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MU Peeves Thread
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I think the length of the response time changes what feels rude to me a lot. In person, rushing past a greeting to tell someone what I want would be rude unless I specifically knew they didn’t give a fuck about a ‘how do you do fellow humans’ ritual.
When the communication is going to be offset by a couple of hours though, sending a message feels a bit to me like leaving a voice-mail or sending an email. I’ll still include pleasantries, but I’ll also try and bring up the context for my message - and it’s for me just as much as it is the other person, because I’m often sending a message to remind myself to do things later, like scheduling follow-up RP.
I also find that I’m more comfortable getting a contextless greeting from someone I know well, mostly because I already have a sense of their communication style and the topics they’re likely to bring to my attention. With someone I’ve talked with less, I’m curious what has them contacting me, so I’m more likely to follow up a message like that with nudging them to get to the reason for the contact, rather than continue casual chatter.
Some of it also is online culture specific, though - I’ve had bad experiences with unfamiliar people messaging me out of the blue with ill intent, so that makes online messages without context something I’m more inherently wary of.
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@Tez said in MU Peeves Thread:
I had to make fucking notes. It does not come naturally to me. I am SO transactional. It was eye-opening for me.
there was a lot about my last Real Job that was complicated and nooot great, but man oh man, a lot of it involved working with people in New York and I loved it so much. it was like a breath of fresh air I didn’t even know I needed that badly. I don’t know how exactly this came to be since I was raised mostly in the Midwest and the South where relational is basically mandatory, looool
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@Alveraxus said in MU Peeves Thread:
@Roz said in MU Peeves Thread:
when someone i don’t know pages “hi” and i say hi back and then they say “how’s it going” i want to scream
This is a personal pet peeve of mine as well, but I think it could be a cultural thing?
I get this all the time on Teams at work with our India based team. They send hi. I have to send hi back. They ask how I am doing, I have to say I am fine, how are you. Then they send all the stuff they need to talk to me about it.
I do not get this from our non-India-based teams. The Americans just start messages with “Do this thing” and skip the foreplay.
You’re talking about an entire business culture that is descended (at least on the English-speaking side of things — who else would say “do the needful”) from Victorian British colonialism. You don’t emerge from that without some…recognizable quirks.
I’ve found that being polite and direct (at least in my time working at HCL and Microsoft) at the first given opportunity, i.e. “how can I help you? I’m engaged in something right now but have a few minutes” tends to be an effective shortcut.
I woke up feeling so good, I think I’d better call in sick/ I need a personal trainer to help me hold my drink
I plan to be spontaneous next time we meet/I’m putting off procrastinating until next week
I’ll get onto it when I give a shit -
@SpaceKhomeini said in MU Peeves Thread:
You’re talking about an entire business culture that is descended (at least on the English-speaking side of things — who else would say “do the needful”) from Victorian British colonialism. You don’t emerge from that without some…recognizable quirks.
I’ve found that being polite and direct (at least in my time working at HCL and Microsoft) at the first given opportunity, i.e. “how can I help you? I’m engaged in something right now but have a few minutes” tends to be an effective shortcut.
Oh, I know. Honestly, I find it very pleasant generally speaking, and really enjoy working with my non-US colleagues (other than scheduling meetings during cross-over timezones). I just find it amusing to contrast that with the more, shall we say, assertive and abrupt nature of people from Philly and surrounding areas.
I think that LinkedIn article was super interesting, and it’s definitely reframed a bit of how I think.
And, I have to say - I have grown accustomed to “doing the needful”, and it just warms my heart now. I have no idea how that became the idiom, but it just works for me.
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@Alveraxus said in MU Peeves Thread:
I have no idea how that became the idiom, but it just works for me.
It’s an old English idiom, and was in common use even in the United States for a time. ‘Needful’ has had many meanings as it evolved, though the meaning of “what is necessary or urgent” can be traced back to the 14th century.
So, very technically, it’s a perfectly formed English sentence that says precisely what it means, “do what is necessary or urgent.” It just sounds odd to native Western English speakers because it isn’t in common use.
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@SpaceKhomeini said in MU Peeves Thread:
I’ve found that being polite and direct (at least in my time working at HCL and Microsoft) at the first given opportunity, i.e. “how can I help you? I’m engaged in something right now but have a few minutes” tends to be an effective shortcut.
