Sunday 22 September 2019

"But it means you won't get a cake!"

And I said,
    "I don't want one."
I can't remember the last birthday cake I had. It was a very, very long time ago. Birthdays were on my mind yesterday because of the party I mentioned but also because of something else.
Yesterday I had to fill out a form. It  was for a group I belong to. I suppose it was simple enough but I didn't see the relevance of my DOB - date of birth.
Yes, they have cake for "significant" birthdays - and I suppose I have one coming up - and  they sing the "happy birthday" song. I don't like the overly sweet cake  they buy. (It looks much nicer than it tastes  to me but other people like it.) I hate people singing the birthday song to me. I really don't like having a birthday. On the actual day everyone  is too busy celebrating something else to care much. It was never made a fuss of when I was a kitten and I now find the whole thing embarrassing.
So, I didn't put my DOB on the form. I see no point. I don't want cake. I don't want people singing to me - especially when most of them don't really know me and couldn't care less one except for the cake. 
But the form had other things - like address and phone number and email and whether you wanted to get the newsletter by email (yes - let's save the tree it gets printed on). I was happy enough to supply those.
At some point I will be able to help with things like "door duty" - something I can't do now because the Senior Cat needs me far more than they do. Whether I do any more teaching is up to them. If - when - things change in the group then I will. 
There wasn't room to say this or answer the other question on the form that might have been important.
And an important question was left off - or at least a question I think is important. A lot of people in the group are older. Emergencies do occur. There was nowhere on the form to put contact details of someone to contact in an emergency. I can  hear someone there saying, "Well someone would contact the Senior Cat."  That's not what I would want. I would want them to contact Middle Cat or my nephew.  
I have now been a thoroughly irritating and scratchy cat and sent the committee a message making the suggestion it needs to be included. They might already have thought of it and decided against it for some reason but I felt I had to suggest the need for a contact.
If they take the idea up I might make them biscuits. That would be better than birthday cake for me. I don't need that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some people like a fuss made over their birthdays (often the ones who are coy about the actual number), others prefer much less fuss (like you and me).

My first visit to one group was in November. In December I received many Christmas cards, including one with the message wishing me "lots of love from Doris and Don". I had met Doris once and Don never. I still think that was too much love too soon.

LMcC

catdownunder said...

Much too much too soon!