Pretending I Help

I am not a psychotherapist. I like to pretend I help people anyway.

I feel like I'm in the bartender / hairdresser / massage therapist realm of helping people. It's not my primary job, but sometimes it accidentally happens anyway, in the natural process of callers sharing their life, and me responding to it.

"Doc Cupid" called today, for the first time in weeks (I wrote about him in my most popular post ever, here). When he had called before, he had sounded sad about the lack of intelligent women in his town, and his prospects for dates. I had recommended OKCupid.com (not making money off them, I swear, I just love their data-heavy blog and philosophy of free services), and that he go to a bar in his scrubs after work and see if he gets numbers.

He hasn't done the scrubs thing yet (you totally should!!), but OKCupid worked fine for him. He seems to have rinsed off his ex-girlfriend residue, and emerged a brighter, shinier version of himself. As he was telling me about his new fuck buddy, I said, "I like to pretend I'm partially responsible for helping you," and he graciously answered, "You totally helped me."

Even if it's a lie, it's a pretty lie, and I like it, so I'm keeping it.