People deciding how to communicate romantic interest

Meme: Board Room Suggestion, 4 panels

1st panel: Supervisor demands from his team, "How do we get them to think of us romantically?"

2nd: Three people in the team respond.

• First man: Disingenuously laugh at their joke.

• Woman: Hit on someone else to make them jealous.

• Second man that is relaxed: Explicitly tell them you want that.

3rd: Supervisor looks angrily at relaxed second man.

4th: Outside view of office building with relaxed man thrown out of a window

I'm sure there are very good reasons for why people flirt and communicate romantic interests implicitly. However, to me and my concrete literal thinking style, the whole thing is confusing. Sometimes I pick up on it, but I'm sure I miss most of it since when I was younger and used to go to places, friends would have to tell me if a girl was interested in me. When I would get home, I would recap the night with my friends to see what they thought. In general, it leaves me feeling lots of self-doubt in these situations, so I end up playing it extra safe to avoid making others uncomfortable. However, it would be nice if people were more explicit with me in general.

Maybe I can make a checklist of flirting signs that I can keep on a phone app. When I start getting confused, I go through the list to make a thought-out assessment.

Bonus: Casually Explained video providing tips for noticing romantic interest