“The day after Starbucks workers met at the Bat Cave we found ourselves working an understaffed morning shift but this time it was different. Instead of feeling the normal frustration, those of us who were at the meeting exchanged knowing glances and began implementing our plan of following every rule, thereby slowing down service. We also whispered to partners who were not in the know to slow down, don’t kill yourself. It was as if everyone took a deep breath and began working at a safe and thorough pace. The effects were instant. The speed of service dropped immediately. We ran out of brewed coffee because we were only brewing when the beeper signaled it was time. Everyone stayed in the positions they were assigned and acted only at the directions of the Store Manager. Every 10 minutes when someone was assigned to clean the lobby, we did a thorough job, ensuring everything was clean and properly stocked. Every drink and food order was perfect.
Dan, the Store Manager, lost his mind.”
Also sometimes referred to as “malicious compliance”, and it’s my favorite thing
To be fair 99% of our evolutionary stress response was meant to deal with far more immediately conclusive scenarios than the tedious bullshit we put up with these days.
very very slow tigers are chasing me
not to leave a serious comment on a silly post but one of the best pieces of advice I ever got about stress was to SLEEP but secondly, when overwhelmed, lay in a bed and intentionally hold all your muscles clenched. clench EVERYTHING. hold it for a few seconds, then let go. It tricks your animal fight-or-flight monkey brain into thinking it had, and won, a fight, and some of the stress response will leave you
#turn a slow tiger into a fast tiger with this fucked up trick
when an author sets up a narrative choice where all the options are scary and bad and the protagonist chooses kindness and it changes everything because it opens doors that shouldn’t be possible and every single time i go FERAL
the best execution of this was in undertale. The game constantly tells you kill or be killed but you can choose to not. It would be so much easier to just walk through the game and fight whetever you happen across but you can stick it out and be kind. And at the end youre given such a raw line. “despite everything, its still you” because damn. It is still you. You proved to a harsh world that kindness is always an option.
