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Free Flattery
Status: good deeds mistaken for street prank
Too close to a fake thing. Brett Westcott and Cameron Brown like to stand on a corner in Times Square and compliment people walking by. They say they're doing this in a genuine attempt to spread good cheer. The problem is, many people have difficulty judging their sincerity:Brown admits some students think they're playing a practical joke. "Some people question our sincerity, but we're 100 percent sincere. We wouldn't be doing this for two hours every Wednesday for eight months if we didn't mean it... The worst response we've gotten is the middle finger, or they just tell us to shut up. But then we give them positive reinforcement for that."
If I was walking down the street and someone yelled out, "Hey, nice pants!" or something similar, I'd assume they were being a wise-ass.
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Categories: Pranks, Psychology Posted by Alex on Mon Mar 16, 2009 |
Comments (10) |
| More from the Hoax Museum Archives: | |||
May I say that this is an extremely interesting and well-written item?
Posted by Big Gary in Pleasantville, Texas on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Are you serious, Big Gary? Or just trying to be a suck-up?
Posted by Kevin on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 11:37 AM
That's a very apt and insightful comment, Kevin.
Posted by Big Gary in Pleasantville, Texas on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 11:48 AM
I had somebody tell me after watching a movie that the way I laughed "made the movie" for him. I thought he was being sarcastic, but he apparently meant it. I think. Maybe I should just wait for DVDs to come out so I can laugh in the privacy of my own home....
Posted by Joan, still puzzled in Dallas on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 02:36 PM
Dogbert discovered that he could make people insult themselves by complimenting them, e.g.
Me: "Joan, I just love the way you laugh"
Joan: "Are you kidding, I sound like an asthmatic donkey!"
(just kidding, Joan, I'm sure your laugh is like a joyous choir of bell-like harmonies,,, only surpassed by your deep kindness and sophisticated sense of humour)
Posted by Canadarm on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 04:17 PM
Me: "Joan, I just love the way you laugh"
Joan: "Are you kidding, I sound like an asthmatic donkey!"
(just kidding, Joan, I'm sure your laugh is like a joyous choir of bell-like harmonies,,, only surpassed by your deep kindness and sophisticated sense of humour)
Joan, your comment made this item for me.
Canadarm, your taste in comics is impeccable. I wouldn't want to peck it, anyway.
Posted by Big Gary in Pleasantville, Texas on Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 05:00 PM
Canadarm, your taste in comics is impeccable. I wouldn't want to peck it, anyway.
I always have trouble taking the compliment "you look nice today," because it always seems to imply that most other days I look like crap.
Posted by zgloria on Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 12:58 PM
These young men actually stand outside the Chemistry Bldg at Purdue University in Indiana, not Times Square.
Posted by Cynthia in Montana on Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 12:07 AM
Of course they aren't sincere . . . Nobody does anything nice for anyone without an alterior motive; Surely that is the one thing this site was created to educate peopel on, that no-one can be trusted. Ever.
Posted by D F Stuckey in Auckland New Zealand on Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Oh dear oh dear. People are so cynical today!
Posted by Dale in Waiheke Island, New Zealand on Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages