I’m doing a bathroom remodel for a customer and after being finished with the demolition I posted before and after pictures in a group chat with a couple of friends. But WhatsApp flipped the order, so it looked like I had started with an empty room and “remodeled” it into a disgusting, moldy 1980s bathroom - cracked tiles, yellowed sink, ancient toilet, the works.

And one of my friends actually replied with, “Looks great, good job!”

It annoyed me more than it probably should have, but it really did. The picture obviously looked awful. I can only assume he didn’t even look properly before commenting, just fired off a reflexive “nice work” because that’s what people think they’re supposed to do when someone shares something.

I’ve told these guys before: if you have nothing to say, don’t say anything. I’d rather get silence than meaningless approval. I value honesty and attention to detail in what I do, and I expect my friends to show at least a bit of the same when responding. A true friend should hold you to a higher standard, not just dish out empty praise for the sake of being polite.

If someone can look at something that obviously bad and still say “good job,” then their stamp of approval becomes completely worthless to me.

At this point, I don’t even know why I keep sharing things in that chat. I seem to care about authenticity and effort way more than they do, and I keep ending up feeling stupid for expecting more.