argh! fall is upon us, and this new routine is a beast.
I'll try to write more again soon. Every couple of days at least.
In the meantime, a beef from a week ago.
Let's say you're agitated and veritably freaking out a little about something. Not a diagnosable panic attack per se (though maybe so); just a very real, very rational fear causing you to talk fast and worry because you're in a pickle until it's fixed, and you feel extremely painted into a corner, and are possibly literally EXACTLY THAT.
Let's say that you're outlining the reason to this situation to someone who's never met you before, but who you have talked to on the phone a couple of times. And when you express your fear and your frustration and you're talking a mile a minute, that person's reaction to your high emotion is to interrupt you to tell you to calm down and then talk over you.
Now the person in question doesn't bark, but nor do they take time to make it tactful. There's no "let's take a deep breath and work through this" and there's CERTAINLY no waiting for you to finish. Just barrel over what you were in the middle of saying because what this person has to say is OBVIOUSLY so much more important.
Granted what they have to say is to offer help, but a) it's not practical, and b) you already have help on the way, which they'd know if they bothered to STFU and let you finish.
Would you be aggravated? Would your tension level increase? Would you possibly resent the crap out of that person and think twice about continuing communication with them?
To paint the picture: Rush hour traffic. Dead car (power problem). Inability to get out of the turn lane on southbound Crowchild, onto 5th Ave, because these MORONS kept filling in the turn lane gap in front of me so that when I got my car boosted (I have a mobile battery pack) I was stuck sitting in one spot and therefore killed what battery power I had just managed to accumulate. Not the other drivers' fault, sure. But I couldn't get anywhere until they MOVED and one person by herself in a lane barricaded by a concrete median on one side and 3 busy lanes of traffic (one of which regularly flowed into the space in front of my car) on the other is NOT likely to be able to make that happen for herself easily, especially when she has a car to push (and steer - around a corner during a brief advance green turn light.).
The woman in question was a landlady of a place that I was going to look at, that I'm no longer remotely interested in. She did something else that put me off of her personalitywise, and she also talked... and talked... and talked... and talked... and talked... every conversation we had. EVERY conversation. (that wasn't the thing that put me off). There are other things that have sealed my decision on the matter (looking to move somewhere a little more central than she was, and stay in my current church congregation, primarily) but that really did it.
How would you react? It was a week ago or so now so the steam's blown off, and I did eventually have a couple of guys help me get the car around the corner and into the car wash parking lot and Stacey came to get me to go buy cables and then I managed to get going (until I got stuck downtown and died once more, but after getting boosted that time I managed to get out to the Deerfoot, and once I can drive for awhile steadily and FAST, I'm usually okay for awhile).
But I thought I'd post my beef anyway :P because I thought the way she reacted was insensitive and utter crap. And I'm not sure I want that for my landlady. At all.
Okay I'm done.
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