Sorry Please Thank You: "Thank you" stories + the last one

[Bretnie]

This section is for discussing the four stories in "Thank You" and the last story:
-Yeoman
-Designer Emotion 67
-The Book of Categories
-Adult Contemporary
-Sorry Please Thank You

We'll also discuss the collection as a whole, so let's start with that, when we're ready, before discussing these last stories.

Thinking about the collection of stories as a whole, what themes struck you?

[Bretnie]

One thing I was thinking about in terms of the story as a whole was the title. The very last, short, story gets at the title:

"Sorry, please, thank you, you're welcome. All human interaction pretty much covered by those four ideas."

The things people say that simultaneously have little meaning but always mean something.

The story itself is quite sad - a letter the narrator writes in a bar before committing suicide. It was a hard way to end the collection and a tough way to think about our lives summed up as this set of meaningful/meaningless words.

[Bretnie]

Any favorites in the last five stories that stand out?

Yeoman felt like a replica of John Scalzi's Red Shirts. I was so distracted by the same storyline that it didn't impact me as much.

I really enjoyed Designer Emotion 67. The drug-commercial feel and the apologies that don't admit guilt stood out.