• theangryseal@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I have worked a front facing customer service job in 7 locations over 80 miles of road for 24 years. I have had people walk up to me and say, “This is my best friend angryseal! He helped me get through my divorce with Steve.” and I have no clue who they are. My wife hates going shopping with me because people are running up and giving me hugs everywhere we go and then keeping me still talking for an hour.

      It’s a very poor area for the most part and I’ve talked a lot of people through a lot of shit over the years, just standing there like a bartender in a Bible Belt area with no bars. I guess it makes sense that some people have developed friendly and fond feelings for me. It’s just been so many people that I can’t keep up with them all. I’m an extreme introvert with the personality and friendliness of an extreme extrovert, so that has made life exhausting for me at times, but I love people and care what they’re going through.

      I’ve had people pop in during hard times in their lives and then come by daily to talk for hours for a few months. I guess I’m just good at coming up with what folks need to hear in those times.

      There’s a guy who promises me that he’s going to come to town and shoot me one day because I convinced his wife it was ok to leave when he blacked her entire face. He likes to periodically remind me, “When I come back down there I’m gonna kill you bud. You took everything from me. My wife got on drugs because of you. She’d still be sober if she’d stayed with me.” I remind him each time that his wife left because he blacked her face and that she wouldn’t have left and ended up on drugs if he hadn’t, you know, blacked her face. I always wish him well and hope he doesn’t kill me one day.

      I can’t imagine having a front facing job where the entire country knows who you are, and half of them love you religiously.

      I can’t stand Donald Trump, but I’d be in a mental hospital right now if I were him. Same goes for any world leader I guess. I can’t imagine remembering anyone outside of my family in that situation.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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        5 months ago

        That’s honestly a pretty fair point. I’ve done the same type of thing during times in my life when I interacted with a ton of different people.

        Side note, I have heard that part of what’s required of a person for them to have success in politics (at least during the pre-Fox-News era; IDK if this still holds true in today’s wholly blow-dried artificial electoral landscape) was this: You have to actually care about the people you meet. Like on this unnatural level; to want to get to know them, remember their kids and their favorite sports teams, be excited to talk with them and remember the connection you had with them even if it’s been years since you’ve seen them. And you can’t fake it. It has to be just genuinely because you’re that type of person.

        John Mulaney told a story about how his mom went to school with Bill Clinton, and met him one time and interacted with him, and then went up to shake his hand at a campaign event literal decades later when he was running for president, and he instantly said, “Hi, Joan! Good to see you” etc etc something like that.

        Like I said, to like an unnatural level

    • whyNotSquirrel
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      5 months ago

      Yeah but hopefully there are electric cars now so you don’t have to suffer from a shark attack, all thanks to MIT, smart people! And nobody ever asked!

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I wish MIT would just, once, put out some kind of “YEAH HE KEEPS SAYING OUR NAME BUT WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BUFFOON”