I was talking with someone today and realized I did something I do quite often that might be a trait that gets me into trouble: I boldly state my preference for (or against) something.
In this case, it was being tired of classic rock from a lifetime of overexposure. I think I offended the person, but saved it by clarifying that I’m mostly tired that there is a play list of seemingly 100-songs that have been in continual rotation for 50 years.
Anyway, it occurs to me that I’m just stating my preferences and I personally thing that’s fine and normal, but that people get personally offended if you don’t like what they like; which makes no sense to me. It’s like if you don’t like bland food, I’m not going to get offended because I can’t handle anything hotter than black pepper. It doesn’t ultimately mean anything significant.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?
I’m still pretty bad at navigating social situations, so bear that in mind, but I’ve found that there’s a difference between volunteering preferences vs being asked. If a group of people are chatting about all the things that they are doing with AI, then me saying something like “yeah, but AI sucks and it’s worthless, it’s unethical and hallucinates most of the time,” isn’t going to be well received. However, perhaps they’d ask how I’m using AI or such. I could mention that I don’t use AI anymore. Then if they ask me why not, then they’ve requested my honest opinion, and they need to be prepared to hear it. If they push back, then it’s like hey, you asked, did you only want me to tell you what you wanted to hear?
I’ll also say that people that dominate conversations and insult others that don’t agree with them drive me away very quickly, because that’s abusive or bullying behavior, even if they do it with a smile or joke. Other people seem to like that kind of behavior though, because they’re almost always popular for some reason.
I stopped trying to bring up AI at my workplace since it was clear that management had decided it Was Very Important for People To Learn and the organization is nothing but a bunch of perfomative cocksuckers (or, to be gender neutral, providers of oral sex). Personally, I don’t see much application of AI to a social welfare agency, but I know when stating my opinion is just going to alienate me even more. The reality is that learning AI is way to curry favor with management, and speaking against AI is a way for people to mark you as a troublemaker.
Anyway, I quit on Sunday.