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Thursday, 29 November 2012 // 5:39 pm
Sometimes the small things in life brings the most joys and laughter upon us. This recent event has left me somewhat speechless and even to some extinct, shocked at the request this one person has asked of. I'm going to call this person a fan, because she found out about me through my photography and no, I don't like calling everyone who likes my photos as a fan but I think this person doesn't deserve any other titles.
The last time we spoke was back in October, and she had asked me for an address so she could mail me letters. Being honest, I'm extremely grateful of these letters and I don't like to take advantage of the fact people like my photography to send me presents and letters so I always reply back with a letter and a equivalent gift. However I do find it troublesome and sometimes I would rather they send in online messages rather than an actual letter but nevertheless I appreciate them a lot and store them all away in a box for keeping.
So when she asked I gave her the PO address I was pretty hesitant about it. I have received a fair amount of 'fan mails' before and as mean as this sounds one extra letter from her wouldn't really make a difference and she gave out a strange feeling, as if she wanted something from me and immediately I became more cautious about her. So today when she approached me again, one month later, with no letter from her I had a very bad feeling.
Long story short she asked me to buy her a birthday present, best if it was of good quality and send it to her all the way over at China. Now I've encountered some really strange 'fans' but this had me laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing because she had the guts to actually ask and crying because this is happening to me and not somebody else.
Allow me to make this clear - I am not your mum or your dad, nor am I your friend at school or your high school sweetheart so why on earth do I have to buy you a birthday present when I don't even know you? I tried to explain it reasonably well to her, that I have no obligations what so ever to fulfil this task and this is honestly really bad timing because I'll be off to a holiday in less than a week. The last thing I want to worry about among with packing up my luggage is trying to find the perfect present for a complete stranger over the Internet.
Her excuse? "But I tried to send you a fan mail", right, so if I have to buy a birthday present of $60 dollars and over for every fan mail I get my parents would most definitely be bankrupt by now. Also, may I highlight the word 'tried'? Right, you tried to write some words on a piece of paper and send it to me but failed but now I still have to buy you something?
I don't want to sound mean or maybe I am for not wanting to buy someone's birthday present, because you know, not actually knowing who that person is is no excuse on my behalf. Maybe I will buy her something after all... What should I buy for her? Oh yes, a stack of paper so you can attempt to send more fan mails for me because that is all you're going to get out of me - blank pieces of paper.
