Asklemmy

I'm anxious and avoidant and opportunistic. I try to make up for it when I feel able to.

I don't love this question.

I spent a huge chunk of my life putting so much focus into being "nice" that some friends sremovedd about me being "a doormat".

Also? The word "nice" has so many soft negative connotations in 2024.

Subtext: if you're "nice" you're fundamentally un-interesting Subtext: if you're "nice" you're a push over and ripe to be taken advantage of.

GOOD person? MORAL person? OK.

Nice? Asking anyone to attribute this to themselves is a foot gun.

I am very laid back (my Dad always said I was nearly horizontal) and I never get angry, I rarely even get flustered or impatient. My Dad was a very good man and I try to follow his example as much as possible. As his health declined and I started caring for him (a real privilege as he helped so many it was only just that he got help in return when he needed it, even if it couldn't possibly fully pay him back) and, as I picked up some of his slack I did wonder where he found the time or energy. Since he died, I have felt like a sheepdog without a flock and have found myself adopting various people - I helped a friend through her cancer journey and her son start university, I took another friend to hospital sufficiently often that she just told the staff I was her "hospital husband" (which did stop them asking questions, usually with a roll of the eyes) and, as I don't drink, I ferry people home from the pub.

However, I can be... thoughtless and this can be really annoying, especially to the easily angered - I've lost a friend over it and my brother isn't exactly my greatest fan (the other year, my niece asked if I wanted to know all the nasty things my brother said about me and I declined - if we knew what people thought about us, we'd tear each other apart). I can also be rude to people but just where it's funny, you just have to know your audience (it can appal any bystanders though). I'm also not very emotionally expressive and I suspect at least one friend thinks I'm a sociopath.

So am I nice? Although it might depend on who you ask, I'd say no. However, I try to do as much good as possible - if anyone needs help, I'll drop what I'm doing and pitch in.

Most the time, but not all the time.

not always :(

I think I am. I think I'm nicer than most people (cringing at myself for saying that but I can't think of a humbler way to phrase it while still being honest).

no

No. I know people who are genuinely nice, and I don't compare to that. I am, for the most part, trying to be a very relaxed person though, and my benign apathy has sometimes been described as "nice".

I try to be, but I don't rule out there may be aspects of the definition that go over my head. For example, there was a time when I was more known for giving to those in need than I'm known for now, but there were critics of mine who saw this and would accuse me of "buying over my friends with gifts". These same people often ask if I see people as pawns because I exchange favors with them, ask if I "think flattery is okay" during the times when I was more known for complimenting others, and criticize me over a combination things I've long made up for, things that normally wouldn't be seen as problematic, and unproven things. I guess I have a lot of everyday pharisees in life who make me think of this question a lot and that this is fresh in my mind. I don't stop people from wanting to explain how I'm not nice though, I just want to understand (within reason, I am my own human).

My students always say I am. They seem so confused when they find out their actions still have consequences in my classroom.

Variably. I am not, however, necessarily a good person either. It depends on the context.

Nope. I actually never want to be described as nice.

Fair, though? Yes, I would like to think that I am fair.

no

I don't care about being "nice," I try very hard to be good and sometimes that comes off as "nice," but generally being good improves my life, the life of my loved ones, the life of my community, and sometimes even the world, if only very little.

Evil people can be nice too, is the problem.

In person to people i dont know or dont hate I'm nice in my intent and my actions but I am sometimes mean in communication unintentionally and intentionally.

On the internet it's different. Because on the internet I am often interacting with people I will never meet or never properly form a relationship with nor will they impact my relationships with other people I tend to assign less value to being nice. I don't go out of my way to be nasty but I'll be disrespectful and condescending if the conversation goes there. But I real life I would take a kill em with kindness strategy instead of rolling in the mud.

I get told I'm one of the nicest and most polite people they've met, so I think there is something to it... I try my best to be friendly and helpful to people, and treat people how I want to be treated! 🤗

Kind. I try to be a kind person. Sometimes I fail. Too many people argue the being "nice" is merely a superficial term.

Nah I'm not nice though I am considerate. I'm not socially... apt.. but I know how to act.

only on tuesday

I think I'm nice. I care, look out for others, and try to be considerate.

Yeah dude

I like to think so. I put a lot of effort into trying to be someone I would want to be friends with, and there are times I slip up of course, but generally I think of myself as someone who is nice.

I have some very serious mood swings. Generally, I'm pretty nice. But if I'm in a bad mood, I turn into a very rude person.

Wow, I really need therapy, don't I?

Not often.

Other people seem to think so, but I am not any nicer on the outside than on the inside, not unfailingly polite and certainly get defensive sometimes.

So I am going to say yes because what's on the outside is what I feel in the inside, and people think I am nice.

Sometimes. I have a hard time when to prioritise my own needs against other people's, so I wind up vacillating between very meek and belligerent kinda randomly. Especially when it comes to social needs (e.g. if it feels like someone else is dominating a conversation with their topic of interest, and I have something I wanted to say about something 3 minutes ago but the person hasn't stopped talking, idk what do).

No. I can be kind but I am not nice.

Yes, I try to be. I can't be an asshole, I feel really bad about it. I have had to be the cruel person and the liar a handful of times, and I hate to do it. But it is what it is. I look at someone like Elon Musk as the embodiment of a "terrible person" and do the opposite of him.

I am definitely not a narcissist, I am definitely not self-centered, and I am definitely not cruel.

I can be.

Nope. I'm thinking of taking acting classes or something because I try to be nice and it doesn't come across that way at all.

Yes. I am. At least nice to people who are also nice to me.

I try to be the best person I can be.

I'd like to think so, most of the time.

But one of the important lesson I learned is that you can't be too nice at work, you have to put your foot down sometimes, otherwise people would just walk all over you and nothing gets done.

I don't like it, but it is what it is.

I used to be nice, then a guy in a bucket hat stood in front of me at a concert.

Depends what you mean by "nice". Nice as in "genuinely good" person, or nice as a "nice behavior towards others"? There's a difference, because in the latter one, it can involve not being honest, just so you can appear "nice". So I'm not "nicely socially behaving" most of the time, I'm instead hammering with facts (without being aggressive). My underlying reason for being like that is because: 1. I'm not diplomatic at all, I wasn't born with that gene it seems, 2. I don't believe I help the situation if I just be nice for the sake of being nice. I feel more useful when I'm straight up, clear as water, without being combative or aggressive. If that makes me not nice because I'm not sugarcoating with socially expected bullshit, then I'm not nice. If that makes me nice because I try to help and my intent is pure, then sure, I'm nice.

No

I'm not a bad person. That's all I really care about.

Everyone claiming to be nice is living a lie and ignoring that everything everyone does ever is essentially motivated by their own self-interests.

Recognizing that makes it a hell of a lot easier to deal with people and avoid buying into the forced bullshit that attempts to force itself into every aspect of life.

Yes. I have a personality disorder that makes me want everyone to like me so I’m always nice (sometimes to the point of being flirtatious) to strangers and people that haven’t offended me greatly. Obviously it doesn’t work on everyone.

I'd say I'm optimistic, hopeful, and we'll intentioned but it's been many a year since I've felt "nice". Something shifted in society during the Covid era and I just feel awful going out of my way for most people these days. Very much in the "every person for themselves" category.

Definitely not

I am very nice. I could probably be kinder, but I think if I was I'd be letting myself get walked on and stuff, so I don't think it's all that good to be too polite.

No.

I like to think I am.