Don’t be a little shit, Steph

The voice in my head is kind of a little shit.

Not to me (at least, usually not to me), but in response to the bonkers and AI-sloppy things I read on LinkedIn, other social media, and in the news.

Balevine and birdcar can attest to this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent them a piece I wrote, only to have one of them come back with “…what’s your goal with this?” so that I can rework it to be less of a jerk about something like an actual professional writer. ¹

And don’t get me wrong, I love being a little shit. But I also don’t necessarily want to be just that — it’s not enough to be snarky in my writing; I don’t believe in being edgy for the sake of clickbait or whatever. I want to also be useful. Otherwise Support Human would just be the…I don’t know, Fox News of CX newsletters. And I am very much not okay with that.

However — and this is a big however — sometimes what an issue needs is for someone to be a little shit about it. That’s always in the back of my mind: even if what I do isn’t really journalism, I still have the power that comes with a platform. I can say things other people can’t — not just because I’m willing to,² but also because I won’t be made vulnerable by saying it (most of the time).

All this to say: I spend a possibly surprising amount of time telling myself not to be a little shit. The snarkiness is definitely part of the “brand,”³ but deliberately so. I never want to haphazardly hurt people or make enemies in the CX and Tech industries for no reason, but I also want to maintain readers’ trust and hold companies and industry players accountable for the crappy stuff they do.

It’s a fine line, and I’m not always sure I do a good job of toeing it, but I do try. I’m also aware that there’s never going to be a point where I won’t be having this argument with myself.

Because I really do love being a little shit.

Footnotes

1. You may be thinking: the stuff in the newsletter and Bad Job Bingo is you being less of a little shit? Yes. Yes, it is. ↩

2. There’s very little I enjoy more than being a little shit to The Man. ↩

3. I know I need to be thinking about things like my “brand,” but my body physically rejects it every time I say it. It feels so fucking pretentious. ↩