September 5, 2003

Allure of the Mean Friend

What is it about them, our mean friends? They treat us poorly, they don't call us back, they cancel plans at the last minute, and yet we keep coming back for more. Popular bullies exist in business, politics — everywhere. How do they stay so popular?

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Transcript

Prologue

We hear kids recorded at Chicago's Navy Pier and at a public swimming pool discussing their mean friends. And Ira Glass interviews Lillie Allison, 15, about the pretty, popular girls who were her best friends—until they cast her out. (5 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Act One

Return To The Scene Of The Crime

Jonathan Goldstein interrogates the girls, now grown up, who terrorized him and his classmates years ago in school—and finds they can be just as scary as ever. (18 minutes)

Jonathan Goldstein is the host of the podcast Heavyweight.

By

Jonathan Goldstein

Act Two

Does Niceness Pay?

We conduct an experiment to test whether being nice actually pays by equipping two waitresses with hidden microphones to record their interactions. Each waitress is instructed to be super friendly with half of their tables while remaining aloof with the other half. We then compare the tips to see which approach was more profitable. (10 minutes)

Thanks to owners Jason Hammel and Lea Tshilds and the staff at the Lula Cafe in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.

By

Ira Glass

Song:

“Untied” by Tallulah

Act Three

And What's Going On With You?

A case study in every word from a friend meaning its opposite. (4 minutes)

An excerpt from the book The Underminer, by Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan.

By

Mike Albo

Act Four

Keeping It In The Family

An excerpt of Bernard Cooper's story about the bill he got from his own father, for the entire cost of his childhood. Actor Josh Hamilton reads. (19 minutes)

The story first appeared in Los Angeles Magazine and is in Cooper's book The Bill From My Father.