I learned countless stuff unwillingly in the military. One of which is: people just want you to say something back at them when they talk to you. Anything. Even if it’s one hundred percent crap. I thought everyone was like me. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t speak unless there’s no way this could be reached or resolved without speaking. Turns out I’m the exception here. A freak. Nobody is like that. Just make sure you don’t rant or talk for an hour or they’ll feel raped. Say something in a five second window. Don’t struggle. Don’t hesitate. Don’t stutter or pick the best of words. Don’t pretend to care about them, respect them, want to help them, or love them. Just blurt a response instead of giving them your silence. And don’t exceed five seconds. Don’t lecture or criticize. Just say something cool. Don’t make them feel like you know more than they do or that they are lesser than you. You shouldn’t respond to trash people at all. But others, who haven’t proven to you that they are scumbags yet, that brief response would be like giving them gold for nothing in return. Again, even if your response is objectively useless. Even if it’s just filler. Even if not saying it would be wiser or better in your perspective, it would still mean the world to them, and that is the case for the majority of people.