4036: Out of Touch
Oh, poop, I was going to post a GIF. Eh, I guess we didn't really have any board games as such, so I'll let it slide. This time.
I wanted to repost this for sickening truth =pDEAR AMY: Last year a co-worker gave birth to her first child. As soon as I learned of her pregnancy, I threw myself into making a homemade cradle for the baby.
I made sure I followed safety guidelines. I used the finest material available and probably spent at least a half-dozen weekends making sure the craftsmanship was perfect.
When I delivered the rocking cradle to my co-worker, who was on maternity leave, I attached a card. She was at the hospital, and I left the gift at her house with her mother-in-law.
I never heard from the co-worker. After four weeks I sent an e-mail asking after the baby boy and asking if the rocking cradle had been received. I received no response.
Five months later she returned to work. We were assigned to attend a local work conference together and I took that opportunity to ask again if she had received the cradle. She paused to think and said, “Yeah, we got it. We use it.”
As I had engraved the child’s name in the cradle and worked so very hard on it, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. The words “Thank you” haven’t once come out of her mouth.
I know there are more important things in the world, but now I avoid this co-worker. I find her lack of manners appalling. I am an older gentleman and she is in her mid-30s. Our spouses have both met and I feel we are all comfortable with one another.
How can the problem be fixed if I don’t tell her how I feel? -- Chagrined
DEAR CHAGRINED: It’s possible that your extreme generosity has overwhelmed your co-worker. This sort of amazing homemade gift is literally priceless, and she is obviously ill-equipped to respond.
Know this: You could tell her how you feel, but it will not fix the problem - which is that this person is flawed and needs to figure out how to express gratitude.
If you want to do this, keep it simple and to the point. Her response will be along the lines of, “Well, uh, duh - whatever.”
After that, you should drop it and get back to work.
This is a co-worker! I can't imagine doing that much for FAMILY. That just shouts "No Respect for Boundaries" and "Saviour Complex" [after a sort]. I guess I'm just way too attuned to this kind of thing after being viewed as Ungrateful for not appreciating the same kind of excess I did not request.
Shmupmeet was pretty good, though I spent most of it drawing. I was going to do the Starfox [original flavour] thing again, but after C joked about it and by the time I got to a stopping point, everyone seemed to have moved on to something else, so... eh. I did finally update my XBoxen and d/l RSG, though, so I got three acheevos on that [the easiest ones, basically, as per how that works]. Not quite as fond of dinner, but that may have been my specific experience [not BAD, but not excited at the idea of going back].
I wanted to repost this for sickening truth =pDEAR AMY: Last year a co-worker gave birth to her first child. As soon as I learned of her pregnancy, I threw myself into making a homemade cradle for the baby.
I made sure I followed safety guidelines. I used the finest material available and probably spent at least a half-dozen weekends making sure the craftsmanship was perfect.
When I delivered the rocking cradle to my co-worker, who was on maternity leave, I attached a card. She was at the hospital, and I left the gift at her house with her mother-in-law.
I never heard from the co-worker. After four weeks I sent an e-mail asking after the baby boy and asking if the rocking cradle had been received. I received no response.
Five months later she returned to work. We were assigned to attend a local work conference together and I took that opportunity to ask again if she had received the cradle. She paused to think and said, “Yeah, we got it. We use it.”
As I had engraved the child’s name in the cradle and worked so very hard on it, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. The words “Thank you” haven’t once come out of her mouth.
I know there are more important things in the world, but now I avoid this co-worker. I find her lack of manners appalling. I am an older gentleman and she is in her mid-30s. Our spouses have both met and I feel we are all comfortable with one another.
How can the problem be fixed if I don’t tell her how I feel? -- Chagrined
DEAR CHAGRINED: It’s possible that your extreme generosity has overwhelmed your co-worker. This sort of amazing homemade gift is literally priceless, and she is obviously ill-equipped to respond.
Know this: You could tell her how you feel, but it will not fix the problem - which is that this person is flawed and needs to figure out how to express gratitude.
If you want to do this, keep it simple and to the point. Her response will be along the lines of, “Well, uh, duh - whatever.”
After that, you should drop it and get back to work.
This is a co-worker! I can't imagine doing that much for FAMILY. That just shouts "No Respect for Boundaries" and "Saviour Complex" [after a sort]. I guess I'm just way too attuned to this kind of thing after being viewed as Ungrateful for not appreciating the same kind of excess I did not request.
Shmupmeet was pretty good, though I spent most of it drawing. I was going to do the Starfox [original flavour] thing again, but after C joked about it and by the time I got to a stopping point, everyone seemed to have moved on to something else, so... eh. I did finally update my XBoxen and d/l RSG, though, so I got three acheevos on that [the easiest ones, basically, as per how that works]. Not quite as fond of dinner, but that may have been my specific experience [not BAD, but not excited at the idea of going back].