I seem to have offended another parent

[Anonymous]

I tend to write very professionally for work, so my texts are always fully spelled out (no "c u soon" or "u r funny" or heaven forbid "lol") with proper punctuation. I also rarely use exclamation points.

Some people use lots of emojis, exclamations points, abbreviations, and the like. So you may thing I was being cold but I'm just being normal.

Try reading her text with exclamation points and then acknowledge that she doesn't use them.

"I'm not that mom! Have a nice day!" Same words, different tone. I doubt she meant it the way you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tough crowd here. OP, I totally get what you're saying. It's the curt "Have a good afternoon" that is weird. It reads as her shutting the conversation down when you were just trying to be friendly. I really don't think you approached it incorrectly and she sounds a bit unfriendly to me. Though, I agree with others that it is REALLY hard to read tone over text. I just wouldn't try to chat it up or joke with her over text again.

What?! She could have just said I am not that mom. Period. Nothing else. But she bothered to follow that up with have a good afternoon, which takes a bit of effort to type.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t sound like she was offended. I wouldn’t read so much into people’s short texts. Also, in the future, I’d just send mixed up work back into school for the teacher to give to the correct family.

[Anonymous]

OP you should have just stopped after she said "throw them away". I feel like you're maybe a bit anxious?

[Anonymous]

This is a peak "DC Bubble" post.

[Anonymous]

Are these your oldest kids? My youngest is a preschooler and I might respond in kind as I am often pretty busy, typically throw out 99% of his “art”, and have no interest in texting with parents who are from his classroom. It’s not personal, I just don’t have the bandwidth and tbh it seems like her reply was kind of nice. She could have just not replied or hit the thumbs up or whatever.

[Anonymous]

She doesn't get your sense of humor. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she just wasn't interested in chatting, and could see the writing on the wall that you were about to take her down a long mom to mom sesh lol. So she cut you off. I bet she has no opinion of you at all, try not to worry. I'm a chatty person too and those kinds of responses always tell me - oh - she doesn't want to chat with me (not usually that they don't like you or give a shit what you are even talking about)

[Anonymous]

Kind of sounds like you were bugging her with too many texts. She answered, you kept texting.

[Anonymous]

OP here. It seems many of you have not read my updates and keep responding with the same things like, "she just doesn't have time, she doesn't waste time texting, etc." That is not the case. She posts
ridiculous memes and emojis and Facebook links which, again, is awkward because she is the only person who posts links from Facebook with no description and people have to ask what the link is for, in case it is something we're supposed to be aware of, like something for the class.

She is just not friendly.

It's not about the conversation on the art or "bad mom" joke anymore.

She is not a friendly person, and I see that now and do not take this personally. It took realizing from her texts and seeing her in a new light in person, that she is just not friendly, and I have no need to act friendly or imagine she wants to have any sort of friendship, like the other parents obviously do, as is apparent in both their virtual and in-person interactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It seems many of you have not read my updates and keep responding with the same things like, "she just doesn't have time, she doesn't waste time texting, etc." That is not the case. She posts
ridiculous memes and emojis and Facebook links which, again, is awkward because she is the only person who posts links from Facebook with no description and people have to ask what the link is for, in case it is something we're supposed to be aware of, like something for the class.

She is just not friendly.

It's not about the conversation on the art or "bad mom" joke anymore.

She is not a friendly person, and I see that now and do not take this personally. It took realizing from her texts and seeing her in a new light in person, that she is just not friendly, and I have no need to act friendly or imagine she wants to have any sort of friendship, like the other parents obviously do, as is apparent in both their virtual and in-person interactions.

She told you to have a good afternoon. Honestly, she's not the one who isn't friendly here.

[Anonymous]

OP, stop being such a Chatty Cathy on social media. No one cares that you throw your kids' artwork away. No one wants an in-depth explanation as to your reasoning for doing it. No one asked for it. You put this mother on the spot by getting into what defines a "bad mother", etc.

Learn to hold back on your word vomit. I would hide you after this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It seems many of you have not read my updates and keep responding with the same things like, "she just doesn't have time, she doesn't waste time texting, etc." That is not the case. She posts
ridiculous memes and emojis and Facebook links which, again, is awkward because she is the only person who posts links from Facebook with no description and people have to ask what the link is for, in case it is something we're supposed to be aware of, like something for the class.

She is just not friendly.

It's not about the conversation on the art or "bad mom" joke anymore.

She is not a friendly person, and I see that now and do not take this personally. It took realizing from her texts and seeing her in a new light in person, that she is just not friendly, and I have no need to act friendly or imagine she wants to have any sort of friendship, like the other parents obviously do, as is apparent in both their virtual and in-person interactions.

I totally get why you feel awkward about it but my advice is the next time you see her just be friendly and greet her, make some standard small talk and that's it. Don't ever mention the text again.

and consider that some people suck at texting and are awkward at it - like myself - and she just didn't know what to respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, stop being such a Chatty Cathy on social media. No one cares that you throw your kids' artwork away. No one wants an in-depth explanation as to your reasoning for doing it. No one asked for it. You put this mother on the spot by getting into what defines a "bad mother", etc.

Learn to hold back on your word vomit. I would hide you after this.

Nope. I'm not a chatty Cathy on social media and this other parent posts more than I do.

It was her interaction in a one-on-one conversation, where I was trying to be friendly, and then later realization seeing her in person, that this has nothing to do with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It seems many of you have not read my updates and keep responding with the same things like, "she just doesn't have time, she doesn't waste time texting, etc." That is not the case. She posts
ridiculous memes and emojis and Facebook links which, again, is awkward because she is the only person who posts links from Facebook with no description and people have to ask what the link is for, in case it is something we're supposed to be aware of, like something for the class.

She is just not friendly.

It's not about the conversation on the art or "bad mom" joke anymore.

She is not a friendly person, and I see that now and do not take this personally. It took realizing from her texts and seeing her in a new light in person, that she is just not friendly, and I have no need to act friendly or imagine she wants to have any sort of friendship, like the other parents obviously do, as is apparent in both their virtual and in-person interactions.

Holy overreaction. But okay.