#like from a customer service pov i don't know how to politely be like no i don't remember you

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

customer who spoke to me exactly one time weeks ago: hey I think I spoke to you before, is that right? did you talk with me like a month ago?

me who takes phone calls from different people all day as a job: well, you know, that is definitely a possibility

[sinnersandsaints-linwrites]

Just smth that I wanted to mention from my own experience with "asshole characters". (If that's okay and if it's not you can ignore this ofc)

It really depends on the player who is seen as such. Personally, I'm used to having very teasing relationships and many people that don't know me and/or my friends very well, see our interactions as mean and rude. When I incorporate conversations like that between people in my work that are friends I get very very mixed feedback.

Going back to your work, in particular, the only two characters who have been truly "assholes" are Ariel and Riven. Both had, from their own pov, valid reasons to be. Khari is grumpy at best.

Ariel sees you as a threat, Riven hates cops and was just arrested. Morally good? No. Logical reaction for the characters they are in the situation they are in? Yes.

*Note that this is from the way I played, idk how they react by choosing choices that differ from mine.

Also, and this is fully imo, but a lot of people irl aren't that nice either? Definitely not if you aren't familiar with them. Like I worked in customer service, people suck ass, and not in the fun way

A very good point -- similarly to you, I tease my closest friends (and they tease me), it's a banter for us, and 'outsiders' often see that as weird and rude, whereas I see that as a good bonding activity

it's interesting that you mentioned Riven and Ariel, because at the start I remember a lot of people had issue with how 'rude' or abrasive Khari was/they felt that Khari was rude. which is interesting, because I write them to be grumpy, maybe a tad asshole-ish, but honestly they're just a no-nonsense person who has clear boundaries.

when I worked in retail, I could count on my one hand the instances when someone was polite to me; most people are either dismissive or rude.

BUT it can also be the case of culture; I've been told many times that Poles (my people) never smile, complain all the time, and generally that we have a cold, unapproachable demeanour. we're not very expressive with our emotions, and we are somewhat colder than Americans, for example. there's no cheery, optimistic energy here basically lmao, so what some people may view as rude and cold, I often view as just someone being neutral.

it's overall an interesting discussion to have

[albatris]

here's what I thought about today and it's super fucking silly and idk if I'll use it but like. here we go

so quinn and nat's first conversation is NOT the encounter they have in the petrol station after nat accidentally kills a guy. although nat thinks this is the first time he's spoken to quinn

alex and quinn do a lot of fun background work trying to figure out as much as they can about nat before nat inevitably Snaps And Turns. except nat is a hermit whose personal information is wildly difficult to track down and they can barely find an email address let alone valuable info about his history and personal life and whatever

like. they can tail him and watch him but like. he doesn't have friends and he doesn't speak with family and he doesn't leave his apartment if he can avoid it. he goes to work and is in bland generic Customer Service Mode with customers and bland generic You Are A Vague Acquaintance I Have To Put Up With mode with coworkers. he has a favourite pizza restaurant. occasionally he says hi to a neighbour if he passes them. that's it. that's what they're working with

but anyway yeah no I think the first conversation quinn actually has with him happens because in the midst of being like "who the fuck is this guy and how are we supposed to find an angle to approach him that'll get him to trust us" quinn just kind of. stumbles onto nat in their call centre database and is like. lmao alright

because nat makes the occasional donation to fucking wildlife charities. bc he loves animals. and it just happens to be one of the places quinn's company works for to call folks and be like :) hey do you wanna give us money :) hey we'd love some more money :) except, like, in a polite and grateful way

so quinn is just like. fuck it I'm gonna call this guy. I wanna see what his vibe is

so they put on a dumb voice and make up a fake name and they have one extremely awkward phone conversation which is just like

quinn starting off with the generic hey how are you thanks so much for your support <3 and the usual company spiel. except it just devolves into uncomfortably personal questions and prying

hopping from the generic "haha this weather is crazy right?" and "so what made you want to donate? :)"

to the still vague but kinda weird "anything interesting or inexplicable happen to you lately? you wanna talk about it?" and "oh how did you sleep last night, have you been sleeping badly?"

to straight up bizarre bullshit no call centre employee would ever feasibly use for small talk like "do you have any roommates? how many?" and "how does your mouth feel?" and "how come you don't have any social media?"

until nat just gets freaked out enough that he hangs up

and I can't decide whether this conversation is funnier from quinn's perspective or nat's

and I think it'll be a quinn pov scene. bc while I love the image of nat answering the phone to this bonkers conversation with zero context and having juuuuust enough awareness of social cues and how one should carry themself in this type of interaction that he knows this is probably weird, but not quite enough that he's CERTAIN this is weird. until it gets to a point where he's like yeah no I'm out

on the other hand. like. quinn in their little call centre booth just like. smiling and twirling the phone cord round their finger like a teenager at a slumber party calling their crush. except it's just them terrorising this poor confused soon-to-be-vampire and being like "mm-hmm and what are your biggest fears, would you say? no, yeah, it's for a survey, we're asking everyone <3"