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Takeout Man and Social Phobia ‌

The absurdity and warmth of sociopathic mutual aid

By anminPublished 10 months ago 3 min read

As delivery rider Kobayashi wrung three ice American cups into his Star River Bay apartment at 1am, the red numbers dancing in the elevator seemed to mock him - two minutes after he had knocked over a row of shared bikes for taking a shortcut. The phone suddenly vibrated, the customer sent a new message: "Brother, if you meet the door wearing dinosaur pajamas, do not look at each other, that is my roommate."

He stared at the flashing hallway lights on the 21st floor, remembering the robotic arm that had popped out of the door the previous week as he delivered river snail noodles to room 2003. That day, he was so scared that he almost put the lunch box on the head of the AI voice butler, and the result was that the owner of the mechanical arm explained in a muffled voice from behind the cat's eyes: "This is a 'non-contact food device' assembled by me. Don't call the police."

"Ding! As soon as the elevator door opened, Kobayashi came across a "giant broccoli" that was shaking. A closer look showed a young girl wrapped in a green coral blanket, crouching next to a fire hydrant and slipping notes under the door. Seeing him approach, the girl "shua" flicked up, under the blanket exposed half printed "black" T-shirt: "I I I am not suspicious character! Just helping 2201's neighbors deliver letters of complaint!"

Xiao Lin caught a brief look at the words on the note: "2202 household: your home Wi-Fi name" work overtime on jumping off the building "has lasted for three months, it is recommended to change to" jumping off the building is better than 12345 ", in addition, in the middle of the night to tap the keyboard sound like a telegram, please change the mute axis."

"Or... Shall I hang the door for you?" Xiao Lin shook the takeaway bag in his hand, "Anyway, I want to send coffee to 2003." The girl's eyes lit up and she pulled a roll of scotch tape out of her blanket. "Use this! No fingerprints!" And two steps back warily added: "Don't tell the property manager Wang aunt, she caught me last week science popularization two hours of anti-fraud guide..."

Such as Xiao Lin tiptoe to finish the note, 2003 door suddenly "click" pop open a crack. The robotic arm has a new skin this time - metal fingers wrapped in tiny colored lights hold a note: "Coffee on the tray, don't talk to the person in Pikachu pajamas, he just got hives from the client."

Suddenly, a loud drink downstairs pierced the silence: "2202! You put food on my doorknob again!" The building's sensor lights went on. Kobayashi peered down from the railing to see the balding programmer of 2201 holding up a braised chicken takeaway and growling at a door labeled "There are vicious dogs (actually Shiba inu) inside." From the door came a stuffy response: "That's 2203!" Your house is opposite!"

The corridor was suddenly as lively as a wet market. The boy wrapped in a strawberry bear blanket looked from 2203: "What I ordered was milk tea?" The boy in the dinosaur pajamas whispered from the gap in the fire escape: "Is there a possibility... Are you taking my Chinese medicine for hair loss?" The 2003 resident, wearing Pikachu pajamas, suddenly dropped a packet of tissues from upstairs. On it was written in marker: "Hives are contagious. Use this to wipe the door handle."

Xiao Lin silently took out his mobile phone and added a message to the customer on the 21st floor: "I suggest you add a speaker to the mechanical arm, and next time you can say" Thank you, five-star praise." Turned around and saw the green carpet girl squatting in the stairwell, teasing the 2201 programmer's Shiba inu with a laser pointer. A QR code attached to the dog's collar was scanned to reveal a voice message: "My master said that if I let him date me again, I will be neutered to save the dog's life."

The next day, the entire building received anonymous packages. Xiao Lin sent a bunch of stickers with "social terrorism special emojis", ranging from "do not disturb, in the immortal" to "smile is fake"; Green carpet girl contributed Wi-Fi signal blocker instructions; The guy in the dinosaur pajamas hung sanitizer boxes on every doorknob, along with a hand-drawn tutorial: "How to make an anti-conversation mask with a 3D printer." The programmer of 2201 silently changed the Wi-Fi name to "put Shiba Inu demolition video again."

The property manager's aunt Wang frowns at the newly posted "Corridor Civilization Convention" on patrol - article 3 reads: "It is forbidden to use a robot arm to steal crayfish next door at 3 am, the violator will be fined to the whole building to rob concert tickets." It was signed with a delivery helmet and a green blanket.‌

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