Those of us who live in more civilised countries than the US have this problem all the time - everyone else is asleep at our prime commenting time and vice versa, so we always end up having conversations either with ourselves or with 8-hour gaps between each side of the conversation.

You get used to it.

*sob*

Sorry, I know everyone else saw this and said "let's continue the joke and not comment", but I couldn't help myself!

Is it rude to expect an immediate response to something, even in an internet age?

Is it rude to expect an immediate response to something, even in an internet age?

Sure as hell is. A friend of mine was casting a big national commercial, looking for a supermodel-lookalike-perfect-eleven-bombshell woman, and texted another friend of mine, an actor, asking if he knew any super-sexy young actresses. Actor dude texts back, "How about [actor's girlfriend]?"

Naturally, commercial dude was at work, and stacks of more important things came up, so he couldn't reply for a half-hour or so. He didn't need to, however.

"Don't fucking ask me shit like that again, that's bullshit, dude," came the text from my actor friend, following up on the silence as a dismissal of his girlfriend's beauty.

Of course, commercial dude was completely floored by this, though if there were time to answer, he would've said "No, I need a classic leggy bombshell." It's casting, there's no offense in it, and an actor should know, there's nothing personal involved. But this actor guy took it as a one-man referendum on how pretty his girlfriend was, and went over and got in a shouting match with commercial fellow after work.

"If it was your girlfriend, you'd be mad at me for saying she's not pretty."

I'm not saying she's not pretty, I'm saying she's not what the director and I are looking for.

"Well, it was important, and your tabling your response was rude."

I was at work. It was thirty minutes before you texted me again. Get a grip on some patience, bro.

"Well, then, you shouldn't have asked me that, because you could guess I'd suggest my girlfriend, and you opened this can of worms, not me."

Look, you're an actor, you know other actors, sometimes they're in positions to help you, and if you put them on national TV, they'll be more likely to help you than otherwise. I was doing you a favor, and it's really pissing me off that you're giving me a headache on it.

Well, eventually they made up; after a couple days of intervention, I managed to illuminate my actor friend on what a dick he was being to a good friend who was trying to help him. Actor friend's solution to the whole mess? He discontinued the text messaging service on his cell phone account. Now everyone has to call him, leave a message, and wait thirty minutes or more for him to call back.

A few months later, commercial hombre shot a public service announcement for the NYPD for which actor cat's girlfriend was a perfect match, and you know what? She got the part.

Hugh, your anecdote is worthless w/o pics of super hawt girlfriend.

Well, every girlfriend is pretty, you see what I mean, to the guy she's dating at least, got me? Which is why, if you catch my drift, this one in particular, you know what I'm saying, didn't cut the mustard, if you will, at least not for, uh, this particular casting call, that is to say, as it were, in a sense.

This is why I prefer message boards over chat rooms, actually... it doesn't really matter if the responses are 8 hours apart!