The (Un)official write anything you want page

I feel like shit at the moment. I asked my bitchy Japanese co-worker who has systematically sucked the life force out of this job if she would be willing to partake in a Christmas potluck and gift exchange. Last year she put in a time off request during the day of the event in order to avoid the uneasy feeling of breaking bread with those who she loathes. After a minute of playing eye ping pong with my other co-worker to see who would step up to the plate and go one on one with this pyonggang geisha, I ask, "So Sandra, how are you this lovely morning?"

She replies with a smile that would ignite a hearth, "I'm fine, thanks for asking."
"Would you be interested in a potluck and a holiday gift exchange?"
"No thank you." She retorts, all the while keeping that loving smile glued to her Japanese exterior.

Good fucking Lord, I feel like I just got rejected to Homecoming.
 
I know how you feel RiA. Why, just Thursday one of my students told me about how she was going to these nearby lakes that I'd been also meaning to go see. She was going to watch fishermen beat the lake with sticks to drive carp into nets.

Me: "Oh, that sounds interesting. I'd like to see that."
Her: "Yeah."
Me: "Can I come along?"
Her: "Haha, no."

She said it quite forcefully despite also having a smile on her face. Hell, I'd have just gone myself since it's close but the directions I've gotten about how to get there have been about as clear as mud.