RTFQ

A ranty blog today, and although the passive side of me would like to apologise in advance for that, the feisty, had enough of people side of me is shouting “Go me!”

Maybe this won’t be a rant actually, but more of a lesson, because it’s something I’ve definitely used with my kids when they are preparing for tests, especially for Molly’s SATs last year.

So, RTFQ – Read the Fucking Question. Simple right? Apparently not so for everyone. And this is where I would love your contribution if you have the same experiences.  You ask a question or post a statement on social media, text, WhatsApp or wherever, and the response you get no only doesn’t answer your question, but leads you down a path you didn’t even consider going down, had no interest in or even were avoiding on purpose.

Here are a couple of examples, nod if you agree.

Scenario one – Hey guys, can anyone tell me if there are still roadworks at the top of the hill on the way to Watford?

Answers from non RTFQers

-          I went to Uxbridge and sat in traffic, it was awful

-          I don’t know but I want to go shopping in Watford and do you know the price of shoes?

-          Well, driving emits gasses that kill the environment, so you should walk the 6 miles each way

-          Oh that hill, we love sledging down there in winter

Multiply that by about 8 and that’s the average response you get on a local fb page. Sweet that people really want to connect, but seriously how annoying that no one has actually answered the question for you, to the point that you turn off comments and then people post about your being rude by not letting them have their say.

The other type of not RTFQ or S (statement) happened to me just the other night.

I ordered a takeaway to support a new local business. I paid online and got my confirmation email. I went down to collect only to find that they had no knowledge of my order and it transpires that their system was down. In a bit of a rush to get eaten before I had to work (no one wants to see their WW coach stuffing their face), I suggested to the manager that we’ll have it the next night. So in order to forewarn other locals who might be less patient than me, I post on FB “If you are ordering from *** tonight, call them don’t order online because I turned up to collect my food and it hadn’t gone through the system (sad face – because I was looking forward to my takeaway) so I guess I’ll have to have my takeaway tomorrow.

Factual right? I ended up deleting the post because of the comments bad mouthing me for slating a new business, not supporting local and being unkind! Firstly it made me laugh, and I started to defend myself (er actually I am helping said business, but letting others know there is an issue), then I got annoyed with the commenters, and was very close to going through each and every post on that particular page to provide a not RTFQ/S answer. The irony would be lost with them though, as they’re only there to fight and I wouldn’t want to start a pretend fight, only to become either a hero or get my house torched. Neither of what I want from this scenario.

Why can’t people be more like my children, who have RTFQ (minus the F for the 8 year old) drummed into them every single time they start a home schooling task or prepare for a test. You don’t get points for writing a lot if it doesn’t answer the question. You don’t get points for being cute or being a tosser. You get points for answering correctly and allowing the poster to read that and say “Oh that’s informative thank you so much” or “Glad I could help with the information and happy to help further”

If you've read this and want to comment something really random that doesn't relate to this at all, I'm going to bite my tongue and let you get away with it this time. But next time you're bored and want to contribute to life, do everyone a favour won't you and RTFQ (otherwise start your own post!)

Much love, hoping that you're all still well and actually feeling good today as I was able to go to the hairdresser.