Ryan writes: I was in a crowded grocery store when I heard a person call out, “Marco!” to their child. I instinctively responded, “Polo!” The person seemed annoyed and sarcastically replied, “Like we’ve never heard that one before,” then walked away, presumably to find their child. I was only trying to bring joy into the world!
I’m sitting in a busy coffee shop as I write this. While I was contemplating your case, a woman asked if she could take the seat across from me. Sensing an opportunity, I said, “Absolutely not!” Ha-ha! Boy, did that bring down the house! It didn’t. Because even though I immediately smiled and said, “Of course you may,” it was still confusing and destabilizing to a person who was, after all, just trying to go about her morning. Now imagine how she would feel if her son was missing in a grocery store! Anyway, as soon as another seat opened up, she got away from me as quickly as possible — as will others in your life, until you learn the world is not your improv stage.
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