Here’s an actual email I sent last Tuesday to the group of friends I was getting together with for Thanksgiving dinner:

Very excited for Thursday to see everyone…However, I wanted to clear something up right now: I’m not a jerk. I’m ignoring you on Thanksgiving day because football is on. It’s not that I don’t wanna help set the table, open the wine, get the side dishes ready or clean up the feces my dog will be leaving all over the house. It’s just that football is on. And from the hours of 5pm – 8pm when the Patriots are on, you can’t be pissed off if I don’t wanna play “Catchphrase” or any other asinine game. 

I understand your initial reaction is to be appalled by my jerkiness, but I gotta tell you, it worked. People were so prepared for my unwillingness to help out that I was never once asked to lift a finger. Besides, isn’t giving people the heads-up about my priorities better than surprising them with my lack of effort at the actual dinner?

I can tell you that every guy at this get-together was regretting NOT sending a similar email once they had to deal with their girlfriends constantly asking them to do something non-football-related throughout the afternoon.

I know those guys think I’m a genius, but I’m curious what the rest of the world thinks. And if you do think I’m a jerk, is it because of the rudeness of telling people I don’t intend to help, or the audacity to invite myself over to someone’s house earlier than they wanted after they’ve gone through the trouble of hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering?

So here’s my super simple poll question: