Well, that’s a new one…
Every once in a while I am reminded of why I am so glad that I was raised to have a good sense of humor. Today I had one of those moments.
I called a certain member of my family this afternoon to check in and take care of some business. For the purposes of this blog I shall call her “elf.” Now, I feel I have to explain just how much I HATE talking on the phone. I absolutely hate calling people. Even if its my own family, I dread phoning people. I get nervous, and oftentimes the conversation is quite awkward no matter how hard I try to avoid it becoming so.
The phone call to Elf actually started out okay. But then the topic of conversation turned to a thank you note I had sent her the week before. She told me she had something to tell me, and that I shouldn’t get upset about it. She just wanted to help me, and since she was an English major in college she felt she needed to guide me. Then she went on to tell me that the education I have gained should be put to use and on, and on, and on. She also mentioned that I shouldn’t run to my mother and tell her that she reprimanded me for what she was about to tell me. Huh??
And then she procedeed to point out the grammatical error in my thank you note.
Seriously.
I was in a rush to get a thank you note in the mail to her, as I would surely hear about it later if I didn’t do it soon. In this note, I had written the phrase “Alan and I” instead of “Alan and me.” *gasp* Now, most people would ignore this blunder and move on. Not Elf. Elf decided that it would be helpful to point this out. She even read the sentence word for word. I imagine the note was placed next to the phone awaiting our next conversation. There were probably highlighters and red ink involved.
I am a fan of proper grammar, and though I’m sure my blog doesn’t show it, I do attempt to use proper sentence structure in formal communications such as Thank You notes. Misspelled words are my thing, but do I point them out to people when they attempt to show a nice gesture for a gift? No. In my opinion it’s a little rude.
So, the lesson I am taking from this? Be thankful for the people in your life. Love the ones who love you, and laugh off the comments from ones who preach etiquette but choose to turn a blind eye to the hypocrisy of their actions.
/rant