LOS ANGELES, CA — In a horrific turn of events, when you told Joe at the office that you should get together sometime, he actually took you seriously and now every time Joe sees you, he asks when you're getting together.
While you thought the social situation between you and Joe was clear, you could not have been more wrong. It has now become abundantly clear that Joe thinks the world of you and dearly wants to become close friends. You just had to be polite and throw the invitation out there, didn't you?
It's not even that you don't like Joe. Your life is just completely full right now, and you know you and Joe simply aren't "friends forever" material. Oh, but that's not how Joe sees it.
Now, every chance meeting at the office is a social catastrophe of devastating proportions. You are running out of excuses to avoid hanging out. Yet still, Joe is seemingly lurking around every corner, waiting to ask again. Your anxiety is climbing by the day, and it's becoming hard to envision a way out.
You may just have to quit your job and move, all because of one stray comment as you were exiting a conversation. It's such a bad time to move, what with the housing market - but what choice is there? You can't keep living life this way.
Calamity. Absolute calamity.
Citing concerns about stiff competition from Amazon and an impossible-to-please Gen Z, Santa has announced he's hanging up the hat for good.