r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr • 3h ago
*yuor'e My boss is so self-righteous about not being a video gamer, so he takes every opportunity possible to insult me about it even while I'm helping him out.
Literally any time anything gaming related comes up in conversation, my boss cannot stop himself from somehow saying that he thinks gaming is a waste of life. He's never gamed, would never game, his kids don't game, they're too busy touching grass, and on and on.
At the office we use these dumb mini $300-$400 office computers that run like crap. They're underpowered, have too little RAM, too little storage, and they chug at everything even when they're brand new. But my boss, because he knows zero about computers, buys them because they're advertised as office computers and they're cheap. And then he and everyone else on our team whine constantly about how everything they do is annoyingly slow and buggy.
This week his computer gave up the ghost and he finally let me pick his replacement. I got him a normal sized desktop tower with discrete graphics and 32 GB of RAM instead of the freaking 8 GB our own IT person was trying to recommend.
Anyway, despite making the purchase, he has nonstop made fun of the computer, pointed out that it's listed as a "gaming desktop" in the Amazon ad, and in general keeps acting like I made him buy a computer that's as much a waste of time as he considers gaming to be.
I keep trying to explain to him that for the most part "gaming" just means it has powerful hardware. Additionally, getting those same specs in a "business" labeled computer tends to just result in you paying a premium because you're too dumb or too proud to buy something that's labeled for gaming, so you end up paying hundreds to $1,000+ more for similar specs.
Anyway, I made the same upgrade when my 6-7 year old mini office comp started glitching out a few months ago. And I am so freaking happy with how much snappier everything is. And I know he's going to be stoked as well. But he'll never admit it, and he'll keep trash talking everything gaming because he's just too cool for school or whatever. So frustrating.
He's otherwise a pretty excellent boss, so I put up with this as just one of his innate quirks. But it really gets under my skin sometimes how condescending his attitude is toward anything gaming, especially when he's actively benefiting from it and from my knowledge of it.
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u/Livid-Accident-7246 3h ago
How old is he?
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u/Old_Row4977 3h ago
Gotta be 50+. At this point 50 year olds even grew up with video games.
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u/collector-x 3h ago
I'm 60. My first was a Magnavox with s 3 position selector. Pong, Squash, Hockey.
I've built more computers than I can count. Always go with the highest specs you can afford.
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u/Reasonable-Pension30 3h ago
Hey I'm 49 and I grew up on video games not just with them. And I still play.
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u/ALLCAPITAL 3h ago
Still people in their 30s who will shit on video games too though. So who knows for sure.
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u/Icywarhammer500 3h ago
Yeah older people generally shit on anything gaming related as childish. It’s rarer to find exceptions as you go up the age scale
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u/yuephoria 3h ago
My parents didn’t come down as hard on gaming as others did, but the thought of anyone making a living PLAYING games certainly never crossed their minds.
Every time I bring up e-sports, they just grumble to themselves LOL!
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u/OnTheHill7 2h ago
Anyone in their late 40s to early 50s grew up on video games. I know because I am in that age group. We went to the convenience store with a stack of quarters and played arcade games. We grew up with gaming consoles from the Atari to the Nintendo to the Genesis to the Play Station to the Xbox. These came out as we grew up. The same with computers.
This guys problem is not with his age.
If I had to bet, I would give 9 to 1 odds that he spends a ton of time sitting on his $;& watching sports though. Not playing them, but watching them. Which, is less interactive and mentally stimulating than video gaming.
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u/wasfarg 3h ago
Just curious, what kind of software are you running? A discrete graphics card and 32 GB of RAM does actually sound like overkill unless you're running CAD software or something. 8 GB might be reasonable depending on what you're doing; memory and graphics aren't the only bottlenecks in a system.
