All Your Problems Are Self-Inflicted

This is how I imagine the conversation going. I tell you you are no longer allowed to complain. And then, in agonizing detail, I explain to you point-by-point how all of your problems are self-inflicted. I imagine that you are rendered mute and immobile for some reason because otherwise I wouldn't be able to get through the whole list I have prepared. Or perhaps time itself is warped in some way because in my mind we are in a public place and the world around us stands still as I speak. Just so you understand how much I have thought about this.

- For reasons that are unclear to me you went to college for two years to attain a useless major that you decided to abandon in favor of going to college for another four years to attain a possibly more useless major (so useless that even the internet is vague in describing what it is exactly). As a result of these decisions you have a fair amount of debt you must now repay. You complain about your debt even though it's much less than what most people are working on repaying.

- You cannot attain a job having to do with your major. You complain about this even though you seem to be aware that your major was 'not as practical as other majors' you could have chosen.

- You have a lot of bills to pay every month because you choose to live alone in a one bedroom apartment. You complain about this despite the fact that you are aware a one bedroom apartment is nearly as expensive as a two bedroom apartment.

- As a result of your decision to live alone and your inability to get a well-paying job in spite of your college degree you have to work around sixty hours a week at two menial jobs in order to make enough money to pay for your rent and such. You complain about this profusely rather than doing anything to change the situation you're in.

- You often have to get up early in the morning. This is a direct result of your having to work but you complain about it regardless.

- You do not seem to like your boss. You complain to me about this person even though I do not know them and likely the only reason you dislike them is because they're your boss.

- Your work schedule is worthy of complaint and having to work 'doubles' (as in, a shift at one job and then a shift at another even though this may only account for ten hours of work in a day) is something you bring up every time they happen. You complain about this though if you did things differently you wouldn't have to work as much.

- You rarely get whole days off never mind multiple whole days in a row. This, again, is a direct result of the fact that you work two jobs and you still feel the need to complain about it whenever possible.

- You are often tired. You complain about this constantly though it is an obvious result of how much you work.

- Any physical ailment no matter how minor is worth complaining about at least twenty times a day for a week. You once complained about a tiny superficial cut to one of your fingers for no less than a week and insisted on giving me the play-by-play action for how it happened originally and how the healing had progressed in the meantime each time I saw you during this period.

- Any physical ailment worth complaining about is worth bringing up again long after it happened. You complain about injuries to your person long after they occur even though it should be obvious that a healed injury is not worthy of sympathy.

- You once complained to me that someone else we know does not like you. It turns out that this is because you never have anything new to talk about since the vast majority of your choice topics of conversation revolve around creating a giant pity-party for yourself.

I am willing to give you the benefit of a doubt. It is theoretically possible that you were somehow unaware that other people's live suck too and that often other people's lives suck through no fault of their own. However, now that you know this I am going to have to require that you no longer complain around me because it does not stir any kind of empathy in me- just irritation.

Empathy for Automatic Doors

            I remember this one xkcd comic about automatic doors and feeling like the comic really resonated with me because I had always felt this way. Like I was inconveniencing the door by making it open when I didn't even actually want to come in and visit.
            I now find myself in a job where I walk by a Staples almost every time I work. After walking by on several occasions and feeling pretty bad because I kept making the door open when I didn't actually want to go inside I started trying to see how far away from the door I had to get before I was out of range. Before the door would know that I wasn't coming by for a visit and wouldn't whisk open hopefully. It turned out that if I walked just to the outer side of the inner segment of the sidewalk and I didn't have anything in the hand on the inside I could easily walk past without making the door open.
            I was pretty satisfied with walking by far enough away that I didn't make the door open. Until I saw that many times people ahead of me would needlessly cause the sliding door to whistfully trundle open, inviting them in, only to reluctantly close when the person had passed. And I still felt bad for the automatic door because even though I didn't taunt it and make it open when I wasn't going in I never actually went in. So when I started selling things online and I need bubble envelopes and packing tape I had a good excuse to go into Staples and make the automatic door feel like it had fulfilled its purpose.
            Alright automatic door-makers, I'm on to you. You made me feel sympathetic toward the door so much that I actually spent money at Staples instead of buying online. I promise I'll stop and shop when I walk by an automatic door if you make them stop sounding so sad when they operate.