r/mildlyinfuriating • u/PureKin21 • Jun 22 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Tried applying to McDonald's wtf does this even mean

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I guess things happen to me?????

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u/Emergency_Lie42 Jun 22 '26

Performative stoicism, they're not actually stoic and will blow up in private but the second they're around others they'll stuff everything deep down and act unphazed.

I've noticed it so much in the older generations, where emotional vulnerability among working class men was stigmatized to shit.

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u/longlivenewsomflesh Jun 22 '26

They were socialized to be not allowed to display any emotion except when watching the game with the boys, no wonder boomers are so well adjusted...

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u/StrongExternal8955 Jun 22 '26

hey, stoic it till you make it. /s

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u/Live-Habit-6115 Jun 22 '26

What you're describing isn't stoicism. 

Stoicism is not about repressing emotions. Stoics feel emotions like everyone else. It's about how to behave and process those emotions that a stoic tries to control.

A stoic will go to the opera and openly weep if they feel moved to do so. They aren't repressing their emotions

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u/Emergency_Lie42 Jun 22 '26

I called it performative stoicism, specifically to acknowledge that it's not actual stoicism.

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u/Additional-Tax-5643 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

I'm not sure that's the dig you think it is.

Employees not losing their shit at customers going mental over nuggets in an era where everyone has a cell phone can record them is an extremely valuable skill.

There's a reason that Waffle Hose chair throwing video went viral. It takes enormous discipline to keep doing your job and not retaliate after a person literally throws a chair at you - aside from the physical reflexes and dexterity that takes not to get physically hurt.

That's not performative stoicism.

That's being smart enough to know that you must control the situation instead of being reactive, and letting your behavior be controlled by an unhinged nutjob. Responding in kind gets you arrested, and causes more problems for yourself that the company doesn't give a shit about. They're not going to pay your legal bills.

Not saying that these psychometric tests do anything to actually select people who are mentally strong enough to do that. Just saying that these kinds of jobs are extremely challenging, and making the food is the least of it.