[talking to female co-worker, lightheartedly poking fun but still mostly meaning it]
Ok so, let me ask you a question and don't take this the wrong way but....you're always kinda... on edge and....[said more quietly, quickly, almost as an aside to self] I don't know, kinda act like a bitch now and then.

[upon hearing an objection, slight snicker] See, that's what I mean, you did it again. It's ok, no hard feelings. I'm actually getting used to it by now. All the putdowns. It's a reminder that I'm not perfect. And you know what? I'm probably not. [cool sarcasm, not angry or loud] And I need someone like you, who's good at knowing exactly what's wrong with people, so you can nag th...I mean tell them about it. So they are aware of it and can improve. Now that I think about it, you're performing a true humanitarian service, and I take back everything I just said earlier. Sorta.

[telling a story about his sister who died in an accident, slightly emotional but more despondent than sad, not crying or even trying to hold back tears, but disappointed in himself, low-key, intimate one-on-one, talking to female coworker in confidence]

And that's the last time I saw her. She stormed out of there and...I thought about following her but didn't. And a few hours later, that's when I got the call that, you know...she was gone and....[sigh] And that was it. That's life. No redoes.

You know she umm...she said she hated me. That's the last thing she said to me. And now the whole thing is like....frozen in time and can't be changed. I don't believe in the afterlife, Melissa but...I do believe in ghosts. Living here...inside your head. And this is mine. [trying to be more lighthearted and hamming it up slightly in the next line, as defense mechanism, but failing] My sister, forever 19 years old, forever hating me to the end of time...[more somber] anyway....not sure where I'm going with all this. I think I just had too much to drink, that's all.