Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

BATB score: 10/10 🧢

Best to: just be there and do nothing - rental person’s pro bono story with request like can you watch me work on lazy WFH, walk with me home on a bad day, sit with me at a cafe while I order a girly beverage of apple soda, listen to me and only say “aha”, watch me play on the swing, stand and wave at me at the marathon finish line, etc is so interesting!

Best as: the human need for a new type of relationship that is in between strangers and friends; the unspoken pressure to reciprocate good friendship is overwhelming; things we would rather share with a stranger but not with friends and family because they wouldn’t understand

BATB lingering thought: humans are complicated and being human is complicated; the book talks about hired (though free of charge) acquaintance service definitely a great business model VS me who is learning to be comfortable alone

Best for: all of us who eats alone sometimes

Best quotes: “I’d like the world to be one where even if people can’t do anything for others, even if they can make no contribution to society, they can still live stress-free lives. This is very important to me because of the gap that exist between the value that I sense in people and the value assigned to them by society.”

“Depth of discussion and depth of relationship don’t always go hand in hand.”

“If something’s troubling someone and they feel that people aren’t going to take it seriously, they feel stuck.”

“It makes me wonder why it is that adults shouldn’t just live as they like.”