Why Can't We All Just Be Honest?
On Saturday evening I went a fundraiser event. It was a fun event, not so much because of the event itself but because of the company. Ali and I started the night off at our friends M & B’s house, whom we hadn’t seen forever. And we were joined but our other friends L & J. Although we hadn’t seen M & B for close to a year, it was if it had only been last week. We caught up on the latest news and chatted about whatever came to mind.
At one point in the evening, I had a conversation with M & B about how I valued their friendship due to its low maintenance. Despite the fact that we had been unable to get together for such a long time, there were no hard feelings, no harsh words and no one felt guilty. We all realized that sometimes life gets busy and we just weren’t able to get together. But it wasn’t without trying; attempts were made but coordinating four schedules just didn’t let it happen until this weekend. And that’s okay.
The irony of the night is that I also ran into a colleague whom I’d previously run into in a grocery store. We did a quick catch up in the store and he suggested we get together for lunch sometime. He didn’t have a card so I gave him mine and he said he’d fire off an email. I’m not typically someone who like to get together to do lunch with anyone other than friends because I honestly am not very interested in other people’s lives. I’m busy enough with my own life and the lives of my family and friends that the last thing I need to hear about is some other guy’s life and what he’s doing. It sounds harsh, but after being in business for myself I’ve found that when you are on a high, everyone wants to try and partner up so as to improve their own lot in life. Or that of their business. Or both.
In this case, my acceptance of lunch was a genuine offer but perhaps the offer from the colleague was not. I even took the time to track down this guy’s email and send him one; no reply. Personally, I don’t understand people who make offers they don’t intend to keep. If I run into someone that I know I have no interest in catching up with, I’ll end the conversation with something like “it was great catching up with you; probably see you around” or words to that effect. Why set up the expectation of a lunch or meeting if there is little desire to?
Where was I? Oh yes, the event. And the irony. About an hour after the conversation regarding low maintenance friendships, who should I run into at the event but the same guy from the grocery store. After the friendly “How’s it going?” I asked what happened to lunch. He mumbled though some reply about he tried and how he looked Zymeta up in the phone book, even going so far as to spell out Z-Y-M-E-T-A for me. I was on my way to the dance floor so I left it at that and didn’t see him for the rest of the night. What’s with the excuses? Why can’t we all just be honest? Tell me you forgot. Or you got busy. Or whatever the truth is.
And just to make sure, I looked up Zymeta in the white and yellow pages. Yup, we’re there, under the ’Z’.
Mon, 06 Mar 2006 23:07 Posted in General
