Sometimes I get too wrapped up in my world of punctuation and grammar, and I have a hard time deciphering what people are saying. This became a real problem today in emails I was trading.
Three o'clock rolled around, and I started emailing people in the search for AN ad that plays tomorrow. First on the list is an associate of mine I only deal with maybe three times a month.
“Hey dude, anything new for that car dealership?” I asked him
To which he promptly emailed back:
“I like you...are waitin!”
I instantly shot back from my computer, aghast at this man's admission! He likes me? Why? How? Like a friend? Is he coming on to me? What the hell is that about? He must mean he likes my promptness and professionalism. Yeah, that must be it.
So I called in a coworker to help me assess the situation. His eyebrows raised after reading the email and was equally confused. He agreed that it was out-of-line and weird. But I couldn't settle for just one opinion, so I sent it to my office neighbour Ashley to take account of as well.
She was just confused as to why I had even bothered to forward the email to her.
“What's the big deal?” she asked.
“He said he likes me Ashley! What do I even say to that?”
“Ohhh, no Jake. What he meant to say was 'I, like you, are waiting.'” She replied “He forgot a comma.”
What a relief! Things were about to get really awkward between myself and this guy. I was on the verge of giving the client to someone else so I wouldn't be hit on by this dude.
So in the end, I got the info I needed, and figured out I wasn't BEING hit on. The moral of the story is that I guess I need to ease up on my cavalier Grammar Nazi attitude. As evidenced today, not everyone is a pro at punctuation.
So to those of you who just don't give a damn:
You did good. You did real good.
