Manager Says 'Don't Help.' Reddit Says 'Don't Exist.'

So, you’re working retail, right? Trying to fix some electronics, maybe a toaster oven, who knows. And your manager, bless their heart, tells you: ‘Stop helping people. Unless they ask first.’ Comedy! You know, like, ‘Hey, buddy, you look confused. Need a hand with that exploded hard drive?’ ‘Nope. Didn’t ask.’ Classic. But then Reddit, that beautiful cesspool of human truth, steps in. Or, you know, doesn’t.

Because apparently, the only thing more unbelievable than a manager actively sabotaging customer service is… the guy complaining about it not being real. ‘7-day old account,’ one guy sniffs. ‘Not saying AI, but…’ Oh, you are saying AI, pal. We all are. Another one just dropped ‘🤖🤖🤖’. Subtle, like a brick through a window, but hey, it gets the message across. So now we’re not just talking about a guy refusing to help because his boss is a moron; we’re talking about a robot refusing to help because a human boss is a moron. It’s layers, people!

You gotta wonder, right? Is the AI so good now it can craft perfectly average, slightly whiny tales of workplace woe? Or are we, as a species, just so cynical we assume any slightly generic narrative is a bot? I mean, I write jokes for a living. Half the time, I feel like I’m an algorithm trying to find the funniest combination of ‘airport food’ and ‘existential dread.’ Maybe I’m just a very well-trained language model, too. Did I say that out loud?

It’s a real Catch-22. The manager said ‘don’t help unless asked.’ Reddit said ‘don’t believe unless you’re human.’ So, unless that bot asked for our belief, it’s just out there, shaking its silicon head. Comedy.