marcicat | workaday Wednesday

Here’s a first: I had a conversation with a coworker this week about curtains. Curtains in their office, to be specific.

Me: “I like your new curtains!” [This is true. They add color and pizzazz, both of which I am in favor of.]

Coworker: “Thanks!” [Then there was a longer explanation of how the curtains came about, which I maybe didn’t listen to very carefully.]

Me: “Wow!” [Generally a safe bet as a statement.]

Coworker: “And they only cost $26!” [Not sure whether that was individually, or as a set. Probably that does not matter.]

Me: [I was somewhat in trouble at that point. I’d already used up my standard ‘wow’ response. And the curtains — for all their pizzazz — are not that exceptional. They don’t cover the whole window, for one thing. Also they are not insulated, or even lined, which both reduces their usefulness and makes them look less than great from the outside. So I couldn’t in good faith summon any real excitement over the $26 price tag, and was in fact by that point sort of regretting mentioning the curtains at all. Safe bet statement #2 to the rescue.] “Really!” [Success!]

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.