when I left my fun (but shit pay/no healthcare) outdoor physical labor job, I had to condition myself to a completely new set of phrases some might construe as “professional”. I knew a guy who would respond to clusterfucks with a monotone “incredible” but if something was really indefensibly insane he would just say, flatly, “interesting”. outside of work, he was much more expressive, but it can be a kind of amusing game to see how much of a flat affect and reserved demeanor one can maintain during the reveal of surreal corruption and incompetence. like who can keep a calm exterior going and trying to get others who recognize the absurdity to laugh first.

makes me think of some scene from Ozark where Marty (the master of this) responds to some batshit admission with just the word “dynamite” in complete monotone.