Screaming Agony

Oh No, I can’t listen to… [checks notes]… [checks notes again]… “Pink”?

Look, you could open literally any book about pre-renaissance history, or I could just summarize the first 200,000 years of humanity for you: it fucking sucked. The three most accurate words to describe the life of anybody who wasn't born into the aristocracy were nasty, brutish, and short.

the workers get PAID

there is no money in communism, because there is no private ownership, and all things are shared equally.

You can't exactly say 'oh no it's communism it's just not communism as set as the ideal'... (well, no, it's pretty fucking common for communists to claim that but only until they hit the 'it's not REAL communism REAL communism has never been tried!) but no, again, it doesn't actually COUNT.

See if there is profits, there are the means to buy the methods OF production. The capitalists are NOT locked out of the system. The worker can save up until they can buy capital, and then use that to get an advantage over others.

Let alone the whole fact that if the workers own the business, then any group of workers can own more material than other groups of workers, and thus have more capital and profits.

Which ALSO means it's not actually fucking communism, it's a rebranded socialism. Because there ARE no profits under communism, everything is owned collectively and there is no 'profit' to be had.

If the justification for always defining communism as never having failed by claiming that unless it's achieved completely it's never been started, then I am going to hold people to those definitions.

Look, you could open literally any book about pre-renaissance history, or I could just summarize the first 200,000 years of humanity for you: it fucking sucked. The three most accurate words to describe the life of anybody who wasn't born into the aristocracy were nasty, brutish, and short.

the workers get PAID

there is no money in communism, because there is no private ownership, and all things are shared equally.

You can't exactly say 'oh no it's communism it's just not communism as set as the ideal'... (well, no, it's pretty fucking common for communists to claim that but only until they hit the 'it's not REAL communism REAL communism has never been tried!) but no, again, it doesn't actually COUNT.

See if there is profits, there are the means to buy the methods OF production. The capitalists are NOT locked out of the system. The worker can save up until they can buy capital, and then use that to get an advantage over others.

Let alone the whole fact that if the workers own the business, then any group of workers can own more material than other groups of workers, and thus have more capital and profits.

Which ALSO means it's not actually fucking communism, it's a rebranded socialism. Because there ARE no profits under communism, everything is owned collectively and there is no 'profit' to be had.

If the justification for always defining communism as never having failed by claiming that unless it's achieved completely it's never been started, then I am going to hold people to those definitions.

By being a jerk, you're actively making your life harder and less pleasant. This is because we're a social species, and we do this thing called "mirroring" usually unconsciously, so people tend to reflect the behavior you put out, back to you.

Also you can intentionally be kinder with people, and they'll be kinder to you.

It was a busy night, and apparently the bar and kitchen were both running a little behind. Mid conversation , a woman strode up to Steff and his friend and aggressively said "I get that you're having a nice time, guys, but some of us are still waiting on drinks, so do you think you could do your jobs?"

Before either could answer, the bar manager materialised.

"Well, he's a glass collector and he's one of the acts on tonight," she said politely, pointing them out. "So, neither of them can help you. But I'm the manager, can I help?"

("I specified that," the manager told Steff afterwards, "because if she's going to be a dick, I'm going to waste her time by telling her why she's wrong and has just been stupid before I help her.")

"Yes," said the woman, now gearing up to get good and annoyed to compensate for her embarrassment. "We've been waiting for our drinks for over half an hour! This is ridiculous!"

"I'm sorry about that," says the manager. "We're super busy tonight, as you can see. What's your order number? I'll check its status."

The woman gave it. The manager looked it up.

"Ah," said the manager. "I see the problem - these were ordered twelve minutes ago, but there's currently a twenty minute wait, as you can see on the board. I'll see what we can do to speed it up, though, and we'll get to it as soon as we can."

The woman grumbled and left.

The manger put her one lower in the queue.

Five minutes later, a second woman from a different group arrived.

"Sorry, it's very possible I'm being a bother and you'll get to it soon," she smiled. "But I just wondered if there's an update on our order? It's been a while."

"I'm so sorry," the manager said, "we're super busy. Let me check for you... Yes, you're still in the queue. We'll get to you as soon as possible, shouldn't be long now."

"Oh!" says the woman. "No, no worries, I just thought I'd double check to make sure we hadn't somehow dropped off the system. Thank you!"

She left, and the manager put her one higher in the queue. When her order was made, the manager added an extra bottle of beer, and a little note that said "Sorry for the wait :)"

And I tell this tale because, the thing is... If this is typical behaviour, that first woman probably goes her whole life never quite being happy, never quite content, always missing out on free moments of human connection. By contrast, the second woman goes her life getting those little gestures, being seen that little bit earlier, having a slightly smoother time of things.

And neither probably even realises. In a thousand small ways, Second Woman has a happier time than First Woman, entirely down to their behaviour.

The synopsis: "Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo - Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began."