I had an idea for a new Holiday cached behavior for my roommate and I: the good nut pin.
The good nut pin is to be Christmas-themed and as tacky as possible. The object of the game is to give away the pin as soon as possible. It can only be given away in recognition of someone else being a ‘good nut’; that is, as positive reinforcement for some good or worthwhile behavior we notice the other person doing. It is one of several ideas I came up with as I pondered the Meaning Of Christmas; Being Good starts to die out after the Naughty List proves fake, and Doing Good has potential for EA and positive externality-generating habits but is mostly about throwing money at feel-good charities.
I made the mistake of awarding the temporary placeholder pin to a friend we had over. I explained the rules of the game, but the pin never circulated back. I carried her bag and hinted at it in a horridly passive-aggressive way. I loudly pointed out my roommate’s excellent contributions to the conversation. I flat out told her we were gonna need it back tonight or we wouldn’t see it again until the next time she saw us.
It still left out the door with her. I insist this tradition is still better than elf-on-a-shelf, but it’s obviously got its failure modes.
I made the mistake of awarding the temporary placeholder pin to a friend we had over. I explained the rules of the game, but the pin never circulated back. I carried her bag and hinted at it in a horridly passive-aggressive way … It still left out the door with her. I insist this tradition is still better than elf-on-a-shelf, but it’s obviously got its failure modes.
You should’ve changed it to a good nut bag on the spot. I’m not sure I’d call thievery a failure mode.
@#$&#*! Everything about your post confuses me. How on earth would declaring her purse to be part of the game help matters? The placeholder pin was a sticky note that had “Good Nut” written on it. Hardly a thieving offense, it just really bugged me that the game broke because of it.
If we used her bag as the good nut pin then she’d have DEFINITELY left with it, feeling annoyed and defensive to boot! You can’t just go around claiming people’s purses as prizes in games ಠ_ಠ
I thought she put the pin in the bag and you hinted at the bag while carrying it. Why else would you have mentioned the bag? It was a joke and depending on how rigid their thinking were you could have made that kind of a joke right there. I thought your placeholder pin was some kind of a real pin not easily replaceable and you were going to use a more suitable pin in the future. It wouldn’t have occured to me that someone would be bothered enough by losing a sticky note to make passive aggressive comments about it. Do you think it’s possible she could’ve taken it just to see your unusual reaction?
It’s funny how much understanding language depends on assumptions :)
I had an idea for a new Holiday cached behavior for my roommate and I: the good nut pin.
The good nut pin is to be Christmas-themed and as tacky as possible. The object of the game is to give away the pin as soon as possible. It can only be given away in recognition of someone else being a ‘good nut’; that is, as positive reinforcement for some good or worthwhile behavior we notice the other person doing. It is one of several ideas I came up with as I pondered the Meaning Of Christmas; Being Good starts to die out after the Naughty List proves fake, and Doing Good has potential for EA and positive externality-generating habits but is mostly about throwing money at feel-good charities.
I made the mistake of awarding the temporary placeholder pin to a friend we had over. I explained the rules of the game, but the pin never circulated back. I carried her bag and hinted at it in a horridly passive-aggressive way. I loudly pointed out my roommate’s excellent contributions to the conversation. I flat out told her we were gonna need it back tonight or we wouldn’t see it again until the next time she saw us.
It still left out the door with her. I insist this tradition is still better than elf-on-a-shelf, but it’s obviously got its failure modes.
I guess you just have to face the reality that your contrived traditions, once in the wild, can be hijacked both figuratively and literally.
You should’ve changed it to a good nut bag on the spot. I’m not sure I’d call thievery a failure mode.
@#$&#*! Everything about your post confuses me. How on earth would declaring her purse to be part of the game help matters? The placeholder pin was a sticky note that had “Good Nut” written on it. Hardly a thieving offense, it just really bugged me that the game broke because of it.
If we used her bag as the good nut pin then she’d have DEFINITELY left with it, feeling annoyed and defensive to boot! You can’t just go around claiming people’s purses as prizes in games ಠ_ಠ
I thought she put the pin in the bag and you hinted at the bag while carrying it. Why else would you have mentioned the bag? It was a joke and depending on how rigid their thinking were you could have made that kind of a joke right there. I thought your placeholder pin was some kind of a real pin not easily replaceable and you were going to use a more suitable pin in the future. It wouldn’t have occured to me that someone would be bothered enough by losing a sticky note to make passive aggressive comments about it. Do you think it’s possible she could’ve taken it just to see your unusual reaction?
It’s funny how much understanding language depends on assumptions :)