Invitation Revoked

As the year winds down, I think my effort to extend invitations is doing the same. For those close to me, they know that for years I’ve made vocal complaints about the lack of hand written invitations, as well as the lack of people returning the proper RSVP in time for such invitations. I know we’re consumed with all of the digital media of today, but losing the art of sitting down and hand writing something to someone is a sad reality. Not only is it an incredibly thoughtful gesture, but I believe it stimulates a lot of intellect within us. My initiative to withhold invitations going forward stems from these four points.

1.       Your read receipt is on

For those of you with iPhones and your read receipt on, know that when someone asks you a question or extends an invitation and you read the text and never bother to answer them, the party on the other end knows. For those of you on Android, sure there is no read receipt, however one still knows when you’re ignoring the question. What’s the point in ignoring someone who simply asks to hang out? It’s incredibly rude to start with, and there is no shame at all in just saying “I can’t”. We’re adults, it’s okay to simply decline.

2.       You can’t lie with social media

When someone asks you to do something or asks you out, and you lie directly to them, you better be willing to see that lie out until your grave arrives. There are so many social media outlets available to us now that if we choose to lie to someone to get out of just telling them no or the truth, but then post something to social media that completely contradicts what we’ve lied about, it has multiple effects. First if makes the receiver of the lie feel like shit (good job a-hole), second you risk ruining that friendship and your reputation as a decent human being, and third you get caught. You get caught and you simply are just an idiot and a jerk then for it.

3.       Side stepping yes or no

Telling someone that you’ll think about their invitation is just the same as the two other points above. Saying yes or no really isn’t that hard, in fact they are some of the very first words that we acquire to our human language. If you have zero interest in an invite, you should just start with a no instead of tying up someone else’s schedule while they wait for you to decide. They’ll move on, make other plans, and then when you do decide you want to accept, you can’t get frustrated with them.

4.       You’re the blue orange

Being that friend who is argumentative about every single topic is completely exhausting for everyone around you. This also encompasses the constant complainer. Over the years I’ve refined this points of frustration. The constant complainer is one who never ever takes a single step towards correcting whatever bug has crawled up their butt this time, and the persistent argument over everything under the sun is completely exhausting to be around. Conversations are never positively stimulating nor a productive use of anyone’s time.

At some point we all just need to grow up. We need to own our words, say what we mean and mean what we say. Pussyfooting around in life has greatly weakened people and we need to grab life back by the balls and man up. If you have no interest in someone or an invite, say it. If the person wants to know why or more details, that’s okay they have a right to ask; and if at that point you can do it, by all means, continue to be honest with them. Telling the truth takes a lot less time to remember and keep track of than lying right to someone’s face and attempting to not get caught.