0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 30 Dec 2023 \ parent \ on: A request for non-correlated inputs mostly_harmless
This reminds me of a situation I had recently with friends. We were talking about finances and someone said "As long as you don't put it all into bitcoin it should be fine." He laughed, all others laughed and I laughed, it was fun. Then I said: "I am laughing as if I didn't do exactly that." Then silence for a few seconds. Then someone brought up a different topic and the conversation continued to flow naturally. So it wasn't a big deal.
This experience made me a bit more open regarding being open with what I think, even if it's controversial or confrontational. You don't have to go all the way immediately. Just "dip your toes in the water" first and check how people react.
However, since this post, I would even say that I like to be confrontational now. It's funny to see how some people react. It became kind of a sport for me to say or do something that people don't expect.
For example, a few days ago, I walked into a small store that sells used phones and is probably run by a single person.
That single person in the store however seemed to ignore me. He didn't look up when I came in (at least I didn't notice) from his apparently very important call with someone. It was a language I didn't understand so I couldn't even tell if this was a call related to business or just a private call. It seemed more like a private call for me though.
I patiently waited in front of him, constantly looking at the phone I wanted to ask him about because there was no price tag on it. For me, it must have been obvious that I am waiting to ask him something. But he kept ignoring me. I expected that he would put the other person on hold for at least a moment so I can ask my question and he can give me his answer and then he can continue to ignore me as long as he wants. But he didn't. Then I looked at my phone (making sure he could see this if he would pay attention) as if I am only impatiently looking at the clock. But I started a timer (he didn't necessarily saw this). I kept looking at the clock ticking my life away for another 45 seconds of no reaction from him. I think I was already in the store for at least 2-3 minutes, waiting for him to acknowledge me. Then I turned around and left.
I noticed from the corner of my eye while I was turning around how he suddenly looked up. But I was already out of the store - as mentioned, it was a small store. All I thought was:
I hope he got the message. But I will probably never know since I don't intend to go there again.
As you can see, I just need to make sure I don't become an asshole with my newfound confrontational nature, lol