this wedding will be child-free. Oh.

That does also include the reception. Please plan accordingly. An additional bullet. We'll have special goodie bags for all members of the wedding party available for pickup at the venue. Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile, smile. Spoiler alert. It includes a plant. So if you're traveling internationally, please plan accordingly.

All right, all right. New heading, bridesmaids. If you are over 5'5, please get these flats. instead of the initially requested heels. Additional. Makeup will be 300 per person per day. You don't have to get it if you don't want to on the 28th, but we kindly insist all bridesmaids get it on the 27th

if they want to be in any photos. If they want to be in any photos. If you're going to do your own garbage makeup, that's fine, but you can't be in our pictures. No, no, no. If you are not there on the 28th by 7 a.m. You will not be let in to ensure things run on the timely schedule. Nobody wants a repeat of the Bach, I guess the Bachelor party or the Bachelorette.

Grim's men, per tradition, the Grim cannot see the bribe prior to the ceremony. So unfortunately, there is nowhere for you all to get ready on the 28th since you basically just need ties. This is no biggie. Some people were going to get together at such and such pub beforehand. Feel free to coordinate amongst yourselves. Okay, so let's just take stock here for a minute. Let's take stock. So this wedding, which was originally supposed to all be on the 28th in one location. At a beach. At a beach. Now has a Friday midday ceremony component hours away because we do not want to repeat of the batch.

The bridesmaids need to buy an additional dress. They need to buy another pair of shoes because the bride is self-conscious about it. her height. Yes. Or the groom. Someone is, there's a height problem. Someone's too short. They need to pay $300 to get their makeup done. Per day.

So it's a $600 makeup budget for individuals if they want to be in any photos. On top of whatever this new dress is, there's nowhere for the men to get ready. Nope. There are no dietary restrictions allowed. And also no children, except for the children. of the couple. Please plan accordingly. Oh. I want this to all be fake because I hate it so much,

but it's absolutely delicious. Also, there will be plants provided. So if you're traveling internationally, please plan accordingly. No favor for you. Oh, boy. Weddings. All right. Do bring out. The worst.

Yeah. Okay. Shall I continue? Yes. please. Hi, a few quick updates and gentle reminders. After careful consideration, we've decided there will be no speeches. Only confirmed Catholic bridesmaids and groomsmen are permitted to stand with us during the ceremony, not our rules, the churches. Sawi, S-O-W-W-Y.

Oh, my God. Some of you have not paid the 25 per plate per person deposit for food. What? What? What? Which sets a poor example to the other guests as y'all are the wedding party. Wait, everyone has to pay for their own food at this wedding? I'm revoking your ability to have a wedding.

We're kindly insisting each member of the wedding party chip in $650 for expenses. I am sorry I have to ask at this point, but it's customary for the wedding party. the wedding party to just offer. No. Shrug emoji. No, it's not. If you don't drink, we gently suggest you seriously consider whether or not you really want to come to the reception. This is meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, and it only takes one wet blanket to snuff out everyone's fire.

There will be 30 minutes of open bar before the other guests arrive as a thank you to our number one ever wedding party. Love you all. An open bar that it sounds like you're paying. for for the low, low cost of $650 per person. Last message. All caps, bold, important, period. Read this, period. Oh, I can't wait.

If you are no longer participating in our wedding, pulling out just days before the ceremony, we totally understand, exclamation, exclamation. Great. But please be advised we won't forget who stood with us or not. heart emoji. Wow. I really thought it was going to read, important,

the wedding is off. I mean, it kind of seems like it should be. Wow. Oh, God. Do people like that actually exist? Do weddings like this actually exist? I mean, these are screenshots.

I mean, you can definitely, like, you can doctor those up, no problem. But, you know, I did read through the comments. O.P. 13 hours ago, as of this reading, says, I got the last email yesterday and it's been radio silence since then. I'm unsure if this is it or not, but I have a feeling it is. It's very cathartic to share this with strangers I can be blunt with about how totally freaking nuts this whole thing has been. Is the O.P. not going now, I'm assuming? Or? Great question. And it was asked in the comments. Yeah.

Somebody asks, and OP says, I'm a groomsman for now. I plan to go and take copious notes. Man, I hope it works out, you know. What do you mean? This sounds like the start of a beautiful fairy tale partnership. I wish the matrimonial bliss. What do you got for me? Oh, I'll tell you after a quick break.

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We're far enough out of our formal academic years that I feel like I can ask you, did you ever cheat on a test in school? Or an assignment. I would say in, I want to say sixth grade, there was a pretty sophisticated math test cheating thing that happened that I was involved in. Okay. I don't think I got caught, but the guilt crippled me for a long period of time. But I will say that I did, I definitely turned in a couple of unopinable files in college to some professors in order to give myself another 12 hours.

So I have a story for you, if you couldn't already tell, about. cheating. These days, we hear a lot about students using chat GPT and other AI tools to cheat. Okay. But this was a post in the Petty Revenge subreddit about a teacher using AI to catch his students cheating. So it was posted at the time that we're recording this, it was posted just like a week and a half ago. and the subject line is students kept cheating, so I made 24 versions of the same quiz. That's like, I mean, it's diabolical, but I'm kind of here for it. So he deleted the post itself, but I remember it well because I delighted in this.

