Unreasonable Requests by Proxy

I had intended to spend the weekend trying to get a little ahead with work, but instead I ended up spending the whole weekend eating chocolate and reading Georgette Heyer novels in an attempt to avoid thinking about how to reply to a particularly irritating email.

I am usually more than willing to help people and to offer my assistance wherever I can, but the level of presumption involved in this request was entirely insupportable. If it had been a direct personal request, I probably would have done my best to figure out how I could help. (Which may still have been very little, as there was a potentially large amount of work in a small amount of time required). But as it was instead relayed through an innocent third party in the guise of a request of an organisation I’m associated with (but obviously made with full knowledge that it would be me that it would directly affect), it did nothing but infuriate me – it’s as if it were simply assumed I’d agree, despite it being not entirely clear what I would be agreeing to.

It bothers me to have to be so disobliging in this case, but there are limits to my capabilities, resources and patience, and the originator of this request has already drawn very deeply from all three in the past.