It's pretty serious when you're sitting at work and someone from another floor, who you haven't spoken to in the longest time, comes to you bearing a bag of wool she no longer wants.
And you didn't even know that this woman knew you were a knitter.
It was kind of weird actually, and I'd appreciate some feedback on how this whole thing went.
The Incident
"I heard you are a knitter," this woman from another floor said.
"Yes, I am," I replied, eagerly oggling the plastic bag in her hand that so obviously contained wool.
"I used to knit...well, actually I tried to knit," she said, looking somewhat ashamed. "I couldn't really call myself a knitter because I never actually finished anything. So I'm clearing out my stuff at home and thought you might be interested in this."
I put my hands out, possibly a little too eagerly and said, "Well it's funny, you see. I'm not actually supposed to be buying wool at the moment, so any donations are gratefully accepted!"
I said this in my usual 'this is me being humorous' style. She didn't laugh.
She held the plastic bag for a moment, sort of dangling it like she wasn't sure she was going to give it to me and said, 'Well, umm...I was going to leave this on your desk with a note, being the end of the day, I thought you'd gone home by now. But,' and here she produced a yellow post-it note, crumpled up the note and said, 'maybe I won't leave the note now.' And she threw the note in my bin.
'Maybe you can buy me a coffee sometime,' she said.
Sure, I thought. I hardly know you, but that'd be nice. You gave me wool. You're a good person.
She hurried away and left me with the wool, which I will get to in a moment.
I'm a naturally curious person. There was a note in my bin and I was desperate to know what she would have changed her mind about so oddly. I was obviously incapable of leaving the note there.
The note said the following:
I heard you were a knitter and thought you might be interested in this wool that I don't want anymore.
If you are, would you mind paying me $10 for it. If not, just drop it back at my desk.
So this happened last Friday.
As it turns out, today was her last day in the office so I can't take her for coffee after all, but I feel really bad about her wanting money then changing her mind because of my reaction.
Should I have not automatically responded like it was a freebie?
In the meantime, here, for your viewing pleasure, is the wool.
What do we think Art Slub is? Whatever it is, it's very nice. I love the handmade labels. It suggests she bought this from markets or something a long, long time ago.
Bells
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