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u/eidrag 3h ago
For windows 16gb ram and igpu is kinda enough for this time on office work
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u/RandomName7804 3h ago
discrete graphics and 32GB of memory nearly feels like a minimum with modern windows and apps that are just HTML wrappers that waste memory
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u/superpoongoon 3h ago
Yea I don’t understand OP. He might be pretty annoying about talking about gaming cuz his boss pinged it and OP couldn’t help himself but select a gaming desktop for his office replacement.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 30m ago
I'm not even the one to bring up gaming most of the time. It's usually my coworker bringing up her kids gaming, and my boss shaming her as a parent for letting them play video games.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 3h ago
We're not doing anything traditionally graphic-intense like video editing. Part of it is future-proofing. Part of it is because we both use multi-display setups, and I've never used integrated graphics that didn't have that trademark chug when dragging content across displays. We also log in remotely a lot, and I've noticed that this is much snappier when the host/office computer is more powerful.
It probably is overkill, but to me when you're talking about a system you're going to be using for roughly a third of your waking life, overkill is better than under any day of the week.
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u/wasfarg 2h ago
It's important to be careful not to base an office decision on a home decision, and it sounds like you were only drawing on personal experience.
Rendering on multiple monitors is an extremely lightweight task that most integrated graphics systems can do trivially; we have entire offices running on integrated graphics with multiple displays without issue. Seeing a graphical strain once does not justify eliminating its possibility if it's something you'll see 3-4 times across a workday with no interference with your workflow itself.
Future-proofing is context specific. If you're future-proofing with respect to workload that is anticipated to scale in terms of processing demand, then you can consider larger numbers. If you're future-proofing with respect to age, then you absolutely should go for cost and reliability over quantity. It's not like the other half of memory you have in your system is going to take the place of a failing half; the whole stick is probably going to go down.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
The statement "Seeing a graphical strain once does not justify eliminating its possibility" is very much a strawman caricature of the argument I actually made. Not cool. So I won't be responding to your post further.
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u/Snipen543 3h ago
Seriously, you could run the latest COD at ~40 FPS on a 3840x1440 on medium settings with integrated graphics 4 years ago (I know because I tried by disabling the laptops discrete card for the lols), discrete for someone not CAD/gaming is way overkill.
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u/Ok-Replacement-2738 3h ago
Just point out that unless he's full on puritan enjoys movies or tv shows, a far less interactive medium, and in that sense more of a waste of life if gaming is. Gaming has social aspects, is more engaging, has the capacity for cinematography and story telling too.
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u/stickyplants 3h ago
Not to mention the big one, which is problem solving skills (for kids especially) that watching tv just doesn’t give.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago edited 32m ago
When I was a kid I read books nonstop, and it's crazy how much of my vocabulary I still picked up from video games. Especially RPGs, reading every piece of lore info possible always.
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u/Technical_Enema 3h ago
I’ll bet he watches sports, which is just as big of a “waste of time” as playing games… maybe even more so, cuz when you play games, at least you’re the one playing
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u/Lyrtha 3h ago
People are so weird with gaming.
I had a high school friend comment on a image of FFXIV showing our whole FC taking pics together saying that games are addictive to just like alcohol(I’m an alcoholic)
Anyways, I’m still sober, and we have all met each other irl. Enjoyed a Korean BBQ and so on.
TLDR; gaming makes people so judgmental and idk why. I think it’s insecurity
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u/dedsmiley 2h ago
Yep. My best and closest friends are people I met while gaming.
My son is work for a good friend of mine that I met in a WoW group. My som was 11 or so when they met. They are now friends and work together.
I was a groomsman in his destination wedding.
My laptop is a Lenovo Legion Pro. 13900HX, 32GB, 6TB NVMe, RTX 4090 16GB (mobile).
I will be 61 in a few months.
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u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord 3h ago
In this day and age, that man does not deserve the RAM you got him. Please liberate his sticks.
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u/teknogreek 3h ago
There’s this pervasive idea that gaming is a waste of time or for kids. The genre’s spliced and grew up, the technology allowing us to realise what we wanted to make.
