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| Topic Started: Jul 27 2013, 09:53 AM (256 Views) | |
| Deleted User | Jul 27 2013, 09:53 AM Post #1 |
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Deleted User
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About two months ago, a couple who were neighbors in a Philadelphia suburb moved to a Seattle suburb to be near their daughter whose husband works for Microsoft. We have never been close friends with this couple, but he has similar chemical sensitivities to mine, so we have emailed and chatted over the years. Late last week, he emailed and asked if we were free today, as their SIL's parents were renting a vacation house here on the island, and they planned to spend the day here visiting and would have lunch with us. In an effort to be helpful, we completely and quietly rearranged our schedule, as we are extremely busy this time of year. Yesterday, he informed us for the first time that they had become vegans. He called the restaurant where I had made reservations, and after discussing he requirements with their staff, informed me he could not eat there (I can't imagine what special requirements he had because my best friend here is vegan and we have dinner with her and her husband at this restaurant at least once every two weeks). Then this morning, I awoke to an email stating they were too fatigued from their move and would not be visiting the island at all this week, but what was our schedule like for the next few weeks? I am seldom nasty, but we have three other commitments this weekend which we had to rearrange to suit their schedule not including missing a one time showing of a film I really wanted to see last night, when we had to reschedule something else, so I told him via email that we were busy for the rest of the summer, but if they were on the island, to give us a call and if we were free, we could get together. I am royally pissed. |
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| FuzzyO | Jul 27 2013, 10:41 AM Post #2 |
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How annoying. I would say you handled it well. |
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| Durgan | Jul 27 2013, 11:33 AM Post #3 |
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Veteran Member
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I have an approach to most such situation that I encounter. Once I had a friend, casual acquaintance, visit on a day trip. I prepared a nice meal to perfection. While cutting the perfect beef roast, I asked how he like his meat. The reply was "How I get it". Since then this has been my approach to visits both from and too friends. Also nobody is going to be ill from missing or disliking one meal. |
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| Dana | Jul 27 2013, 11:50 AM Post #4 |
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WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire
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Now you're getting the hang of 'island life' . I don't think that was nasty at all to people who are mere acquaintances. Better not to have to entertain people who were not feeling well. They may think that there is nothing to do where you live and that you have lots of empty time on your hands. It doesn't sound like they know you well. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 27 2013, 12:07 PM Post #5 |
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Deleted User
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Lol. Dana, we marvel at how busy we always are. I don't think we were this busy when we both had full time jobs and a child at home. What I didn't realize is how demanding and time consuming volunteer work is. I have mentioned here on WWS that I volunteer every Sunday as the official greeter at our famous Rhododenrum garden and shown you all photos of that garden. Tomorrow Saturday is its Annual Meeting. This weekend is also the annual Loganberry Festival at the publicly owned educational farm where DH and i studied how to grow organic food here in the Pacific Northwest and where we had a pea patch for the first two years we were here and where we volunteer still. Sunday we man the Information booth at the festival. We were supposed to run the Beer Garden this year, john's favorite assignment, but when we had to rearrange times, etc, we got stuck in the info booth. And tonight, we are out to dinner with friends who are big animal rights supporters, and next weekend is the beginning of the major fundraising drive for the central building of the new shelter complex at the shelter barn which has now been completed, so we are hoping to enlist this couple's support for the shelter (DH is on the shelter board). So having to set time aside for these acquaintances who couldn't be bothered showing up was a huge inconvenience. I guess, having moved to this fairly rural area from the big city, I never realized just how much work gets done by unpaid volunteers. We're it not for the retirement community here, I can't even imagine how the county would survive. At the animal shelter, for example, we have more than 5 unpaid volunteers for every paid employee. That's why our dogs get walked several times per day and cats like Red and Blue are so well socialized when adopted and our shelter has the highest possible rating from the entity that rates shelters. So many programs that back east were run by county or city employees, here are run by volunteers. |
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| Trotsky | Jul 28 2013, 01:00 AM Post #6 |
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Big City Boy
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That's all I'd need to hear and my next response would be "Be sure to e-mail me when you get back home!" My feeling is for people who "can't eat this," "and can't eat that, or "won't eat the other," is that the cannot eat with me. Another acronym: LITS..."Life Is Too Short" Yes, we have a friend who is precisely the same type...we have stopped eating with her, EVER. ANd we are slowly getting to the point of no longer making any plans with her at all. We will say, "what day is good for you?" She will say "Either Tuesday or Wednesday" We will say "Tuesday then!" She will invariable come back with "HOW ABOUT WEDNESDAY?" Next time it happens my comeback will be paraphrased from Bette Davis: "I'd love to meet you Wednesday but I just washed my hair." But she is like Sheldon, ironically impaired, and would say "What do you mean?" Edited by Trotsky, Jul 28 2013, 01:09 AM.
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