And I have more information for you. Deleted and delighted. Yep, deleted and delighted. So he uses, I think it was chat GPT specifically, to take this same test, make 24 different versions specifically of the answers to the questions. So it's a multiple choice test. The questions are all the same. The questions are in the same order. But the options A, B, C, and D are different.

24 different times. So then he's passing out different versions of the quiz. to his students. I think in the post, he had more than 24 students in the class, if I'm remembering correctly. But that's still enough versions of the quiz that you kind of, you observe where the kids are sitting and who had the same answers and who didn't. He does say in a comment, even though the post was deleted, he's still in the comments section for the post. He says in a comment further down, these are high school freshmen, they're about 15 years old. And, And you almost feel bad for him.

I mean, ninth grade seems, it's just a, I look back on it now and I'm like, what a fresh little baby bean I was at age 14. You know what I mean? Like, it just seems so long ago to me. Yeah. And I do remember the sort of temptation of like, I don't know, is it this or that? And that person is right there and I can see their answers. So I can like appreciate the temptation. but I also really respect the approach here.

Oh, he also, a fun detail is that he also labeled all of the versions of the test form B so that if you did glance over at your, you know, your peer next door's paper test, you'd see like, oh, that says form B and mine says form B. So we must have the same version. He's really going for it. he is like, he's like turning the knife, you know, after it goes in. So his post is deleted, but because I can see who the O.P. is. I'm looking through his, his other post history. Frustrated, angry teacher posting history. Yeah. I mean, he's in a lot of,

he's in a lot of teaching subreddits and a lot of gun subredits. But on the teaching note, He had commented on someone's post in the teacher's subreddit. That post was Hot Take, using AI to help with lesson planning doesn't make you a bad teacher. And my O.P. comments on that post to say, I had a post in another sub where I described using chat GPT to make different versions of a test I wrote years earlier, where the multiple choice options were shuffled for each question, because I was tired of people copying their neighbors multiple choice quizzes. Most people agreed I was using AI for a good purpose, almost 80,000 upvotes in one day,

but I was stunned by how many people accused me of being a hypocrite for using AI to prevent cheating. They don't understand that I was using a tool for one of its intended purposes and was not doing anything unethical. They just assume all use of AI is cheating, when in reality it offers so many wonderful advantages to educators, when used correctly. I've used it to refine rubrics that focus on specific learning targets,

to suggest creative project ideas that allow students to demonstrate mastery of different skills. I was especially disappointed by how many teachers called me lazy or dishonest for utilizing AI, even though it didn't write anything original for me. I didn't think I described anything groundbreaking and know of multiple similar methods that teachers have used for ages.

But people were so fixated on the fact I used AI that what I thought was a mildly amusing story turned into a massive debate about AI's place in education. I deleted the post because it was overwhelming and exhausting to have my phone going off constantly. I'm kind of like on this teacher's side when it comes to the...

Look, you and I have talked a lot about this. I hold great skepticism for what is currently being referred to is artificial intelligence's ability to have a positive impact on a deeply flawed society that I live in, right? And also, I don't love the Luddite vibes of people just like piling on when someone uses it in a way that might not just simply be bad. And also this is something that AI, I think, can do quite capably if you're feeding it the information correctly where he has written the questions. AI is just randomly generating different ways of ordering the potential answers. And that seems just kind of brilliant.

It was interesting to me that he talked about the barrage of negative comments. I mostly saw other teachers jumping in to say, that's genius man. Or just other people who we were all students at one point. Some still are saying like, wow, that's really smart. You know, you definitely would have caught some people in my science class back in whatever year. Someone said, next time, keep the choices the same but change the questions. So like keep the answers the same, but put the questions to the actual. quiz in a different order, which, you know, chat GPT could also do, could also spit out different

for, or, you know, insert AI tool of choice could also like make, who knows, maybe like 84 different versions of, of the quiz next time, which might make grading a little bit more time consuming if you're still hand grading it the way that this particular teacher did. So are you, are you like team teach? Yeah. In this instance, I am. Team Teach. Team Teach. Yeah. Keep it up, Teach.

This was a delicious dive into all things petty, all things revenge, all things petty revenge. Yeah. Ain't that the truth? Yeah. Please send us your pettiness. We're here to receive it. Please, please. If you've got more wedding ridiculous to make me feel like maybe that story really is real,

lay it on me. By the way, that wedding story I told you earlier in the episode, yeah, no. We don't know if it's real. And I did check to see if the post got updated or if the poster, the OP, updated in another thread. And the answer is no. So we don't know if the wedding happened. We don't know if it went off with a hitch or if there was just a hitch. You know what I mean?

Yes, I do. And so, you know, it's just, it's one of those stories that could be real, could be fake, but we can relate a little bit sometimes, maybe. This episode was produced by Frannie Monaghan with help from Grace Tatter. It was co-hosted by Ben Zilla. And me, Amory... Teach. Amory Teach.

Teacher Sievertson. Severson. Teachertson. It was mixed and sound designed by Emily Jankowski and edited by Meg Kramer. The rest of our team is Grace Tatter, Dean Russell, our production manager, Paul Vicus, and our managing producer, Summaid at Josie, Josie, Josie, Josie. Endless thread is a show about the blurred lines between petty weddings and sneaky teachers. If you have an untold history and unsolved mystery, or another wild-ass story from the internet you want us to tell, you can hit us up.

Endless thread at WB-B-U-R dot-O-R-G. G, G, G, G.