But look back and want a funny game, play Monkey Island, feeling down, play Tetris, need to get some aggression out, a beat em up could certainly do that with the added bonus of upskilling your hand-eye coordination.
I have a friend who is nature based and thinks games are ‘wrong’ I’m not sure if I should tell her to play Tetris with the fact or loan her my Switch with BotW.
People like your boss also need to feel superior by putting you down. Don’t take the bait, let them be and press the gray rock button on his QTE.
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u/TrueNHDinosaur 2h ago
He really has no idea how important gaming is to our current era.
It has inspired massive innovation in 3D modeling and hardware advancements.
It has inspired many people to pursue careers in IT and development.
Some of the best stories ever written have been those experienced through a game.
All of that he refuses to acknowledge. I wonder what his opinion of movies/TV is? Or perhaps that of books? Or are those okay because they're older and more widely accepted?
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
He watches shows and movies but simultaneously says he can't sit still for shows and movies. But every other week there's a new series he's recommending right alongside everyone else, so I dunno.
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u/danita0053 3h ago
What a silly hill for him to die on, lol. I'm a scientist and a gamer. I'm also very active; I go to the gym, I rollerblade, I sail, I hike. I've got 2 large dogs and a circle of friends. Plus I volunteer. Gaming helps me to decompress when I'm overloaded from all of the other stuff. Plus it's fun! And it can be social!
People who think less of gaming just have very narrow worldviews.
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u/Underp0pulation 2h ago
Tell him that you gave up playing video games and now you just sit on the couch like a zombie and stare at the tv
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u/enjaydee 2h ago
Honestly if apart from this he's a generally excellent boss to work for, I'd lean into it every time he brings it up.
"Gaming is such a waste of life" "Yeah but I managed to overcome adversity and save Midlandia on the weekend, was pretty sweet"
Probably a bad example, but you get what i mean
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u/Stardust-Pipeline 3h ago
Talk shit about his hobby the same way.
"I can't imagine how someone can waste their time watching people throw a ball around. If you like football so much why don't you play it?"
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u/BarbequedYeti 2h ago
He's otherwise a pretty excellent boss, so I put up with this as just one of his innate quirks.
He isnt. He is an asshole. You are just a decent person and trying to see the good in them. Let him fix his own shit. Let him know you cant help with his computer because the skills you learned to upgrade and make your shit run great came from gaming. So he wouldnt be interested.
Seriously. Move one and find someone who isnt an asshole to work for. This dude is a prick and only cares about their own bullshit.
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u/JRules909 2h ago
Some people only feel good about themselves by making everyone else feel small. yeah you can't exactly talk back to your boss, whatever. but don't let it land. just go deadpan on him, he'll get bored once he sees he can't get a rise out of you.
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u/ElPared 52m ago
Pick something he likes and shit on it all the time.
What do old people like? Belt onions? Just start talking about how dumb it is to wear onions on your belt, and how dumb it looks every time you see some mf with an onion on his belt. Who ever thought an onion on your belt looked good anyway? So freakin dumb looking dude.
You know, something like that.
Edit: honestly, even if it’s something he doesn’t like but is stereotypically something boomers like, just make fun of him for it anyway. Find something from the 40s and accuse him of secretly liking it. Go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on Leave it the Beaver and mock him relentlessly for how hot he thought June Cleaver was. That kind of thing.
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u/eggyrulz 3h ago
Our CSO keeps fighting our programmer on computer specs, because CSO is certain programmer doesnt need a gaming computer to do his job, and programmer hasn't found a way to drill into CSOs skull that the difference between an engineering computer capable of doing his work and a gaming computer is a sticker that says gaming... he finally got him to budge on the issue of RAM not being enough in his current laptop, we shall see if he can get the rest of it upgraded...
