If you pretend to read from a book, people will take you more seriously

To command the attention of frantic hostages, Hans Gruber doesn't start yelling incoherently or firing guns in the air. Nope, he opens some random book and pretends to read.

If you don't know how to read, this would be an awesome thing to do all the time. People would take you much more seriously. Lets say you are illiterate, lonely, fat, hungry, wearing sweatpants and going to KFC. If you pretend to read from a book when you order the Family Feast with extra slaw, the KFC guy will definitely respect you more. He will probably think you are a doctor or a professor.