one time IRL, some extremely annoying and cloying douche kept trying to “joke” with me by being extremely annoying, purposely mishearing what I said and making me repeat myself, etc etc. that shit may have put me off balance when I was younger and less secure in myself, but not anymore.
anyway, so after a few minutes of this I’m like just looking at him, bored, when he pulls the “I’m just joking man, lighten up” I relaxed my face and started to smile, saying, “oh my bad. I was confused because jokes are supposed to be funny.” totally deadpan, selling it all the way like Jason Bateman was my acting coach, with no malice.
his colleague next to him who had probably had been putting up with this shit for days laughed in his dumb face while his brain still was calculating that I just told himself he wasn’t funny.
anyway, that’s my one “and Einstein clapped” story, but it’s real.
When chud relatives of mine pulled the “just joking while being a bigot/creep/asshole” thing, the best response that shut them up the most (not always, but most reliably) was making this face: . In anti-narcissist circles, it’s called grey rocking.
That’s how I shut my dad down when he starts his racist bullshit baiting for a response. It works better than arguing and has the benefit of requiring next to no effort.
one time IRL, some extremely annoying and cloying douche kept trying to “joke” with me by being extremely annoying, purposely mishearing what I said and making me repeat myself, etc etc. that shit may have put me off balance when I was younger and less secure in myself, but not anymore.
anyway, so after a few minutes of this I’m like just looking at him, bored, when he pulls the “I’m just joking man, lighten up” I relaxed my face and started to smile, saying, “oh my bad. I was confused because jokes are supposed to be funny.” totally deadpan, selling it all the way like Jason Bateman was my acting coach, with no malice.
his colleague next to him who had probably had been putting up with this shit for days laughed in his dumb face while his brain still was calculating that I just told himself he wasn’t funny.
anyway, that’s my one “and Einstein clapped” story, but it’s real.
When chud relatives of mine pulled the “just joking while being a bigot/creep/asshole” thing, the best response that shut them up the most (not always, but most reliably) was making this face:
. In anti-narcissist circles, it’s called grey rocking.
Yessssss letting people sit in the discomfort
That’s how I shut my dad down when he starts his racist bullshit baiting for a response. It works better than arguing and has the benefit of requiring next to no effort.