501–510 of 510 posts
> For the recipient, a fax is a physical reality. It requires paper. It requires ink. It requires time.
Interesting misconception in 2026.
Of course if you read on, it's clear the story is embellished.
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>>> This is exactly what I do with telemarketer scammers. I have no limit of depravity that I draw from in attempt to offend them. No limits. And exactly for the reasons you describe. Get them to crack and quit the company. >> Have you heard of pig butchering? Sometimes the "scammer" you're talking to is practically a slave that will be beaten if they don't hit their numbers: https://www.wired.com/story/the-red-bull-…
> an innocent person They are absolutely not innocent. They have agency! They decided ruining other people's life is better than whatever the consequences are for themselves. It's only normal that people they target retaliate.
I enjoyed this read, but: > For the recipient, a fax is a physical reality. It requires paper. It requires ink. It requires time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was also digital. > I imagined Karen’s fax machine. It was probably an old, beige beast sitting in the corner of a gray office. It was likely low on paper. It was almost certainly low on patience. I think the rest of the article was also their imagination. > "…
Agreed. This is fiction. A mere 500 pages isn't going to exhaust the toner of a printer installed specifically to recieve faxes all day, every day. And there being an actual printer is even less likely. Even back in 2008, it was almost impossible to find an actual fax machine, even though businesses had fax numbers, they stopped needing machines.
I'm sure he deals with a lot of crap every day and I'm sure there's a grain of truth in this, but it's pure make believe. But it probably made him feel better writing it and he probably gets some clicks and some followers, so in the end it was probably a reasonable tradeoff. But anyone who thinks in 2026 that an office (government, private corp, etc.) has a stupid 9600 baud paper-eating fax machine spitting out pages is not living in the real world.
Under HIPAA requirements emailing personal medical info is a massive no-no. Admittedly, this is for the patient's protection, and of course being blind is not much of a secret... but it's completely understandable that email would be strongly discouraged. Nobody wants to get in trouble for breaking the rules. Honestly, being able to accept a fax is great, although I would think any properly outfitted modern office th…
> Under HIPAA requirements emailing personal medical info is a massive no-no. Doesn’t that only apply to covered entities, which the internet is telling me does not include the Social Security Administration.
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>Yes, some people thrive on talking to a lot of people. For everyone else, it can be exhausting. It's hard to navigate social differences talking to 15+ strangers every hour for 8 hours a day. Okay. It's a job. I know choices are slim, but "its hard for my mental state" has never been a satisfactory excuse to further displease customers. >So either I would have to lie and say "wow, that must be so frustrating", which…
This is missing the forest for the trees. You are ignoring the wider corpus of the individual's experiences in favor of a single negative interaction, and then using that single interaction, isolated from all their other experiences, to judge the entirety of their character. > Okay. It's a job. I know choices are slim, but "its hard for my mental state" has never been a satisfactory excuse to further displease custom…
Empathy is caring for your fellow person and internalizing that to advance causes that benefit us all.
But empathy can fall into the paradox of tolerance as well. You can't empathize with the orange man who wants to see you out of the country and your kid on an island. Anyone who is a drag on the cause can't be carried, because their mindset is to drag you backwards, if not outright eliminate you.
Those are the two aspects I balance in my mind. I try to give basic respect to anyone I meet and run into, but there are some individuals you need to cut out if you want to achieve your goals.
>I want people to stop doing the thing where they only empathize with the person most like them and instead try to feel what it's like to be like the person who is least like them.
Sure. Already doing it. If anything I probably relate a lot more to Karen. miserable office job I hate making not enough money and stuck in a horrible system with little advancement, and increasingly little control over my life. Outside of "we like tech" and "we met annoying people", I probably don't relate much with the author.
The only difference between me and karen is that I've learned to hold my tongue and not take my frustrations out on others. It kind of helps when the clients are children; there's no optics win for yelling at a kid for me. The kids will simply double down or break down, boss will reprimand me, the parents will reprimand me. If that's my consequences for these actions, what's there to empathize here with Karen?
I'm not mad "at" Karen. I'm mad at the wider system that creates Karens as they are put in, chewed, and spit out. I do want better for all of us, but I also don't have the professional capacity to help people like Karen along the way. Odds are they will also actively drag the cause for all of us down. I can't save everyone.
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Absolutely agree. Also, the kind of Karens described in the post usually enjoy their position and the meager power they hold over other humans. They need to get bitten sometimes.
> Also, the kind of Karens described in the post usually enjoy their position and the meager power they hold over other humans. Do you have a citation for that or is that just an idea of a villain you've invented in your head? Karen doesn't hold any power whatsoever over anyone. Karen is a low level employee who has to answer the phones all day. She doesn't decide who gets benefits or not. She didn't create the Conti…
We're at war with bureaucracy and the front line is, well, the front line.
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A few thoughts about the world this situation exists in: 1. Whenever I am dealing with a problem, I always try to say to the person helping me "I know you are not the person responsible for my issue." My goal is to help them not feel that my frustration is directed at them. 2. Government is a special area, especially when it comes to benefits, because a lot of regulations are in place because some random politician g…
> I always try to say to the person helping me "I know you are not the person responsible for my issue." This simple sentence that shows empathy to the person on the other side of the line is so profound. In a single breath you let the other person be heard, be seen, and appreciated. At the worst, it makes you stand out amongst all the abusive asshats they interact with day to day. It makes them want to help you. I'v…
Karen woke up this morning in her run down, rented flat. She briefly looks at the collections letter that showed up yesterday due to an unaffordable repair she had to pay for on her credit card. Another letter from her ex-partner's lawyer. As she rushes out the door (she spilled coffee on her one nice sweater, her favorite) her mom flashes through her mind... "What about mum?". She arrives at the office. It is an opp…
Oh boy. I’m dealing with IRS right now to get an EIN for an LLC. They won’t give an EIN over online form. Must be faxed or physically mailed. They say 3-5 days. Been weeks. I pay $5/week to hold onto a fax number. So Trump spending hundreds of billions on blowing up kids’ schools in Iran and cutting funding from IRS. Why does it take weeks to start a business in 2026 and get a bank account. Just absurd.
Hmm the online EIN form will give you an EIN instantly unless you don't have an ITIN or you are incorporated outside the US, in which case you would have to do it offline. https://sa.www4.irs.gov/applyein/ I remember using it and worrying about losing the EIN at the last step, so I saved the document several times and printed it several times too.
Their fax machine doesn’t always work. No way to email.
One must go through snail mail and it takes months to get an EIN.
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I see this type of an argumentation very often and I strongly disagree. You're removing all responsibility from an actor that is a part of a bigger thing. Imagine if you slapped someone on his hand for doing something wrong, and he or someone else argued what you did is wrong because it wasn't that hand that has offended. I'm an antitheist but the Bible (gospels) put it well "The student is not above his master" [tra…
This is exactly what I do with telemarketer scammers. I have no limit of depravity that I draw from in attempt to offend them. No limits. And exactly for the reasons you describe. Get them to crack and quit the company.