The Sociopath's Guide to Keeping Friends, lesson 2: Avoid deliberately infuriating your friend. We all love a good practical joke now and then, but it can be carried too far. Be aware (using empathy, the skill covered in lesson 1) of your friend's demeanor; in particular, pay close attention to whether they are intently focused on accomplishing a particular goal. If it seems that they are, repeatedly stymieing their efforts despite repeated protests may irritate them, and indicate to them that you desire their failure. While it is true that under certain circumstances, you will have a legitimate cause to obstruct their goals, such as competition, and that in such cases they will most likely be quite understanding of you, there are other circumstances wherein it will be difficult for your friend to sympathize with your behavior, since it will appear to them to be motivated by cruelty, which will earn their disapproval (see Appendix 1: Disreputable Traits). It is important to recognize these circumstances, because, under them, systematic opposition will cause you to appear not as a friend but as its opposite, an enemy.
