i seem to have completely and totally lost the ability to communicate with other humans.

i’m quite sure there was a point at which i was told that asking a question such as,  “do we have guidelines regarding ___________?” would indeed illicit an answer more like one of the following:

  • yes
  • yes, here they are
  • here they are
  • no
  • not yet
  • sort of

instead i have been called prudish, have a bunch of people defending behaviours they thought i was offended by (without me having said if i was offended or not, or what caused me specifically to ask the question) , and told i could just leave if i didn’t like what was happening.

even after i clarified that i am just trying to find out what the guidelines are so i can adjust my expectations, people are *still* talking about how no one did anything offensive. no mention of the existence of guidelines or not.

how else does one ask about such a thing… i mean, how does one ask in order to get a rational yes or no answer?

and good lord don’t i wish this were the first time i’d asked about purpose or guidelines and people got all defensive instead of just answering the question. is it really that uncommon for people to ask discrete questions?

yes, there MAY be a follow up question, but i have asked the first question for a reason. i’m looking for it’s answer!