This past week, I was conversing with a senior friend (not a colleague) of mine and in his text, he sent me something which suggested that he could help me out with making my resume, with his texts being in quite a zealous mood.
I replied with the following (with a little tone of hesitation):
"Actually I'm preparing myself for an exam before I start working on my
resume. Thanks for offering me to help though 🙂 "
.. Right after I sent the text, I realized my text feels a little cold cause I didn't reciprocate the good vibe. The first line feels a little meek or something just doesn't feel right. How may I change the wording to make it sound better? Any better alternative way to convey the same thing with a little more energy? I think that adding a "well" before "actually" does make it better(makes it a little more polite), but it still steals the enthusiasm from his comment.
Best Answer
If you wish to "reciprocate the good vibe" you could ask for a "rain check". Literally a rain check is a voucher one receives when a game or other event with paid admission is cancelled because of inclement weather. Figuratively, it means "Can we postpone?"
A single word dropped into the sentence here or there, like "Well, ..." won't achieve the tone you're after. Your final words of thanks ("thanks for offering to help me though") put an end to the offer. They suggest there was only one window of opportunity, that the timing didn't work out, and that you're willing to say that's the end of it.