Thursday, September 02, 2010

You Have GOT to be Kidding Me!

You know, sometimes people just really get under my skin.

My sweet friend Jessica had run-ins with little old ladies this week, and while I laughed until my side hurt on the story about the mole, I came home to find I had my own beef with an old lady.

Actually, this lady might not be so old. Her children are probably younger than me, but her granddaughter is Victoria’s age. Here’s why my ears are steaming:

The granddaughter (we’ll call her Susie for the sake of protecting the innocent) is a friend of Victoria’s. Susie lives with her grandmother and her uncle. Vic made painstaking efforts to telephone Susie over the summer, at the cost of being yelled at by Susie’s uncle. Once, when she asked him why Susie wasn’t at home, the uncle growled at Victoria, “CHILD, you are not the BOSS of me!!”

Did I mention this dude is an adult? I forbade Victoria to ever dial that number again. I did NOT forbid her to play with Susie. I’ve had my misgivings about the adults in Susie’s life, and for that reason did not feel the need to converse with them at Back to School night. Perhaps I could have taken the higher road and wished them a good evening, but I was tired and it had been a long day and I just frankly didn’t feel like being kind if it meant being fake.

Today I picked Victoria up from school and she felt bad. Tummy trouble. Figuring some upset (pardon the pun) must have been the trigger, we began to discuss her day. We talked about the boys who bother her (I’m sure she gives as much as she takes!) and how she was sad today because of Susie.

(Sigh) “What happened with Susie?”

“Susie told me that I’m not allowed to play with her anymore. She said her grandma doesn’t want me anywhere near her. Her grandma thinks I’m irresponsible.”

“Why on earth would she think that?”

“None of the adults in her family like me. Her uncle REALLY doesn’t like me. And I was nice every time I called.”

I reassured her that her politeness had no impact on these people because they were obviously unhappy with themselves. I further explained that this was no great loss in my opinion, because Victoria had done nothing wrong.

“But her whole family HATES me!”

“Speaking of her whole family, where are Susie’s mom and dad?”

“They’re on parole.”

:-\

1 comment:

Jessica R. said...

Poor Vic. Some "adults" absolutely baffle me.