This week, Rarasaur’s Prompts For The Promptless is about Litmus tests:

The Litmus Test is a test in which a single factor (as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive.  In other words, it’s a single question test, not necessarily related to the information that is gleaned from the test.

I have used this term in my life a lot. For decades, I have had Litmus personality tests for people I meet. If people don’t respond well to certain things love, I know their personality is probably not a great fit for mine. We might be civil and friendly, but rarely will we be friends.  Obviously, people and personalities are a lot more complicated than simply liking or disliking a movie, but I have found these to be good fairly good indicators of whether I might get along with someone or not.

These tests have changed over the years. The first Litmus test was Blade Runner. It has always been, and still is, one of my all time favorite movies. It instantly made Ridley Scott one of my favorite directors. I have sat through more Scott claptrap simply because of Blade Runner than I’d care to admit.

In the early 90’s, it was The Simpsons. If I met someone who didn’t find at least one episode of that show to be the most hilarious thing they had ever seen, I really didn’t want anything to do with them. The Simpsons Litmus test worked until season 5 or 6. After that, the show started to go downhill. I still have more Simpsons references floating around in my brainpan than any other show.

The movie Fight Club came out in 1999. It became another instant Litmus test. If you didn’t get this movie and thought it was only about violence, well, I would sit you down and try to explain how it wasn’t. If you still didn’t get it or wouldn’t listen, well, have a nice life.

The Detroit Red Wings are another test. I don’t like when people consistently give me a rash of abuse because I’m a Red Wings fan. A little ribbing is fine, but get over it. First, I am from Detroit. It is my hometown. I didn’t choose to be a Wings fan; I was born into it. Would you rather that I switch my home allegiance because the Red Wings happen to have been consistently good for the last fifteen years or so? Second, since I am from Detroit and I’m slightly older than 16, I remember when they sucked. I remember how awful they were before Steve Yzerman and Scotty Bowman came along. They won the Stanley Cup in 1997. Before that, they were full of suck.

Third, if people still insist on giving me shit, I remind them that I am also a Detroit Lions fan, one of the consistently worst teams in the NFL. Established: 1929. Last championship game: 1957.

Nowadays, the biggest and most important Litmus test is my dog. If you don’t like my dog, I’m sorry, but I really can’t hang around with you since I take her everywhere I go where she’s allowed. It’s impossible to not like my dog though, so I haven’t run into this problem yet.

She just melts your heart.

Do you have any Litmus personality tests you use to gauge whether or not you’ll get along with people?