Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
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SHURELY SHOME MISHTAKE?
Two good friends of mine, who I’m very fond of, were married recently. (That’s not them in the picture, by the way – but it does, I think, convey something of the occasion.) At any rate, the groom emailed me a few weeks later looking for my new postal address. He and his wife, he said, wanted to thank me for my generous gift. No bother, I told him. They were very welcome. He persisted. It had taken them quite a while, he said, to work out who the gift had been from. The handwriting was so bad they literally had to cross reference my signature against the entire guestlist before figuring out I was. My handwriting is appalling, I conceded. But the gift was no big deal.
It did occur to me even at this stage that their gratitude was a little on the lavish side. But as it happened, I had chatted to at least one other guest that evening who, being out of a job, hadn’t been able to give anything. So I suppose in that context, I figured, my gift could have been termed generous. But I have a job, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Anyway, the thank you note arrived this afternoon:
Dear Eoin,
Thank you so much for the incredibly generous wedding gift. It should enable the replacement of quite a few shoddy, soiled and/or insufficiently stylish items around the flat – much appreciated!
Now… here’s the thing. I’m pretty sure I only gave them a hundred euros. Sure, I had a few glasses of wine on board when I nipped out to get the card midway through the reception and, I suppose, money wouldn’t exactly be my specialist topic. It’s possible that, on the spur of the moment, I threw in a hundred and fifty maybe. But no more than that, I wouldn’t think.
So the upshot of it is that I’m now pretty certain that this is a case of mistaken identity. That I’m accepting the plaudits for someone else’s generosity. I mean, there aren’t too many shoddy, soiled and/or insufficiently stylish items could realistically be replaced for €150, are there?
Any suggestions on how to extract myself from an embarrassing situation?
October 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Granted, the phrase ‘insufficiently stylish items’ could imply things like couches or dining room sets, which obviously would be out of the €150 price bracket. But have you been to Ikea? No small number of less expensive items (bed linen, crockery, even bookshelves) might be – and indeed have been – replaced for that kind of figure. My initial thank-you note still stands. (I’d rather you didn’t post pictures of the wife and I on your blog though.)
October 6th, 2009 at 9:40 am
when was the last time you bought furniture or any house related things? For €150, if you’re smart or shop in ikea you could quite a few bits and pieces.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Minding a screaming child again today so taking me ages to post replies:
@ anon – Shite, didn’t think you’d see this. Granted, I know nothing about furnishings. It’s just my mother thought you might have some rich uncle called Edmund or something, with really bad handwriting who’d given you like a grand or something, and the misunderstanding would quickly come and I’d look like a cad and a bounder.
(Okay, well if you have a rich uncle Edmund, I can definitely be a cad or a bounder….)
@ Clare – am, never, I suppose. Okay screaming baby, gotta run!
October 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@Clare: are you suggesting that shopping in ikea is not smart?
October 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Are you a cad or a bounder Butler. There is a difference…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199701/ai_n8753151/
October 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It’s hard enough to answer comments, let alone read articles at the moment… Screw it anyway Mr D’arcy, who’s on for a duel??
October 6th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
You swine!