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| Trolls come in all shapes and sizes. |
Melissa was a freelance writer and she was, as usual, sitting in her favorite coffee shop and working on her latest gig. This client had hired her to write social media posts and usually, those flowed from Melissa's fingers onto the screen, but she was having some trouble today.
Melissa got up and ordered herself a muffin. Sometimes taking a quick break helped. However, when she sat down again, she still couldn't get anything to come out right.
"Having trouble?" Aleece asked.
Melissa looked up. Aleece also liked to work from the coffee shop. The two had commiserated about the pains of freelance work before, but they'd never really talked specifics about what they did at that coffee shop all day.
"Yeah," Melissa admitted. "Everything I write seems like something that could just be torn apart."
"Can I help?" Aleece asked.
"Sure," Melissa replied.
Aleece pulled up a chair and looked over what Melissa was trying to do. After a few minutes, Aleece opened a note document and typed out a few sentences. "How about that?"
Melissa read it over and smiled. "It's great!" She changed a couple of words and put it in her client's calendar to post it. She turned to Aleece. "You're pretty good at this."
Aleece smiled. "Thanks. Sometimes it just works."
After that, whenever Melissa got stuck, she talked to Aleece and they were always able to figure out how to change the wording of a post. "You're really good at making posts people can't pick apart," Melissa said one day.
"I'd hope so," Aleece replied with a grin.
Melissa laughed. "So, are you still able to make it to that concert tonight?"
"Absolutely!" Aleece replied with a smile. "It'll be good to spend more time with you."
Melissa blushed and smiled. "Yes it will."
As time moved on, the two became closer in their personal and professional lives. They stopped working at the coffee shop and started working at either Melissa's or Aleece's apartment. Melissa started wondering if this was what love felt like.
One day, when they were working at Aleece's apartment, Aleece got up to use the bathroom and left her laptop open. Melissa came across something funny online and decided to open it on Aleece's laptop.
Melissa pulled the laptop over to her and was about to open a new tab, when she noticed that Aleece was on a chat board. Melissa started reading and soon figured out which user Aleece was. Melissa's mouth slowly dropped open. Every post from Aleece was rude or argumentative or nonsensical or all three.
Melissa clicked through Aleece's post history. They were all like that. Melissa's world wobbled. Aleece was a troll. And, judging by some of the other tabs she had open, she was paid to do it.
Melissa pushed the laptop away from her. She felt betrayed. All this time they'd been talking about writing and Aleece never told her.
Melissa wiped her eyes and started packing up her stuff.
Aleece came back from the bathroom and looked confused. "Are you headed out already?"
"You're a troll!" Melissa accused.
Aleece sighed. "Some people have bad opinions. It's even worse when they're trying to talk down a company or product when they don't know what they're talking about."
"I don't want to hear your loopholes. It's bad behavior, and I can't do this anymore." Melissa grabbed her bag.
"Melissa, please. Didn't you wonder why I was so good at helping you with comments people couldn't make fun of? We can still be a team."
Melissa took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No, we can't. I'm sorry, Aleece, but I'm done."
Melissa went home and, after getting her laptop set up again, blocked Aleece on all social media. After all, once a troll, always a troll.
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