Friday, May 20, 2011

Facebook Faux Pas

"Uuuuuuuhhhhhh," she groaned in a six-syllable southern accent that almost ended in a whine.

Don't you hate when you say or do something stupid, usually without thinking, and surely without realizing that what you're saying or doing just ain't right?

Image courtesy of 1001 ChineseFurniture.com
Today I read something on Facebook that triggered a knee-jerk reaction and I reposted it. An hour or so later, to my chagrin, I reread it and realized that at the end of said post was a line that went something like:

"Let's see who has the guts to repost this. Only 1% will."

Ya think?

Maybe because everyone else READ the whole damn thing and refrained from taunting the rest of us. Or is that leering?

Thank you to Theresa Brown Milstein who slapped me back to sanity. Very gently, I must add. It was really more of a nudge.

Okay, so I'm part of that 1%. I am almost ashamed. But not. Because it makes several points:

  1. It is decidedly better to look before you leap;
  2. It's always wise to read the whole thing before making a decision to act;
  3. There's a reason we're taught to reread, reread, reread;
  4. There is a very good reason we must be diligent in editing;
  5. There is always someone willing to jump on your bandwagon;
  6. There is usually someone around to point out your uh-oh's;
  7. If you're lucky that person will be a gentle soul;
  8. The longer you leave a boo-boo uncorrected, the more likely others will find it;
  9. It's cleansing to snitch on yourself once in awhile; and
  10. When all else fails, hit the delete key.
So. Rather than a rant about how Uncle Sam takes care of everyone but its own, I'll share something I read this afternoon mere moments before discovering the faux pas.

"Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, keep my voice low, be courteous, criticize not one bit. I won't find fault with anything, nor try to improve or regulate anybody but myself." ~ borrowed from Al-Anon Family Groups pamphlet, JUST FOR TODAY
And, yeah, that includes the U.S., old flames and moi.

Happy Friday Y'all, Olivia J. Herrell
P.S. Don't do nuthin' I wouldn't do!

8 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Very interesting points you made.

Have a great week-end.
Yvonne.

Raquel Byrnes said...

Totally been there. Why do I always act before my brain catches up? Great you have a sense of humor about it.
Edge of Your Seat Romance

Theresa Milstein said...

I love this post. Not just because you mention me, but really because I've been in similar situations. I've often said or written in the spur of the moment. And I've often regretted it later. Since I began blogging, I've been much more cautious and hopefully wiser in my words.

But recently I wrote a comment that I shouldn't have. Though the target of the comment wasn't exactly mentioned, the person figured it out and e-mailed me privately. It was a misunderstanding on my part, and I never should've said anything to begin with. I apologized. The good thing is we now follow each other.

Back to you, this post has enormous insight that came from something most people wouldn't have given a second thought to.

Olivia J. Herrell, writing as O.J. Barré said...

Hey, Yvonne, thank you so much for stopping by. You have a great weekend, too!

Raquel, uuuuuuuhhhh! It was easier than wallowing in shame. It's so good to see you! :)

Theresa, thank you. No telling where the little nuggets will fall or when the blinders will slip so that we can see them. I so appreciate your understanding. I've slid on that slippery comment slope before, too. :) BTW, I loved your post about your mom and left a comment over there for you.

~ Olivia

dolorah said...

I usually do that with blog posts. Type something up really late at night, pat myself on the back, hit the publish button.

Gasp in the morning.

I always tell myself I will not write/publish after 10p, but I'm not good at following my own advice.

.......dhole

Tracy Jo said...

I have been there too! Great post. Just found your blog. :-) Hope you are having a great weekend!

~Tracy
www.evolvingsoul11.com

Eric W. Trant said...

We had a lesson in 8th grade honors science. I was at the head of the class (they seated us based on rank), and this is important because I was "the smartest" guy in class, see, at the front. That was my seat, #1.

Teacher handed out a paper that began like this: Read through all the questions first.

Hell, I don't follow directions, and I always finished my tests FIRST.

So I got to cracking. The first question wasn't a question. It was a statement, something like this: Stand up and cluck like a chicken.

I clucked.

The next question was something like this: Pat your head and rub your belly.

I patted and rubbed.

I went through all the questions with half the class laughing, me wondering why they weren't keeping up, and the other half of the class running through these goofball exercises with me.

The number two student seated next to me -- we had two-seater desks -- remained seated, kept shaking her head at me and she never clucked.

#10 on the test said: Put your name on the paper and ignore all other questions.

I'm a 1%-er, too.


- Eric

A.T. Post said...

One of my professors gave us an exam once and told us all to read the directions through VERY CAREFULLY before completing it. (There were a lot of directions, just so you know.) At the very end, it said "DO NOT FILL OUT THIS TEST PAPER. LEAVE BLANK."

You'd be surprised how many people actually did the test. And thereby failed it.

Thanks for the heads-up in diligence. I spent an extra $8 to print up the second draft of my novella just so I could read through it in hard-copy one more time and do one last scan for errors or holes before I submit it.

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