I was invited to Simon's party (so was everyone)

Hey there,

It’s not something I’d thought much about until this week.

Simon Rutter was the popular kid in year Infants at my Primary school.

I, on the other hand was, as was to become standard in my turbulent school life...

…on the periphery.

So, imagine my excitement, nay confusion, when I got a hand written invite to his 6th birthday party.

Even at that fragile age

this felt like my rite of passage.

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and then steadily, that lunchtime, with creeping disappointment

it dawned on me,

as one by one my classmates opened their invites too..

Simon Rutter had invited the whole class.

All 32 of us.

I bet even the class hamster got an invite.

Either as an act of altruistic kindness instigated by his parents,

or pure narcissism executed in the way only the popular kids know how,

Simon had decided the way to maintain the air of popularity was to have the biggest party of the year (at McDonalds).*

*Mcdonalds in the 80’s really was quite a treat, in fact I’d age 6 I’d never actually been.

I wasn’t special, I was just one of many.

In fact, I was being used in a numbers game.

ICYMI

My best Linkedin post of the week:

• As a Junior Buyer, I got a LOT of advice

Here’s what happened to me this week

and why it reminded me of my hapless school days and Simon Rutter.

This happens a lot since I’ve gained some traction on LinkedIn.

I always remove myself from the tag.

I’ve even tried to politely inform some of the people who do it that it kills the algorithm.

LinkedIn quite literally shuts your post down

and stops displaying it to anyone new the moment you multi tag.

LinkedIn rightly treats this as spam.

But most importantly,

I’m not going to feel at all incentivised to join your party if I’m one of about 50 Procurement people you’ve tagged into a post or a comment.

It’s intrusive.

It’s pointless

and it really messes up my notifications and feed.

Stop it!

Stop tagging me unless it’s a direct reference to me or you’re crediting me in some way.

Please!

Thank you!

Tom

P.S. I didn’t make it to Simon’s party. I got ill with the mumps.

Sad times for all.

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