Screen name calling

Since online chatting software is almost indispensable in my line of work, a neat scene at the workplace is everybody typing madly away on their keyboards. People normally don't talk, they type. When you spend more than 5 minutes speaking to a colleague, you feel guilty making all that noise. With this trend comes an interesting phenomenon, which I'll simply dub "screen name calling." In effect, some people enter a line in their name display to describe how they feel or think. Most of the time you will learn what kind of pet they have, how old their acquaintances are and some other tidbits of their lives, but sometimes you can see pointed statements. And then the guessing game ensues. Is it me or is it the girl in front of me? Or the guy next to the girl in front of me? It's alright if you don't give a damn, but unfortunately 99% of human beings are not designed this way.

As far as I am concerned, screen name calling is probably a very good way to blow off some steam. Other than that, it doesn't have much use. It doesn't get things fixed because no one really wants to stand up and say, hey, that ass is me, isn't it, and it definitely doesn't make people happy if they suspect they are the target, and they would in turn make you even unhappier than you already are. But then, I was boldfaced enough to ask someone some time ago if her screen name complaining about noises was about me. It was not. And I am so thick that I might not even know when it IS about me. So what do I know.