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A clue is badly needed here
2004-09-06 - 3:32 p.m. Yesterday I got extremely annoyed with Queenie for her total disregard for my truck and its contents. As her van is an old 8 cylinder gas guzzler, and mine an economical nissan truck, I have been allowing her to use it whenever she needs it and I don't. Let me preface this by saying that I am so far from a neat freak that we don't even share a zip code. You could call me "Clutter" and I'd answer. But, and this is a huge but, I'm not dirty or nasty. If I eat a fast-food meal in my car, I put the wrappers / leftovers in the bag and drop it into one of those bins at the gas station when I'm next getting gas, or throw it in the trash at home. If I take a drink from the house w/ me and don't finish it, I dump it out and bring the glass back with me when I return. I've been know to toss more than a couple beer bottles / cans out of the rear window into the bed of the truck and toss those into the garbage at home. What I don't do is leave half-filled coffee cups, coke cans, juice boxes, fucking melted ice cream(???) containers on the floor mats so they can slosh over and spill and make a sticky, disgusting mess that somebody else has to clean up or step in every time they ride in the truck. Did I mention that her dauighter spilled a whole fucking bag of tortilla chips in the back seat? And pudding from pudding cups, and orange chee wees? I shit you not, I had an inch high layer of fucking chips in the back, some crushed and ground into the carpet. Queenie breezily said 3 days ago that she would clean it out. Ahem. After 3 days, I did the shit myself, spending $5.50 at the carwash sucking that shit up as best I could. But that's not even why I got so pissed. Those are the things I didn't even mention. what really pissed me off was discovering last night that Queenie's 4 year old daughter Gabby had opened a zippered portfolio with my letters of reference and resumes inside it and strew the contents all over the floor in the back of my truck. They were crumpled, dirty, with footprints all over them. I was absolutely amazed that she did that and her mother hadn't even noticed. And when I brought it to her oblivious ass's attention, she copped a serious attitude with me. Oh hell, I'll just cut and paste the e-mail I sent her here: Queenie � Sunday night when I expressed frustration after finding my resumes out of the zippered portfolio, crumpled, and marked with footprints in the back of my truck, I felt that you reacted very defensively. You rolled your eyes and said sarcastically, �I told you I�m sorry! I can�t watch what she�s doing when I�m driving!� I think that it�s a reasonable expectation that you can monitor your child�s behavior in a vehicle. As Gabby isn�t the only 4 year-old who rides in my truck (my boss�s son is 4 also; so is my client�s daughter, and they both ride in the back without disturbing the contents), I think that, as her parent, you can set limits on what Gabby may or may not touch while riding in the truck. If she becomes bored on short trips around town, she can bring along toys or books to amuse herself without damaging my stuff. At four, she should be familiar with boundaries and limits, know what she can and cannot touch. Other children do, and Gabby is smarter than most. Unfortunately, her innate intelligence also makes her a master manipulator, a trait most parents try to discourage. If I had my own working computer and printer, it would matter less to me, but the �A� drive is broken on my work computer, and we are low on ink, so it�s a hassle to me to reprint the resumes. But I think the greater point here is respecting someone else�s property when it�s under your care and control. I felt that I couldn�t even address the issue with you without you immediately becoming hostile and defensive, and I don�t think I was out of line speaking to you about it. I didn�t yell, curse, or get ugly. I simply stated the problem, why I felt as I did, but your response indicated to me that you really didn�t care how I felt. That�s what bothered me the most, because had the situation been reversed, I would have sincerely (not sarcastically) apologized, and made sure my child did, too. When you allow Gabby to trample the rights of others, you are doing her a grave disservice, because the world will not bend to her whims, and she will have a rude awakening when that reality hits her. I know that you will probably be angry after reading this, but I feel that we needed to clear the air about the issue. With all of us living together as we are, combining resources, etc., I think it is necessary to discuss potential problems as they occur rather than letting resentments build up until major blow-outs result from minor incidents. I hope you agree with me, but if you don�t, maybe we should talk about that, too. I fully expect to hear more shit about it, but I'm loaded for bear, because guess what? I'm right and she's fucking wrong, and it would be nigh on impossible to justify her position. Great googily moogily! Get a fucking clue here! Please. I'm about to go find a phatty and toke out before I stroke out. �
still here - 2009-12-18
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