That approach turns the whole thing on its head, which is why it’s so effective. You have to be polite at all times - but if the other party only has a few minutes, it becomes more polite to get to the point so they can go do the needful.
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This reminds me of a cartoon thing I once saw called “What British people say Vs what they mean”, which had the example of…
“Oh, by the way…” which actually means “The primary purpose of this conversation is…”
Which, as a British person, I can say is remarkably accurate. It is definitely seen as rude here to come straight into a conversation wanting something without a little small talk first.
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@Pacha That’s interesting. I personally can appreciate someone showing politeness before asking for something, but it’s easy for that to come off as an attempt to butter me up. I think I’d generally prefer someone come to the point: at least that way, there’s no chance I’ll feel lied to about your intentions.
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My pro strat: I just never try to page strangers. They’re scary!
That’s only half joking. The rare times I do want (and work up the courage) to contact a stranger for any reason it won’t be for something same-day. I’ll wait until they’re idle or offline and then contact them and like pitch a scene or a hook or whatever it might be, which kinda ensures the ‘leaving a message’ context so (hopefully) nobody’s going to offended by the lack of preceding small talk.
ETA: And then the 5 hour idle stranger immediately replies with “Sure do you wanna RP now?” and I panic and say “Oh no I was just about to log off but we should talk about this tomorrow bye!” <_<
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It’s an insane struggle to find played-bys, art or actor, who can believably represent normal fucking people who aren’t megahot glamour models.
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@Kestrel DOWN WITH PLAYED-BYS
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if someone’s found my missing mojo, could you please return it? It’s been gone a really long time. I am peeved that I have all these ideas to write stuff and then the second I sit down to actually do it I’m like “eh” and do something else entirely.
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@bear_necessities said in MU Peeves Thread:
if someone’s found my missing mojo, could you please return it? It’s been gone a really long time. I am peeved that I have all these ideas to write stuff and then the second I sit down to actually do it I’m like “eh” and do something else entirely.
#WatchMojo!
We're all mad here.
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@Jenn said in MU Peeves Thread:
@bear_necessities said in MU Peeves Thread:
if someone’s found my missing mojo, could you please return it? It’s been gone a really long time. I am peeved that I have all these ideas to write stuff and then the second I sit down to actually do it I’m like “eh” and do something else entirely.
#WatchMojo!
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@bear_necessities said in MU Peeves Thread:
if someone’s found my missing mojo, could you please return it? It’s been gone a really long time. I am peeved that I have all these ideas to write stuff and then the second I sit down to actually do it I’m like “eh” and do something else entirely.
I have the opposite problem. I’ve had several invitations to games since Arx closed. But in one instance, like, five people invited me to the same game all at once, including a friend of mine that I haven’t been on the same game with in a decade. I am so excited…
And I’ve got nothing. Literally nothing. My brain refuses to crap out even half a character idea and is instead over here going, “Aria! ARIA. You should build an Old Gods of Appalachia game and also this deranged dystopian mecha gladiator game I keep feeding you original theme for! Two games. Build two games! That is something that is entirely reasonable for you to do instead of having fun times with your friends.”
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@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:
deranged dystopian mecha gladiator game
omg is it Robot Jox? pls tell me it’s Robot Jox
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@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:
build an Old Gods of Appalachia game and also this deranged dystopian mecha gladiator game
I want these two disparate concepts in the same game.
One game.
Both things.
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@watno said in MU Peeves Thread:
@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:
build an Old Gods of Appalachia game and also this deranged dystopian mecha gladiator game
I want these two disparate concepts in the same game.
One game.
Both things.
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Sorry, @Wizz , but I do not know what Robot Jox is.
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I don’t think even my dipshit brain can concoct a way for it to simultaneously be 1927 in Definitely Not West Virginia with mines full of eldritch horrors and also the year 11989, where the god-executive (forever may he reign) has valiantly led the EternaCorp family for a myriad and each of our beloved customer-citizens has the opportunity to earn the his favor through glorious battle.
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@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:
Sorry, @Wizz , but I do not know what Robot Jox is.
pure 80’s cheeseball flick that I love dearly. it was like the first American mecha, lol.
you’re next, ACHILLLLLEEEEEEEESSSS!
…also, not for nothing but I swear Cthulhu-dieselpunk with mechs and robots and stuff powered by occultism is already a thing? it rings a huge bell for me anyway, might be worth diving into DrivethruRPG for it if it really is appealing!
