Anytime someone has genuinely said a kind thing to me has been such a massive boost.
That's really it.
this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
43 points (97.8% liked)
Ask Lemmy
35927 readers
1240 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I'd guess your degree was in ancient history right?
I'm proud of you for promoting a genuine historical viewpoint of the human experience, and promoting that as a way to look toward the potential future. It's a very legitimate and important perspective to have in life, and you better us all by trying to keep it up.
I'm actually in tears. Its been such a bad day home.
Thank you.
I operate as pretty much a one man show most times.
Even as I try to get people interested in international efforts, domestic politics, or just volunteerism, it's often like beating a dead horse so to speak. Most are just uninterested, don't commit, or outright leave my hanging.
Every once in a while though someone does, even simply sharing their perspective or thoughts on how to approach a given plan, proposal, policy. Small conversations can really help when I often have to try to juggle five hats, all while only having my own background to use.
A stranger helped me carry something into a store. And saved me the embarrassment of taking it in a few steps at a time. I was really struggling with it... It wasn’t something most people would struggle with but…yeah. They were very kind to do so. I will probably think about that for a long time.
My managers at work offered me to start early yesterday and the day before.
I accepted both times. Even though today I called off, I knew I needed what extra time I could get in to help even some of the odds knowing I've got no PPTO to cover the time off and taking largely a hit on my next paycheck. My second paycheck is going to be the fun/necessary paycheck for the holidays too.
Someone suggested I get a book called "Discover what You Are Best At."
I always thought I just hated working; the book showed me that there were a lot of jobs I'd never considered trying for. I picked out one course and got a good career out of it.
I can't remember who it was who told me, so I'm sure they never thought of me again
I was working at a call center, and applied to become a supervisor, I didn't get the position.
My supervisor at the time gave me some offhand feedback about how I was approaching other people and coming off as too cocky because I was really really good at my current role, I was #1 out of over 1000 agents on my call metrics.
Not sure if it was just the right person, the right time, the right method of delivery, whatever, but it finally clicked for me. That one piece feedback changed my whole personality and has given me so much opportunity over the last 20 years.
I got the supervisor position the next time I applied.
Edit: Just wanted to add that teenagers are stupid, including myself.
A good manager can really reset you if you've built that trust in ways they can't even fathom.
I completely feel this. I had one that just said "I think you're funny, you're very sarcastic and it's funny, but no one else here understands it and so they think you're an asshole". Also flipped me around, that while I thought I was constantly joking that these people are not my friend group and did not understand my very dry delivery.
Taught me to test the waters a bit before going full sarcasm, and people like me a lot more thanks to that
I had a very similar situation many years ago. I worked for a public school district for 23 years in the IT dept, and one of the teachers told me about 10 years into working there that he finally has learned how to work with me. When I asked what he meant he said, "First I'm going to ask you for help with something and you're going to tell me no. Then you're going to laugh and say yes." While I obviously thought my variety of snark was funny and not at all irritating for someone who just wants help, it really made me stop and think.
After resigning from that job, I emailed him to thank him because it really changed my attitude on how to respond to people in tickets and calls. He probably didn't think much of it at the time but I hope he understands now how much of an impact he made on me.
I might still be an overly sarcastic fuckwit to my team (who responds in kind), but I've been told my customer service is always some of the best and I'm able to talk them off the edge, whether they're pissed at our organization or if they're in a tech crisis. I feel I'm able to read them much better now and if they get sarcastic, I can return their energy. But otherwise my default is warm responses and keeping calm until we're done with the issue.
This wasn't a single interaction, and I may be mixing up my personal experiences vs what others have told me vs stuff I've seen, but anyway.
Whenever I'm learning from a mentor or watching an instructor, it can be tremendously helpful to see them make a mistake, and more importantly, recover gracefully. This, to me, communicates a number of things.
- Everyone, even professionals, makes mistakes sometimes.
- Don't be afraid to admit when you've made a mistake.
- Don't wallow in your failures but rather learn from them and grow.
The scenario that comes to mind for me is a ham radio license class where someone was demonstrating proper Morse code technique. Mic fright (or key fright) is very common for green hams, and the fear of messing up is especially prevalent when communicating via Morse. Ultimately, the instructor's mistake demonstrated, more or less, that "Hey, relax, this is just a hobby. Nobody's going to die if your fist isn't perfect. Do your best. The guy at the other end is more happy that someone new is learning CW than frustrated by your sloppy sending."
Those people who died centuries (millennia) ago that were kind enough to putdown their ideas and thoughts onto paper (or some other kind of support) just to make sure that I (ok, I and a few other persons too ;)) would be able to read them and benefit from it. I appreciate that. A lot. As their writings helped a lot in becoming the person I am. Which is also why it makes me so sad to realize more and more people will never read a book, they just don't know what they're missing.
On a more mundane level, people being polite is one thing I appreciate a lot too and that I think is really helpful. It's not a big thing, it's saying 'hi', or just being nice to one another, not acting entitled and so on, but to me it means there is still an alternative way of life to this constant and quickly rising hate and anger that is becoming our new normal. Giving me some hope we're not that badly screwed.