September 14, 2006You Can Do My Filing if You Want To
Gillian had a spare moment and noticed Valerie was behind on her filing. She suggested that she could do her filing for her, and Valerie replied,
- You can do my filing if you want to
This response deflected the generosity of Gillian’s offer, and made it sound like Gillian was offering to file for her own pleasure rather than to help her coworker.
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I frequently have used the phrase, “You can do my filing, if you like”-my meaning being that I have filing that they can help me with but it is an onerous task that all of us hate to do and I feel bad when that is the only project I can offer. The ‘if you like’ portion of my answer is intended to let them feel free to rescind the offer due to the nature of the job!
I am always extremely grateful whenever someone offers to help out and never dreamt someone would take my reply as diminishing their kindness.
Comment by Becca — September 14, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
Becca, I would guess your gratitude shows and no one is offended by your use of the phrase. So much of the impact of PowerPhrases and Poison Phrases comes from how they are communicated and the intent behind them. I wouldn’t worry.
Comment by merylrunion — September 19, 2006 @ 3:44 pm
When someone offers to help me I keep it short and simply by replying, “That would be great. Thank you!”
Comment by Lauren — September 20, 2006 @ 3:03 pm