I told both my old aged neighbours that we are renovating our flat so delivery and installation of furniture will cause some noise. They said no problem.
Later I caught the bus with one of them and I told her that she could come for coffee and cake once we are all set.

I got no response from her. I thought maybe she did not hear me so I repeated my sentence. Well no response again She continued our conversation completely ignoring my informal invite.

If she was not interested she could just say "Don't worry" or "maybe one day" but to completely ignore and not sayanything?


Btw the other old neighbour has invited us many times and she definitely would have replied to a similar invite. On the whole they both like us and give us food items.


Still I feel that I got Swiss rick rolled?

Your posts are like a little virtual reality show.....I'm expecting a photograph of two pieces of bread, some cheese, a tomato and a knife sometime around midday telling us what you are about to do and asking for confirmation that the cheese does indeed go on the INSIDE of the bread

Don't worry about the old lady....who knows why she didn't reply? Maybe felt uncomfortable, maybe didn't understand, maybe she had heard about your electrical skills and didn't want to risk sitting under that light

It was kind that you offered and thats enough.....forget about it

I used to work for a company where the secretary was exactly the same (not elderly by any means but in her mid-30s). If she didn't like what she was hearing or was in any way in an awkward situation ("My flight has been booked for the 27th, not the 26th!") she just carried on talking about something totally unrelated without pausing for breath until the person gave up and walked off.

Nice girl but a bit odd.

I was talking to a psychiatrist friend of mine and he actually told me that this was a tecnique, hear something you dont like then just ignore it...it would annoy people and from your post I guess it works...Different people react differently and some people really can not do confrontation, so saying no woul dbe difficult to them hence they decide to ignore it. Do not take it personally...

I would also have ignored youre invitation, as that would be the result of my own social anxiety, nothing personal against you.

See that little device in her ear? Was it set to "on"?

Maybe she was worried you were going to ask her to wire your lighting fixtures, or that there wouldn't be enough room with all the Ikea men around?

Maybe you could try knocking on her door one day with a cake or pastry to give to her, then see if that gesture might make her more amenable to a future invitation to visit you in your home?

I think she could understand your sentence was not a specific question. When you say "she could come for coffee and cake once we are all set", was just something nice to say that not requires response. To have a answer, you need to be more specific, telling day and time.

I'm telling this because I did the same and I had the same reaction from my neigbour. Later I understood that she couldn't give an answer to this informal question, because then she came to my house with a very specific invitation to go to their house for a coffee.

I think you need to be specific like "I'd love to have you over for coffee on the 20th of August at 3pm. Are you free?"

My other neighbour came in to check up on the furniture and I offered her coffee and cake in the near future when all is done. She jumped on the offer.