A MAN has blundered ahead and tried to keep a conversation going despite being sent a smiley face emoji.
Ryan Whittaker was messaging work colleague Charlotte Phelps to tell her he had just watched an episode of Black Mirror when she replied with the cheerful disembodied head.
Failing to understand the international code for ‘Okay, now leave me alone’, he replied telling her the plot, which involved technology going awry in an unexpected way again, and suggesting she might enjoy watching it.
Charlotte said: “It was 9.30pm. I was bone-tired after a hard day and wanted to read in peace for a bit. He just kept wittering on and on, even when I sent him a single thumbs-up emoji in a desperate attempt to end the conversation.
“It’s bad enough he bombards me with memes at work, but I can’t even get away from him at home. I can’t work out if he’s trying to chat me up or if he’s just lonely.
“Actually I don’t think he’s chatting me up as he once messaged at 11.30pm to tell me he’d just had a massive dump.”
Communications expert Helen Archer said: “Some people just don’t understand the real meanings behind emojis, like when your mum uses the aubergine emoji.
“Unfortunately, the best way to deal with idiots who don’t know you’re telling them to shut up and go away is to ignore the message. And for God’s sake disable the message receipts feature on WhatsApp.”