~2 min read This is a test that I've heard people talk about for years. And recently, I invoked it around a table of people and nobody knew what it was. So I'm giving life back to this idea. No, it's not about giving 2 two beers to a puppy. Pretty sure that's animal cruelty. You wouldn't do that to these cute guys. Would you? The test is simply about how comfortable you feel with a relationship. Specifically,
What does it mean to pass or not pass these tests? They're mostly for people you have some history with. The tests aren't useful for a complete stranger. You have basically no data on them. And the more you know someone, the more confident you can be in each of your answers. Critically, though, passing both doesn't mean you're best friends. It's a sufficiency threshold. It does mean something about your relationship—from your own side at least. I've heard some people using these 2 questions for job interviews. That is, the interviewer has these 2 as rules of thumb on whether they want to work with that person. I'm of the opinion that if you're in a really small company or startup, this may be fine. The relationships there are very personal. But practically, you're using a rule of thumb to figure out if you can be friends with another person. Stated another way, there are people I'd trust to do my taxes but not take care of a puppy. And generally, accountants have a reputation for not being great socially. That said, the guy who does my taxes I've actually hung out with before and would again. So perhaps I should check my biases? Regardless, there it is. Another social test revived for more to know about and argue about its accuracy. — Robert P.S. I used the word ablation this week in sentence and people looked at me like I grew a third head. My second head took umbrage to being overlooked as rightfully the more interesting thing. A third head is not shocking to person who already has a second head. What I'm getting at is that I apparently use big words sometimes and it causes confusion. I don't do it on purpose. I just know lots of words. Just thought I'd share. This message is 100% organic human effort, so it will have typos. No, I didn't send it through an LLM to typo check it. It was made with just my fingers and my eyes. |