"Every day I'm a trash can for other people's problems, but I've got nowhere to dump my own," Steve said, sounding genuinely frustrated. "I once heard about a guy who would vent all his frustrations to a tree hollow. But he did it so often, the tree hollow died." He looked completely deadpan as he said it.

That actually made me laugh.

"Well, when you think about it, all that drama makes for some pretty juicy gossip," I teased.

He shook his head and ...