Today, I feel like bringing up my biggest “real life” sin.
The P/IYT or the “preemptive/inapplicable you too”.
Don’t know what I mean?
Well, imagine you’re at a tea shop (mmm, tea) and the server has just handed you a steaming cup of deliciousness with a polite “Enjoy your beverage!”. While distracted by the heavenly scent of mannah direct from a higher power, you reply cheerily, “You too!”.
This is the “preemptive/inapplicable you too”.
It’s basically impossible for the server (or is it a barista? These are the questions that keep me up at night. I shall now dubb all tea sales people/preppers tea minions.) to be enjoying tea while giving you some. Seriously. Good tea is damn distracting. I’m a good multitasker and I stop everything to take a sip. So it’s inapplicable.
It’s also preemptive because we can assume that at some point that tea minion will succumb to the temptation that’s inherent in having a staff discount and get some really expensive tea (sigh) for cheap (double sigh). So, essentially, the “P/IYT” is the curse of the stupidly polite because the “P/IYT” makes no sense. Logic, thy name is rudeness!
Now, I’ve seen “P/IYT” on Wattpad and it’s not a curse of the polite. It’s a curse of the needy (and not the good needy that you should help out). When you P/IYT another user it’s the whole “Thanks for following me back!” thing when the person has done no such thing. Awkward.
Let’s do an analysis on why it’s so, well, awkward. The big reason is that you’re essentially removing the other person’s choice. You are coercing someone to follow you because you followed them. Now, I have no issue with people who follow back every person that follows them -- I think it’s damn amazing -- but not everyone does that. And you have to respect their choice. Maybe they’re not comfortable getting a hell of a lot of emails from Wattpad everyday, or they prefer to only follow people that they really value, or they follow authors that they admire or they only follow personal friends. Whatever the reason, it is their choice to follow you. And when you “P/IYT” them, you’re taking that choice away. And that’s just inconsiderate.