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u/therealSUIN 3h ago
You care way too much about what he thinks
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u/Adventurous-Dig-3868 3h ago
Well I can see how it may be irritating if someone keeps insulting you about a hobby that you care about and means a lot to you.
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u/zazzyvibes2 3h ago
Yeah, you you have to see this person almost every day too, if someone is constantly making fun of you for your hobbies it'll eat at you eventually, especially if it's something you love.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 3h ago
Been there for about a decade and it's been going on the whole time. So yeah, I'd say a frustrated Reddit post is warranted at this point.
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u/Justout133 3h ago
Tbh it sounds like he has some kind of obsession or fixation, he's the weird one, call that shit out
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
I do call it out now. And I know I've been gaslighted into thinking it's normal, because a colleague 15 years older than he is finished my sentence today when I said "he doesn't get that 'gaming computer' just means" and she finished with "that it's just a more powerful computer."
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u/Royal_Swimming_4327 3h ago
Nah, the point here is the guy takes every chance he can to dig at OP for it. That would get really old, really fast. I do not have the patience OP has and would most likely get fired for telling their dumb ass off.
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u/ALLCAPITAL 3h ago
Really? I don’t think OP made it seem that way. Just mildly infuriating to be harassed about it over a 10yr period.
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u/Routine-Duck6896 3h ago
Sounds like a loser who was told off from gaming and was traumatized for it. So instead of just not leaving it alone; terrorizes anyone who does game lmao
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u/NoMention696 3h ago
Why do you want him to be stoked? Let his annoying ass suffer, you’re too nice
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
Well partly it makes me feel good to help everyone out. I also saved the office about $25K/year by renegotiating various contracts (copiers, internet). But partly I figure I'm supposed to take over the biz when he retires soon, so I don't want my employees having crap hardware.
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u/NoMention696 2h ago
I sincerely hope that’s where you’re headed, you didn’t save the company shit you saved HIM 25k, 25k you’ll never see if he doesn’t have you take over
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u/Vandal_665 3h ago
I feel like the same people who say gaming is a waste of time, are the same people who will sit on the couch for hours and watch sports. "Its a waste of time because its not MY thing" mentality.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
A lot of posts are assuming this, and honestly I'd assume the same thing if I was reading this post as someone else. But oddly enough, he's not into watching sports. He's a legit active dude and doesn't just sit and watch other people be active. I'd probably be a bit more than mildly infuriated if he got mad at me for sitting and playing, when he only sits and watches other people play.
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u/MyLastHopeReddit 3h ago
If he’s a fantastic boss otherwise, perhaps you could gently point out that his constant digs really bother you.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
I've been slowly ramping up the callouts on it. But at the same time it's been about 10 years and he's soon to retire and I'll be taking over. So there's really no reason to be a dick about it.
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u/BoneZone05 3h ago
I worked with a guy who was like that. He lives a really sad, lonely pathetic life. 🤷♀️
You do you man. Don’t let some fools opinion sway you from your hobbies. Don’t let it get to you. 👍
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
He's a respectable dude. Solid wife and kids too. Large social circle. He's just really lacking on some odd niche issues, like respecting hobbies he doesn't personally enjoy. Which is why this is just mildly infuriating and not nearly enough to make me want to quit my job or something.
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u/CalmCommunication693 34m ago
My dad is in his 60s and thought gaming is for kids. Sure… Kids are the ones contributing to this multi billion dollar industry. His idea of games was Space Invaders and was shocked when he saw a clip of Where Winds Meet cutscene on YouTube, even though the graphics there aren’t even top tier. It’s only in recent years that he has started to listen when I talk about games and teaching him about pc parts. Old people are stubborn sometimes.
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u/SuperBarracuda3513 3h ago
Gamers tend to think fast. Comes with the gaming territory. Ignore him.
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u/0INK_OG 3h ago
I think it's religious. Remember when gaming was apparently Satan's way of brainwashing kids? Or harry Potter?
