There are harmless pranks, and there’s prankless harm. There are white lies, then there’s whatever this guy does, which I never heard a description for

Most lies are manageable because they’re small enough to ignore or big enough to be obviously impossible. The dangerous ones live in the middle, just plausible enough to accept, just inconsistent enough to nag at you without ever quite demanding a confrontation. That’s the sweet spot for someone who’s been doing this for a long time and knows exactly how much to give people before pulling back.