Earlier quoted context omitted.
A man needs a maid
People say that when they walk in to my house. Why
Do you look like Neil Young?
An ode to that “coffee friend”
231–240 of 264 posts
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#232As somebody who has been “that coffee friend” and received far too many coffee-related gifts for years (including many pounds of stale, burnt beans), I wish people wouldn’t do this. If I’m super into topic X and you’re not, there’s a good chance whatever you get will either not be of interest (e.g. bad beans) or just redundant (I can only use so many mugs or grinders). Obviously the thought is always appreciated, and…
On the subreddit for Magic The Gathering, people unfamiliar with Magic regularly ask what to buy someone who into Magic as a surprise gift. The top voted answers tend to be gift cards to their local game shop. I think this applies to all of "those X friends". The thought is always there from the giver and the receiver gets to pick out what they want from their local shop.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had the opposite experience a lot: I give a fancy niche thing, and get confused looks because they don't understand its value. Then again much of my family is terrible at graciously receiving gifts!
Wait, are "confused looks" bad? I'd love to get a confusing gift.
When you go out of your way to get a special gift and the response is "thanks ... I guess", that's not really the desired outcome.
A confusing gift sounds like fun, but an unwanted gift not so much.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's most of the benefit of putting "Reddit" at the end of a Google search for an esoteric subject. I love when someone has outrageously strong opinions on things I know very little about.
And it works fine as long as they are not just parroting some strong opinnions to feel part of the group. But those reddit threads often do include some research and references, so one has a jumping off point for one's own search with some keywords.
Absolutely, it's easy to think you're dealing with knowledge only to find out it was an uninformed yet strong opinion. It's also incredibly easy to game, so there's no way that'll last forever.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#235I thing I decided late in life is that being really into things is cool. Something I'm rather sad about is that highschool kinda beat that attitude out of me. I was a classic nerd, including all the bad attributes that label comes with, but also one really good one: I was really into a number of things. But I learned from hard experience that being super into stuff was lame - being disinterested and too cool for stuf…
> Even into adulthood, I occasionally find myself making fun of people for being into specific things. Yesterday I learned that there's an entire subreddit, dedicated to making fun of programmers. People take snippets of social media posts by programmers, and post them out of context (without links to the context), and everyone takes turns, making fun of the snippet. That looks like a lot of fun... Hey, whatever crea…
What is the subreddit?
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. I hate getting books as gifts because I am lucky about the editions I buy nowadays. People used to gift me books until I asked them not to. I'd prefer it if someone asked me what I wanted and got me specifically that, unless, of course, they made me handmade cards or bookmarks.
> This. I hate getting books as gifts because I am lucky Did you mean picky here? ] about the editions I buy nowadays. The mental image of you being annoyed because you just know that while your friends did their best, the universe would have conspired to put a really pristine first-edition there is pretty funny.
haha yes. Picky. I no longer buy paperbacks and I abhor movie tie in covers. I prefer hardcovers and illustrated editions as well.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. I hate getting books as gifts because I am lucky about the editions I buy nowadays. People used to gift me books until I asked them not to. I'd prefer it if someone asked me what I wanted and got me specifically that, unless, of course, they made me handmade cards or bookmarks.
People buy you books because they think you might enjoy the words on the pages, not because they think the book will dignify your meticulous collection.
I'm sorry if that made me come across as an asshole. I never ever ever throw away things given by someone else so I don't like receiving books unless I had them (even the specific version on my wishlist) because I'm trying to control how large my collection grows. I've sold off so many books I bought in my younger days, to make space for others.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even into adulthood, I occasionally find myself making fun of people for being into specific things. Yesterday I learned that there's an entire subreddit, dedicated to making fun of programmers. People take snippets of social media posts by programmers, and post them out of context (without links to the context), and everyone takes turns, making fun of the snippet. That looks like a lot of fun... Hey, whatever crea…
What is the subreddit?
I dunno. Something like “programming circle jerk,” or something. I suspect there’s hundreds of these types of things out there.
I’d also suggest that participating in these fora could have … adverse … effects on one’s future career prospects. I can assure you that many HR background checking companies scrape social media, and are getting fairly good at “deanonymizing” posters.
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is untrue in a couple of ways. Firstly, people like being considered easy to buy for and don't resent it. Secondly, people grow into whatever they end up with a collection of. Thirdly, Americans don't use the word "dreadful".
people who write for The New Yorker definitely do use the word dreadful. I am impossible to buy for and I'm happy that way; I just tell people they don't need to get me anything.
we wouldn’t want to be so gauche to say it tho
Re: An ode to that “coffee friend”
#240I thing I decided late in life is that being really into things is cool. Something I'm rather sad about is that highschool kinda beat that attitude out of me. I was a classic nerd, including all the bad attributes that label comes with, but also one really good one: I was really into a number of things. But I learned from hard experience that being super into stuff was lame - being disinterested and too cool for stuf…
This "too cool for stuff" sounds like US culture. I never experienced that kind of thing in EU. We each had our own friend groups, and didn't really care what the other groups were into. I once heard an artist say (can't remember which one), that they loved playing in Europe, since everyone at a festival is there to have fun. While in US, everyone is there to look cool.
I think it's more generational than anything. Gen X and elder Millennials both shared this attitude when we were younger, but I don't think it applies to our younger counterparts.