When I worked in sales, it was in our training to try to use the customers’ name once you found it. It was supposed to establish a rapport, but it always felt forced and manipulative to me.

I bet it was one of those things where there was a study or focus group that suggested it increased sales or customer satisfaction. I also bet it’s one of those old business stories that hearkens back to the 60’s, or the sample size was tiny, or it was some CEO spouting bullshit that was taken as fact. My point being that it’s one of those oft-repeated sales techniques that may not be based in reality.

Even if it’s a real thing and statistically more people either like it or don’t notice it: I always found it super alienating and I know I’m not alone in that opinion. When I notice someone using too many of these little psychological tricks, I’ve gone to shop elsewhere because I just don’t trust those people.

When I call into a call center, I try to close the conversation by repeating your name. Like “Thanks early_riser, you were a big help today.” I hate the phone, so I probably don’t actually want to talk to you again (no offense), but somehow that feels more human to me.

Then again, I’m also paranoid that I misheard your name at the start of the conversation. I hope you don’t take it too personally if I call you Thagomizer because it sounds similar.

Tasty, Yummy, Mealy, Spicy, Chewy, Zesty, and Doc

There’s a joke in here about an amphibious assault

I hope to die in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming, like his passengers

If you truly don’t care, then you won’t care if it’s socially acceptable.

I also enjoy the kiwi skin. Witnesses are almost universally disgusted and some are ready to throw hands.

Pacing is definitely good for regulating your thoughts. I like to pace when reasoning through a difficult problem, and it also helps relieve some anxiety.

Speaking of anxiety, watching me pace makes my wife anxious. I understand that, sometimes pacing comes from a place of distress. Other times it’s just a way of keeping the body active while the mind is busy. It’s often subconscious, but when I catch myself doing it, I’ll try to pace in another room so I don’t bother anyone.

I remember visiting a really shitty zoo when I was a kid. There was an exhibit with a leopard who spent the whole time pacing along one side of their enclosure. There was a rut worn into the ground that must have been a few inches deep where it passed. I wonder how many thousand times it made the trip from one side to the other - it wasn’t very far. That makes me anxious.

A physiotherapist might be able to work with you on some stretches or exercises to relieve pain and strengthen your muscles so they don’t wear out. If it’s documented by your doctor, you might get better coverage under medicare /insurance / worker’s comp / etc. The advantage of going through a physiotherapist is that they’ll be able to tell you if you’re doing something wrong that will worsen your outcome.

I do a few stretches that seem to help me when I flare up. The most effective is when you place your hands palm together in front of your chest like you’re praying 🙏 and then slowly rotate them so that your fingers point towards the ground. I can definitely feel the tension, and if it hurts like a bastard then don’t do it. But stretching for a few minutes a few times each day makes a big difference personally.

All Quiet on the Western Front gave me a ton of medical anxiety. I already knew war is hell, but the hospital somehow seemed worse. Being killed sucks, sure, but being wounded is something you have to live with. Not to mention most people are more likely to end up in the hospital than on the the front.

There’s a bit I thought was amusing though. The protagonist is a volunteer soldier, and I think by the time he’s been wounded he’s already had to kill someone and moved on from it. Anyway, he’s on the hospital train and he’s got to go to the bathroom but he can’t get up. He’s completely mortified to ask the nurse for help, who incidentally thinks it’s no big deal. The killer was too embarrassed to go pee-pee, and that’s somehow extremely relatable.

I haven’t read it, but I played the game. Harlan Ellison provided the voice for AM.

Holy fuck, what a bleak story. It’s probably worth a read.

It’s cheaper than therapy.

Plus, if you can afford therapy, they’ll recommend you keep a journal anyway.

Voila

I like this better than your original quote. As another commenter said, “fixing the devil” can be used as a justification for a victim to stay with their abuser.

Turning hell into heaven can be taken more positively. We’re all products of our environment, but I also think that with effort we can change our environment. But it sure as hell isn’t always easy.

Enby here: I’m neither a transman nor a transwoman, but trans issues affect me.

“Trans” can be a pretty large umbrella. When you get into specifics, I’m not so sure that I’m trans. But I am part of the trans community. Not trans, but also trans. Schrodinger’s trans person.

Consider someone who’s agender. They’d be non-binary, but they also aren’t transitioning to any gender. Ask the GOP which bathroom to use and you can watch their head explode.

If they aren’t already, those summaries will soon just be ads of their own

Oh yeah, like being an adult is easy

I’ve been considering leaving this community anyway because the mods have been dragging their feet on this issue. But it’s a new mod team finding their feet, and a considered approach takes time, so I give the benefit of the doubt.

Encouraging someone to leave the community for expressing dissatisfaction that the community allows a nazi to use the platform might be a bigger nazi problem than banning nazis would be.

I woke up this morning and there’s three Stonetosses back to back in my feed.

If we could go ahead and throw them on the ban list, that would be pretty groovy

On the wings of a dream so far beyond reality

All alone in desperation, now the time is gone

Lost inside you’ll never find

Lost within my own mind

Day after day this misery must go on

So far away we wait for the day

For the lives all so wasted and gone

We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the fire and flames we carry on

Through the Fire and Flames, Dragonforce. Most people know it for having five guitar solos, but the lyrics speak to me

The action wasn’t evil, just the laughter. Kind of like the comic we’re discussing.