You Said It, Kate

"A sharp knife cuts the quickest and hurts the least."

Sigh. Why do I bother with trying to be nice?

I finally replied to Annoying Creepy Email MySpace Guy (formerly known as Saxophone Guy) yesterday. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s easier to be honest and direct, and experience a few moments of discomfort rather than to ignore/avoid and hope that the person just goes away. (So says the girl who preferred to live in denial from, roughly, early August through, I don’t know, say…October 24th, but that’s another post entirely.)

ACEMG has sent 5 messages since last Thursday, each progressively more desperate, culminating with a request to get together ‘for coffee’ this week.

My answer: ‘M – That’s not going to work. You’re a nice guy, but I am not interested in seeing you. J.’

And, of course, his reply was exactly what I thought it would be. In fact, it mirrored his defensive, rude, and passive-aggressive response when I told him that I no longer wanted to see him in July. Maybe I should have let loose and told him exactly what I thought about his personality (non-existent), sense of humor (non-existent), and behavior (creepy, pathetic). Or taught him how to respect people’s boundaries (much like I do with my Anti-Violence Program kids each week). Or maybe let JP handle it as he wanted to this summer by giving him a ‘Jersey-style talking-to’ (this probably would have looked like something on The Sopranos, would not have embodied anti-violence principles, and is JP’s standard offer to resolve any bumps that I have in my dating life).

However, the *other* lesson that I’ve learned the hard way is that endeavors like this are rarely worth my time. Which doesn’t explain why I’ve just spent 20 minutes writing a blog post about it, but learning is a process, no?