I am apparently not nice to people

My wife is the Matron of Honor in a wedding on New Year’s Eve. The bride called my wife this week to ask if I could help out on the day of the wedding. “Yes,” Elysha said, “but you have to play to Matt’s strengths. Don’t ask him to do something he can’t do.”

“Like what?” the bride asked.

My wife’s response?

“He’s not very good at being nice to people.”

That’s right. Her husband, the father of her daughter and future child, who is also a teacher of young minds, a wedding DJ, a minister, a life coach and an author, is not very good at being nice to people.

Somehow I’ve managed to assemble a wonderful and diverse group of friends even though I am not very good at being nice to people.

Perhaps what my wife meant to say was that I am not terribly effective at making small talk with people who I don’t know in more formal social situations.

But I don’t think so. I think she meant to say that I’m just not very nice.

Ultimately the bride explained that they needed someone to clear the guests from the lobby area just prior to the ceremony so that she could pass through without being seen.

“Oh,” Elysha said. “You need someone to clear a lobby full of people. Matt is your man.”

While this is technically true, I’m not sure if I liked the sound of this, either.

The whole conversation left me wondering what the hell my wife actually thinks of me, but I find myself suddenly afraid to ask.