I have a pen pal in another country. I really enjoy chatting with her every now and then. But I will be at work JUST going to check my e-mail and the IM automatically signs in on Yahoo, so she sees me and starts talking to me before I can make myself invisible. I only go on to check my mail and don't have time to sit there sometimes chatting for hours, which is what we sometimes do.
But she never waits until I initiate conversation to see if I'm busy, she comes on and starts talking. I politely tell her, I'm at work talk to you later, but I find myself having to be invisible all the time when I go on Yahoo because I just want to get my things done without conversing.
I also don't want to set it to "permanently off line" - or would that be a mean thing to do until I am ready to talk? I have time to chat when I get home from work, but the time difference is so drastic that we really don't know the best times to talk to each other. Would it be mean of me to tell her not to initiate an IM with me when I'm at work because I can't talk? Or ignore her when I can't IM and let her get the message?
But she never waits until I initiate conversation to see if I'm busy, she comes on and starts talking. I politely tell her, I'm at work talk to you later, but I find myself having to be invisible all the time when I go on Yahoo because I just want to get my things done without conversing.
I also don't want to set it to "permanently off line" - or would that be a mean thing to do until I am ready to talk? I have time to chat when I get home from work, but the time difference is so drastic that we really don't know the best times to talk to each other. Would it be mean of me to tell her not to initiate an IM with me when I'm at work because I can't talk? Or ignore her when I can't IM and let her get the message?