Fake Nice Gestures That Are Actually Manipulative

Life Lessons

Watch out for these signs of a person who isn’t as friendly as they seem.

Years ago, my ex-girlfriend gave me a pair of Bluetooth headphones as a birthday present. I tried so hard to make them work. But they irritated my ears and always fell out. I went back to my regular wired headphones.

Unfortunately, this decision became a source of torment. Every time we went to the gym she brought it up, “It’s a shame you aren’t using those $150 headphones I got you.” She brought it up for months and months. It felt like I’d loaned money to the devil.

With my aforementioned ex, we eventually reached a resolution that once a gift is given, it is released. There are no clawbacks. There is no weaponizing them during arguments. Thank god it only took us 300 fights to figure that out. Reciprocity is important but don’t let it stray into scorekeeping. Beware of gifts.

The most advanced manipulators use this trick and you can too, in a good way. It’s one of the easiest ways to get someone to like you.

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