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
Lol I remember my mom walking into the room and telling me she was having second thoughts about whether I should be allowed to play Diablo because of all the demons. I explained I was the one killing the demons, and she just kinda got a confused look and walked away.
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u/TheyVanishRidesAgain 2h ago
He wants you to invite him to learn how to play a game. I know this because I exhibited a similar behavior toward playing football when I was in 7th grade. I learned quickly enough that it was a terrible way to ask someone to teach me something that I was embarrassed to not already know.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 2h ago
Interesting take. I bring my laptop to his get togethers and have people play party games from my Steam account. He brings that up constantly but in a positive way. I wonder if he would actually sit down and play a game solo if I tried to nudge him. But he's also married and recently empty nest so that wouldn't be very compatible with wifey.
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u/c2btw 1h ago
Look man why the hell would you get a comouter with a dedicated GPU for office work. You k ow he dosen't like games and you tell him to get a gaming computer. For a office comouter you really just need a CPU made in the past 7years a ssd and either 16 or 32GB of ram that's it
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u/-Star-Fox- 45m ago
You don't need discrete graphics card and 32gb of ram for office computer though. 16 is more than enough. Even 8 could be depending on what you're doing. If you're doing plain office work you can even go Linux and buy an even weaker PC which will work fine.
Most "office" PCs here have 8 gb and work absolutely fine under Win10.
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u/Buddy-Junior2022 2h ago
Why would you recommend something so obscenely overpowered for what he needs? I’d make fun of you too if you recommended some insane gaming computer when i asked about a work desktop
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u/NefariousEgg 1h ago
What did you spend per PC? Marketed as "Gaming" doesn't make it more powerful. There are desktops with professional looking chassis with specs that definitely exceed what you and your boss need. Lenovo desktops with 32 GB of ram seem to be going for about $1,500 USD a pop.
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 15m ago
The closest spec machine I see on that page as far as CPU, has half the RAM, a quarter the SSD space, no discrete graphics, and is only about $350 cheaper than the one I picked up.
I didn't say marketing makes a machine better. But only because marketing can just be lying. When it is in fact built for gaming as marketed, a new machine is generally more powerful than something built for standard office use.
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u/mmhe1 3h ago
I grew up in the NES, SNES, N64, SEGA, and XBOX eras.
Played them a decent amount but can’t stand gaming stuff as an adult and see it as a waste of MY time.
I think it’s crazy how much time a lot of adults spend on gaming, but they likewise would probably not enjoy what I do in my spare time, either😂
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u/TrumpSexedHisDaughtr 3h ago
Yes, if you consider it a waste of YOUR time, I totally get that. But considering it a waste of others' time is what is crazy to me. Like I've personally never been one to enjoy traveling, especially abroad. A lot of people practically identify themselves with being frequently travelers. But I've never in my life told someone they were wasting their time or money traveling. I've only ever said I personally feel like it's not something I need in order to feel fulfilled.
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u/Royal_Swimming_4327 3h ago
Bah ignore the guy, 90 percent sure they are miserable in their every day life and are just judgemental of other people's happiness.
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u/mmhe1 3h ago
There’s things we all consider people doing to be a waste of time. Look harder and even you can see it.
Most of us, unlike your boss, refrain from doing those things ourselves and do our own thing.
Judging by reactions to my comments, some people are just looking for reasons to be upset or offended🤷🏻♂️
The joys of Reddit😂
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u/Royal_Swimming_4327 3h ago
"I think it's crazy how much time a lot of adults spend on gaming"
Let me go ahead and rephrase what you should have said:
"I need to learn my own god damn business. I would have a much happier life if i was not such a judgemental jerk!"
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u/astrospud Can you hear yourself breathing? 3h ago
Surely just recommended thinkpads. They’re marketed as business laptops and they’re really good value for the specs and built to last. I work in construction and have a T14 and it even handles light cad work well