Dear Universe: ow my bahookie

My beloved pal Captain Awkward recently wrote a post about “derailing,” which included a conversation about offering up unsolicited advice.

My internal response to that was “oh dear.” I found myself chewing on that idea and becoming suspicious that I might in fact be prone to, as I later put it, “booting up the Idea Factory before anyone has placed an order.”

The next week, I offered up some advice to an online acquaintance who said, in the nicest way possible, “Please don’t assume I haven’t thought of that already. I was venting, not seeking advice.”

Lesson: demonstrated! I thought, score one for self-improvement! Let us move forward, Virginia, a better person!

But since that time I have been the recipient of double handfuls of unsolicited advice, usually on a topic that I have brought up as a joke.

Oh Universe, I get it. I do! Listen without intruding! Okay okay!

2 thoughts on “Dear Universe: ow my bahookie

  1. Gwyn

    Reading this was darn near prescient, as our school crossing guard lost her son last week. I took her a bag of foodstuff, and basically stood there and listened as she talked. (and then sadly stood there as another parent talked at her in ever inappropriate ways.) My best wishes to Captain Awkward.

  2. vmohlere Post author

    Good on you for just listening. As you know, people say the MOST BONEHEADED things to grieving folk. There is a whole host of people who are lucky I never punched them in the junk.

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