I'm having dinner tonight with an old friend. He's an academic, and every few years he goes on sabbatical and leaves the country. While he's away sends all his friends multiple lengthy updates on what he's doing by e-mail, but they're so overdetailed and hard to parse I don't even read them anymore. (He's fun in person, but long-winded and pompous by email.) He's going to ask me tonight if I've been reading his updates: what do I say?
Read them all before you go.
SLAP HIS FACE VICIOUSLY!!
Get your assistant to write up brief summaries.
Tell the truth: "You're a lot of fun in person, but an insufferable, stuck-up gasbag over email. Have a nice life and go fuck yourself." Then throw your napkin in his face and storm out.
Just skim them before you go. Or mainly ask him more about himself or the things you both have in common as friends.
tell him you save them for when you can savor them.
Wasted again in margaritaville.
Go for high drama. Throw your drink in his face and then burst into tears. Tell him your crying because you can't read.
r5 is right, plus your friend will spend the entire dinner talking about himself if you just give him the least bit of encouragement.
I didn't read your post op. I found it too hard to parse.
This thread made me LOL several times ...some of you bitches are hilarious.
OP, why would any conversation involve him or his correspondence?
Keep the focus on YOU and your tile grout issues.
"Indeed I do, but honestly they're so detailed that I can't remember everything you've written."