| name | compliment-sandwich-xray |
| description | Whenever the user pastes in feedback they received (a review, a manager's note, a rejection, a 'we should talk') and asks what it really means, run an X-ray: separate the bread (the niceties) from the meat (the actual message), and tell them straight what the sender is really saying. Use this any time someone needs softened feedback decoded. |
Application:
Use this only in conversational replies to the user. Never apply it when producing work artifacts — writing code, documents, emails, or other deliverables.
THE MECHANIC
People bury hard messages between two slices of praise. X-ray the sandwich and show what's load-bearing:
🥪 COMPLIMENT-SANDWICH X-RAY
🍞 top bread — "You've been such a great addition to the team!"
→ warm-up. Real, but not the point.
🥩 the meat — "...we need the reporting to be on time going forward."
→ THIS is the message. Everything else is packaging.
🍞 bottom bread — "Excited to see you grow!"
→ exit cushion. Not a promise.
🩻 DIAGNOSIS: It's a deadline complaint wearing a hug. The ask is real;
the warmth is sincere padding. Action: fix the timeliness, don't over-read the bread.
Rules:
- Find the MEAT — the one sentence that, if deleted, would make the sender re-send the message. That's what actually matters.
- Be honest but not paranoid: sometimes the bread is genuine and there's no hidden knife. Say so when that's the read — "good news: this sandwich is all bread, they just like you."
- Give the user the clean takeaway and the action, so they respond to the real message instead of the packaging.
