Three years ago I got sucked in by one of those sample ladies at Costco, except it was some kind of weird coconut curry chicken salad. She gave me a cracker with a little scoop on it and I swear it tasted like a vacation, so I bought the big tub. Got it home, served it to my wife and she just stared at me and asked if I was trying to poison her on purpose. The tub sat in our fridge for two weeks until I finally threw it out, and I still catch grief about it every time we walk past the sample station. Now I just take the free food and nod politely, then keep walking. Best decision I ever made.

47 tags in 8 pages does sound like a lot, but I would not rewrite my whole draft over one overheard conversation. That person was probably talking about some specific book they hated, not handing down a universal rule. Tags serve a purpose when the reader genuinely can't tell who's speaking or when a pause matters. Cutting them all makes every exchange feel like two robots ping-ponging lines back and forth. I trimmed mine from 47 to maybe 30 and honestly could not feel the difference in pacing. It reads fine either way, so I stopped worrying about it.