The tea saga…

I may have mentioned that FFG is Korean. During her first week here she brought in some Asian tea mix and has been very concerned about it ever since. About a month after she started (late September) she came up to me and told me that people had been commenting that the liked the tea, and asked me if I wanted her parents to buy some for the office when they went to LA next, because you could only get it in LA at the Asian grocery stores. I told her to talk to our office manager and billing guy about it. Two days later she comes to me again, and I tell her the same thing.

A month later, in late October, she sends out an office-wide e-mail basically inviting folks around here to order tea, stating that her parents were going shopping at Asian grocery stores on their trip to LA over Thanksgiving and that if anyone wanted to order tea, she could tell her parents for them, her parents would ship the tea to Chicago, and folks could either give her cash or writer her parents a check and she would give the money to her parents when she went home for Christmas (she’s from the Southwest). Her e-mail was a little more detailed than that, and it was worded significantly more awkwardly, but I think you get the idea of how this might be a little strange. I don’t want to publish her e-mail here because that’s just a little too mean.

In late October, after she sends this e-mail out, she again comes to me bugging me about ordering tea for the office. I tell her the same thing I told her in September. 5 minutes later she comes to me telling me the office manager told her she needed to ask me (I think he just needed something to laugh at, and although this aggravated me, it was kind of a harmless joke on me). I tell her to figure out what she was going to order for the office, figure out the approximate cost, and e-mail me, ccing the office manager and accountant so everyone knew what to expect in terms of cost. I still found it annoying that she was pestering us all so much about something so insignificant, but I guess that’s just a nice example of her maturity level.

Yesterday she sends out another tea e-mail to the staff, reminding them that they have until 11/22 to order the tea, and again explaining the entire process in painful detail (starts off, “Just to remind you again, my parents and sister are going to Koreatown in L.A. during the thanksgiving weekend. They will get the Asian tea boxes for you if you are interested in getting some…” – sorry couldn’t help but post a snipit). She has not come to me again about this, but I’m waiting for it.

Anyway, I hope I have been able to convey how weird, immature, and annoying this tea thing has been. I have better things to do than worry about special Asian tea that comes from grocery stores in LA’s Koreatown to be purchased by FFG’s parents and to arrive here after Thanksgiving with a receipt so I know exactly how much cash to give FFG to take to her parents when she goes home for Christmas.