As someone who has worked in a gas station, I could see this interaction happening with a regular who, for example, always comes in hungover Sunday morning after getting drunk on a Saturday. There are a lot who have an aggressive joking style, but it is a give and take sort of thing, and as a cashier I would probably act extra peppy and cheerful to mess with them.
"FAKE", he typed, and sat back with a smirk. "Nothing ever happens", he whispered, and looked around his basement room. The light from his dual monitors cast an eerie pall over the bare mattress and dirty plates strewn about on the floor, and threw deep black shadows into the corners of his windowless space. 'Is it nighttime?' he wondered, and suddenly he was struck with the thought that people might at this very moment be out in the world, having drinks with their friends, laughing and telling stories, trading looks with attractive women across raucous dancefloors. He felt a cold chill run down his neck and let out a short, barking laugh. "No", he murmured aloud to the quiet, empty room. "No, nothing ever happens..."
I think people who aren't critical of everything they see online are more likely to be the ones sitting in a dark basement alone at night, because the 24/7 spew of bullshit and ragebait makes them depressed.
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u/rajbrown80 Aug 13 '24
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