several observations about help
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(Not in direct response to anyone reading this; mainly for me to bear in mind when it's my turn to offer sympathy, and because I need to vent a bit)
(1) Specific offers are wonderful. They clue me in on what you are willing/able to handle, and give me something concrete to accept or decline. One friend made a point of making both a general offer and specifically asking if I needed pet care or an extra hand with decluttering.
(2) I'd rather you not say "if there's anything I can do..." if "anything" does not include schlepping items to thrift shops or landfills. It compounds my already-substantial hangups about taking advantage of other people. (The BYM said he knew I'd reached my limit when I did ask his mom for a massive favor.)
(3) If you are a customer service rep, the best thing you can do is to expedite what I ask you to do, rather than attempting to sell me on retaining your services or forcing me to jump through illogical hoops.
(4) These observations may not apply to other people, because people are different. The only way to discover what will be truly helpful is to pay attention to that specific person and his/her specific situation.
All of that said, my sense of humor is not completely AWOL: I had to repeat to the phone rep multiple times that no, no one in my mother's family has a need to keep her phone number, but I finally managed to put it in terms she could relate to: "Look, most of the calls we are getting are telemarketers asking for my dead mother. It doesn't make sense to be paying $30 a month for that."
This just in: Learning Through History, a homeschooling magazine, will be accepting subs on "the Dutch Golden Age" through 4/21 (original deadline was tomorrow). Topics they're keen on receiving include "Religious Tolerance in the Golden Age," "Rene Descartes," "the Dutch in Japan," and "Leeuwenhoek's Microscope" (e-mail me if you want more details; I'm unaffiliated with the magazine, but some of those topics sound like they would be up some of y'all's alleys. (I started work on a piece on Huygens, but I just can't spare the time to pull it together)).
(1) Specific offers are wonderful. They clue me in on what you are willing/able to handle, and give me something concrete to accept or decline. One friend made a point of making both a general offer and specifically asking if I needed pet care or an extra hand with decluttering.
(2) I'd rather you not say "if there's anything I can do..." if "anything" does not include schlepping items to thrift shops or landfills. It compounds my already-substantial hangups about taking advantage of other people. (The BYM said he knew I'd reached my limit when I did ask his mom for a massive favor.)
(3) If you are a customer service rep, the best thing you can do is to expedite what I ask you to do, rather than attempting to sell me on retaining your services or forcing me to jump through illogical hoops.
(4) These observations may not apply to other people, because people are different. The only way to discover what will be truly helpful is to pay attention to that specific person and his/her specific situation.
All of that said, my sense of humor is not completely AWOL: I had to repeat to the phone rep multiple times that no, no one in my mother's family has a need to keep her phone number, but I finally managed to put it in terms she could relate to: "Look, most of the calls we are getting are telemarketers asking for my dead mother. It doesn't make sense to be paying $30 a month for that."
This just in: Learning Through History, a homeschooling magazine, will be accepting subs on "the Dutch Golden Age" through 4/21 (original deadline was tomorrow). Topics they're keen on receiving include "Religious Tolerance in the Golden Age," "Rene Descartes," "the Dutch in Japan," and "Leeuwenhoek's Microscope" (e-mail me if you want more details; I'm unaffiliated with the magazine, but some of those topics sound like they would be up some of y'all's alleys. (I started work on a piece on Huygens, but I just can't spare the time to pull it together)).
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