Facebook Error = Rampant Rumors

I have discussed the etiquette perils of facebook before. I had not, however, been involved in a Facebook debacle that provided significant grist for the local rumor mill and called into question the health of two marriages, one being my own.

Here's the story....

My friend C and I have launched a food blog on behalf of our beloved Reading Terminal Market. We were hard at work yesterday, and as we trucked along, we had opened a variety of windows on her computer, which involved an equal variety of logins. When we completed our tasks, we shut the machine down and went about our day.

Later that afternoon, C jumped onto Facebook and sent a direct message to a mutual friend, inviting her on a double date. Little did she know, we had not completely logged out, and C was still logged on as yours truly. So the invite came from me, tagged with my name, and asked the invitee to join me and J on a double date. Trouble is, I am married to M. The invitee, I'll call her D, then sent me a direct message responding to the invitation, and inviting me to a gourmet pot luck. Interestingly, she did not refer to my seemingly suspicious choice of companion, which I suppose was rather Gracious of her.

I was a bit baffled by the whole thing, so I pondered for a moment. Right about then, C figured out the snafu, got in touch with both of us, all of us had a good laugh over it. Fortunately, no catastrophic consequences ensued, but it certainly taught me a good lesson about logging out!

And a few other issues arose out of this contretemps:

1. The invitation issued to me by D is called into question; she may have invited me in response to the double date invite that seemed to come from me, but didn't. What's a Grace to do? Well, an invitation is an invitation. RSVP promptly and either go with gusto or decline Graciously.

2. I am going to have to have a word with the hostess; she is a marvelous cook and I have no doubt that the evening will indeed be 'gourmet' and supremely elegant, but she needs to eliminate 'pot luck' from the headline. Graces strenuously avoid events described as 'pot luck'--the term conjures up scary images of molded Jell-o and tuna casserole.

3. In general, when you receive a message that seems to be intended for someone else, it's best to alert the sender ASAP. A version of "I'm not sure this was intended for me", "wrong number?" or "???" do the trick.

Be careful out there, Graces. The real world is enough of a minefield; now we've got to worry about Cyber-space, too.