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Do you think I offended?

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humor jointer
5K views 48 replies 41 participants last post by  noise_expert 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
A school district is selling at auction several old pieces of shop tools.

They had a photo of a Rockwell JOINTER incorrectly captioned with "Auction # xxx234 - LATHE"

It was obvious (at least to me) that this was an innocent mistake, probably made out of total ignorance of anything mechanical.

So, I thought I would advise of the error and be kind of "cute" (I thought) at the same time….....as opposed to just being direct.

I wrote: "I have this exact lathe. No wonder my bowls have been turning out flat"

Well, I thought that was hysterical.

She wrote back today: " I don't work in wood working machinery - sorry to mis-lead -but next time you could just say is this a planer and not a lathe?"

I wrote back to her and said: "I was not making fun of you or your mistake, and if I offended I truly apologize. I continue to think that any woodworker reading the ad and then my follow-up question will realize yours was an innocent mistake and my question was actually funny and very kindly pointed out the mistake. Please laugh it off. Thanks"

Whatchall think? .
 
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#6 ·
Well, my sister-in-law would be mad. I would have replied, "with the added feature, the price doubles." Life is too short, she'll get over it - or not. If she were your wife or close friend, you would have a problem. If it had been my wife, she would have been mad that someone told her incorrectly what it was - she would have asked.
 
#7 ·
I think a lot of people need to lighten up. You gave her a chance to respond with something equally witty. You both could have had a laugh. Instead, she was offended; thus making you feel guilty. I'm with KnotScott. Ask her if this is her largest problem of the day.
 
#9 ·
I am sorry but you're completely insensitive to the brotherhood of women workers and associated affiliations etc .Poor hurt women like this women have been slaves to the masses long enough without the need to point out a deliberate minor hardly worth mentioning slight error obviously done to keep fat lazy no good male masses men on their toes. the sufferring of women has to be brought to an end surely you could see in your crass remarks you were undressing her mentally with your torturous words.Altogether nowNoooobudy knows the troubles ahve seen nobuddy knows mah sorrows etc life is hard so why not send her a bunch of dandelions with a nice script attached like get real lady.poor tortured soul Alistair
 
#10 ·
Hiya Bruce,

No worries, mate…....just take it as it lays. Some people aren't like you or me….no sence of humor. We like to have fun…I can tell…some don't. Besides…..she still didn't get it right…. she called it a planer instead of a jointer…..When I run into people like this, I wish I was still in the Army. Watch out…their everywhere…
Wolfhounds forever…......
 
#14 ·
As my mother always says, "tone" doesn't come across in e-mails.

I would have gotten a chuckle out of this, but … there could be a lesson learned here, if you're open to it, and … that is … if you don't know your audience, and your audience doesn't know you, it's not a certainty that you're going to be taken the way you meant to be taken.

Little winking smiley face emoticons [;-)] can help, but … still … if she's not computer savvy, and doesn't know you, that's still no guarantee she won't take your message the wrong way.

In other words … none of us is going to have much chance of "getting her to lighten up."

On the other hand … we have you as an asking audience, so … you could consider whether there was simply some risk that the joke would be lost on her, and … whether you'd do the same thing, the same way, if the opportunity arose :)
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
This sort of reminds me of the time that a company my university does business with wrote me a letter saying I should have received a refund check from them. The letter went on, telling me that if I did NOT receive the check, put an "x" in this box, and return the letter to them along with documentation of not receiving the check.

I couldn't figure out how to document NOT receiving a check, so I sent back a blank sheet of paper, with a note saying "Please find enclosed a copy of the check I never received."

I got a phone call about a week later from their accounts department. The woman wasn't offended. She was just totally perplexed about why I sent a blank piece of paper.

Duh!
 
#18 ·
Neil, I work for the State. You can only imagine how much trouble I've found myself in, trying to be humorous. I approach the World as if everyone's a jerk; I'm usually right, sadly.
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
She was not a woodworker, so it could be that she didn't know (or care) if it was a lathe or planer/jointer.. She probably got the tags mixed up. It's unfortunate but true that some people are not too bright. When we come across one like that, it makes us feel smarter. Don't sweat it. It takes all kinds (unfortunately) to make a world. Show a picture of a vertical boring mill to a kid and ask him what it's called and he will reply, huh? In fact, 90% of anyone you ask won't know. BTW, the 1-2-3 block was a nice find. Looks like it has never been used. Maybe no one in the shop classes knew what it was.
 
#21 ·
I think anything you said, it would have offended her. Too terse, too condenscing, too pointed out a mistake, too whatever. Kind of the 'does this make me look fat?' no win situation. You went above and beyond by sending an apology. Hope you get some killer deals at that auction as a reward for being a nice guy.
 
#22 ·
Well, I'll say one thing. That old expression about the corn cob stuck up somebody's butt that Mike mentioned - that's a good one. I've definitely seen that expression hit the nail on the head more than quite a few times when thinking about people at various times in my life. :)
 
#23 ·
That's exactly the kind of thing I would have said. I've said similar things in the past.

Recently, in a baseball discussion about a play by Prince Fielder (Milwaukee Brewers) my friend innocently referred to him as Cecil Fielder (who is Prince's father and a former baseball player, himself). I said, "That's amazing that Cecil could make that play at his age."

My friend was not amused. He, like many, take life way to seriously.
 
#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
I think Neil (NBeener) hit it on the head in reference to lack of 'tone' and inflection.
I recently had a request to show my house at 1645hrs. I would not be able to make that time slot but, could make 1745hrs.
My broker's reply was, "No showings after 1700hrs". That means that the request had been rescheduled.
At 1800hrs, I was surprised (wearing shorts, sweat, sawdust and goggle face) by a family of four and a realtor who had been trying to get into the house for ten minutes. All went well…
When I approched my broker about this, she laughed out loud…
This is her message WITH puncuation:
"No. Showing's after 1700hrs"

BTW… I laughed at your joke… and I KNOW what a lathe looks like.
Maybe she was just tired and having a bad day.

Peace out!
 
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