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This question - Coworker won't accept apology for my stupid mistake - is fake.

Reasons:

  1. It is impossible that someone would mistake a bereavement letter for a new baby letter. The cards are very, very, very different.

  2. a - It is impossible that someone doesn't at least read one message in a letter - even briefly. You would notice the lack of "congrats" and the presence of "sorry for your loss".

  3. Even if you can believe someone is so fictionally clueless, what, that nobody else read what other's wrote? I always have a quick look at what other people wrote, someone would notice the weird, inappropriate message.

  4. Who writes a message without a name? Or a new-baby message without the word "baby".

  5. The message the OP claims to have written is so perfect - no name, can be read both ways, doesn't mention the word "baby" at all. It even has the perfect "bring you dinner" line, just to push it over from stupid to sexual.

  6. Also, OP would be fired for this, if they did accidentally do it.

This can only be a fictional account - written by a new user. It's not helpful in the future - it's probably just some writer trying out a scene in their book.

As an aside - i push for fake questions to be removed because they encourage other fake questions. it wastes the community's time supporting larrakin efforts. i enjoy coming here to get other people's viewpoints and thoughts on (for me) practical management issues. i don't want to see the site overrun with "interesting" quandries and purely theoretical discussions.

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  • 8
    "As an aside - i push for fake questions to be removed because they encourage other fake questions. it wastes the community's time supporting larrakin efforts." - agreed. It's unfortunate these questions can't be moved to Reddit, where they belong.
    – Joe Strazzere
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 18:37
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    What makes you think that "bring you dinner" make this sexual in nature?
    – user44108
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 7:19
  • 3
    @Snow because context. If you have to ask, you're too young to understand.
    – bharal
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 13:27
  • 17
    I'm over 50. Is that too young? I'm old and ugly enough to beleive that whatever you're reading into this isn't part of popular culture. It's possible, however, for me to be too old to get what the young folks are saying these days (but I do try to keep up).
    – user44108
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 13:32
  • 4
    No, it doesn't matter if it's real or not. The upvotes on it indicate that it is considered to be useful information to people in the future if they find themselves in a similar situation.
    – user53651
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 17:47
  • 3
    @Snow It's because the perception is that he's try to cozy up to and "comfort" a newly widowed woman. It's a stupid joke from a bygone era. I honestly didn't realize people still expected that joke.
    – user53651
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 17:50
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    Having perfunctorily signed many cards at work in the last 20 years, I find the question credible.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 20:21
  • I don't have enough reputation to post comments; can someone please add a comment on the top post that I had to look up "larrakin" in an Aussie slang dictionary to find that it means "prankster"; a different word would get the same meaning across without being so distracting. ... and then please delete this not-an-snswer?
    – arp
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 21:41
  • 5
    Agree. The comment on the card is too perfectly crafted to be interrupted both ways that this can't be real.
    – Ben Mz
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 21:56
  • @Snow reread my comment - sorry if I came off brusque. If you're over 50 surely the offer of a sexy dinner as a courtship ritual brings back memories! That's, uh, that's how it worked back in the day, right? Before tinder? Coats covering puddles, dinner invitations in the mail? :)
    – bharal
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 22:16
  • @Steve with regards to upvotes, I saw this question hit hot network list which means we're out of luck here: upvotes only indicate that it entertained many passers-by from Stack Overflow (to avoid misunderstanding I am not talking about question quality, it may be good or bad I don't know, it's just that upvotes can't help us tell this in this case)
    – gnat
    Commented Jun 29, 2018 at 6:20
  • 1
    @gnat yeah, but that's the standard we chose to judge our content by.
    – user53651
    Commented Jun 29, 2018 at 13:50
  • @Steve correct, that is a standard, and it is good because it works in many (most) cases. It is just that hot questions (that are very small minority) are exceptional in that this standard breaks on them. If you're interested you can find more details of that in Stack Exchange blog: The Trouble With Popularity "in the absence of any moderation, the community would do nothing but add and upvote the easy, fun stuff... etc"
    – gnat
    Commented Jun 29, 2018 at 13:56
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    @gnat the thing is that I don't believe this post was fake. Faux pas happens. You can't just assume it doesn't because it's a major Faux pas.
    – user53651
    Commented Jun 29, 2018 at 13:58
  • 2
    @Steve Actually this exact scenario (from post) is something I've heard as a joke half a year ago...
    – FooBar
    Commented Jul 7, 2018 at 13:02

3 Answers 3

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I'll point you to a prior Meta conversation: Fair to VTC for trolling

To quote Monica's answer:

Vote based on content, not assumed motives.

If a question is so outlandish that you suspect trolling, if it lacks essential details, if it's more of a rant than a question, then it doesn't matter if it's a troll or a genuine user who's really terrible at communication. Either way, if we can't answer it in its current form and can't just edit to fix the problems, we should put it on hold. If the OP responds, we can work with him to fix the question -- or not, if he doesn't supply what's needed.

If a troll manages to ask a genuinely useful question -- which might become genuinely useful only after a community edit, which anybody can do or suggest -- then the question is useful and we should leave it open. I don't care what the asker's motives were in that case. A lot of the joy of trolling comes from "getting away" with dumping crap and sensation on a site, so it won't be much fun when we edit the crap and de-sensationalize the question. Site 1, troll 0.

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    David, in your opinion, could this question will be useful to people in the future?
    – Lumberjack
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 17:29
  • 3
    @Lumberjack Yes, I do. Though the post might be written about writing on the wrong card, the real question is about unintentionally doing or saying something stupid (and not work related), sincerely apologizing, and not receiving forgiveness. The title reflects this too. This can apply to many different situations, not just to writing on cards.
    – David K
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 18:50
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Regarding points 1 and 2, I once signed a new baby card with Congratulations on your marriage, and I wish you many years of happiness. I didn't even bother reading what other people wrote because I don't care.

Regarding point 3, it may as well have been the case that the OP was the last to sign.

3

As David mentioned, this may sound unrealistic or far-fetched, but we should vote based on facts and content, and not assumptions.

If you consider this question to be unclear, too broad, or off-topic feel free to VTC and move on. I see it already has some votes, so it's better to leave the Community decide by itself organically.

FWIW, seems that the post is now closed

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