Overheard conversation at a play

I went to a play last Saturday. While waiting for it to start, the women behind me gabbed...or rather, one gabbed, and the other made sympathetic noises. The loud woman somehow managed to include her job title in every sentence ("As a professor at Cal State Northridge, I know all about..."). She complained about how stupid her students were...especially an old man of 66 who'd decided to go back to college.

"I can't imagine why. I can't flunk him. College professors can't flunk anyone nowadays. Especially an old man. So, you know what I do instead...I give him the exact same grade every time: adequate." She snickered. "When you consistently mark someone adequate, believe me, college professors know just what that means."

Her friend repeated, "Adequate! He's merely adequate!" as if it were an especially funny punchline.

Just then, a man representing the theater came onto the stage (which was actually the floor). "We invite you all to join our mailing list, or even better, our email list. We're using email much more than snail mail nowadays."

The woman behind me stage-whispered, "Because it's cheaper." She seemed miffed that this man had interrupted her and wanted to put him in his place.