- Joined
- Feb 14, 2008
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- 236
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- My backyard changes daily
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- blackrose602.wordpress.com
Does anyone else think it's the height of rudeness to "drop in"? Here's the scenario: I'm full-time caregiver for my disabled father. We live in a small space, so the place is always cluttered -- not dirty, just a bunch of stuff everywhere.
When we know someone will be coming over, we take a day to creatively hide the mess...stash stuff in Dad's van, etc. The place is too small to spruce up on a few minutes' notice, and there's nowhere for anybody to sit most of the time.
So there's that. Then there's the problem of being wrapped up in work. I write full-time and I'm juggling way too many deadlines right now. I can't just drop everything to go have a chat. On top of everything else, Dad and I are leaving in a few days for a two month trip. So the normal clutter and time constraints are 1000 times worse.
My uncle (Dad's brother) lives 20 minutes from here with his girlfriend we can't stand. Allegedly they both have jobs, but they never seem to be at work. They call incessantly. If we don't answer, they call another 50 times at two minute intervals. We've told them a million times that dropping in is not okay.
So today they show up on the doorstep. In the rain. Just to say hi. I'm still in my pajamas and haven't showered yet, trying to make a deadline of today (I have ten articles due today). Dad's on the phone trying to make last minute changes to our reservations for this trip. So Dad gets off the phone, changes clothes and goes outside in the rain to talk, telling me the whole time that I should go too. He comes back in two minutes later cause the girlfriend wants a soda.
Do I have a right to be pissed? Am I doing the wrong thing by staying at work and not dropping my articles to socialize? Personally, if I'd answered the door I'd have told the uncle where to go, but Dad's nicer than I am. How do you handle this kind of situation?
When we know someone will be coming over, we take a day to creatively hide the mess...stash stuff in Dad's van, etc. The place is too small to spruce up on a few minutes' notice, and there's nowhere for anybody to sit most of the time.
So there's that. Then there's the problem of being wrapped up in work. I write full-time and I'm juggling way too many deadlines right now. I can't just drop everything to go have a chat. On top of everything else, Dad and I are leaving in a few days for a two month trip. So the normal clutter and time constraints are 1000 times worse.
My uncle (Dad's brother) lives 20 minutes from here with his girlfriend we can't stand. Allegedly they both have jobs, but they never seem to be at work. They call incessantly. If we don't answer, they call another 50 times at two minute intervals. We've told them a million times that dropping in is not okay.
So today they show up on the doorstep. In the rain. Just to say hi. I'm still in my pajamas and haven't showered yet, trying to make a deadline of today (I have ten articles due today). Dad's on the phone trying to make last minute changes to our reservations for this trip. So Dad gets off the phone, changes clothes and goes outside in the rain to talk, telling me the whole time that I should go too. He comes back in two minutes later cause the girlfriend wants a soda.
Do I have a right to be pissed? Am I doing the wrong thing by staying at work and not dropping my articles to socialize? Personally, if I'd answered the door I'd have told the uncle where to go, but Dad's nicer than I am. How do you handle this kind of situation?