I have a Chilean friend whom I'll call "Geraldine." I haven't seen Geraldine in months, but every couple of weeks, I get a message from her saying, "When are we getting together?"
Rather than enthusiastically clearing my schedule for her, as I used to do, I've learned to be skeptical. I've started answering, "I'd love to. When are you available?", thereby putting the ball back in her court where it inevitably lays inert.
Geraldine has three standard responses:
(A) "When are you available?" I sigh and write back to tell her my entire weekly agenda. Then I wait and wait and wait until the week passes without my hearing from her again.
(B) "Tuesday" or whichever is the one day of that week that I already have something else planned. It never fails. If I write her back to suggest another day, no response.
(C) None at all..........until two weeks or so later when the whole process starts all over.
By varying her responses, sometimes I wonder if Geraldine might just be toying with me, that she has no intention of us actually ever getting together. But surely she has better ways to spend her time than thinking up ways to frustrate little ol' me!
Hahahah. I think we each have a collection of those friends!
ReplyDeleteSounds like she is toying with you!
ReplyDeleteI laugh when I try and organise something for a group of friends. Say for example a walk. I give them a day and time, most people agree then someone wants a later time than organised and have I emailed so and so to see if they can make it. Rather than email everyone again and try and reorgainse, because I know someone else then wont make it...I say. Sorry yOu cant make it, perhaps next time! Grrrrr LOL
Thanks for commenting, Lydia & PiP. Yes, I agree that we all know these friends, and PiP, getting a group together is even worse! I once tried to coordinate a birthday lunch for three of us. It took about a week and probably at least 25 emails for us to agree on a day, time and type of restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI used to think this "Let's get together SOON!" was a purely Chilean trait. Then I just got bailed on in the most awful way by a gringa friend here. Like she literally made up the worst lie not to get together and then went on to make other plans with her other friends on her Facebook wall. It's aggravating for sure!
ReplyDeleteI think that she may not be toying with you. Instead, she probably wants to see you but lacks the initiative to actually pull it together. Chileans, in my opinion, are dreamers, not planners and this bugs me to no end.
I have had that same experience, Sara. People seem to forget that, through the miracle of Facebook, all is eventually revealed.
ReplyDelete