Confrontation

For some reason confrontation seems to seek me out, or maybe I seem to seek it out. Either way, I am not good at handling conflicts. And Tony absolutely hates confrontation. From holes in our shower, to credit card fraud, we have had a lot of "chances to improve the way we handle confrontation."

Since October 3rd, we have not been able to use one of the two showers in our apartment because there was a water leak. They had to put a big hole in the shower to let it dry out. It has been dry for quite some time. The maintenance just hasn't gotten around to it. And this is not the only problem we have had. Fire alarms go off all of the time. The elevator was broke for over a month. They shut off the water for a day. We are only allowed one vehicle to park in the parking lot. The heating sucks. There is a frequent smell of smoke in our apartment. I know these are minor things, but it just gets old. Very old.

November 13th, we realized someone put over $200 of fraudulant charges on our credit card. It has been nothing but hassle dealing with it. We have been waiting to get our new card. Then they charged us $25 for having it rushed to us. Not to mention the hold music and all of the times they hung up on us, and not being able to do anything.

Then there is figuring out the holidays. Having to manage what parties we go to. This is a challenge that we will have every year. But these first few years, I believe, will set a pattern for the rest of the holidays. The good news is I don't have to work Christmas Eve. The bad news is I have to work at 3am the day after Christmas.

Also, the relationship with my mom is one that seems to always be able to create stress. This time, it was just me being jealous and immature. I was completely annoyed with how much my mom liked my brother's girlfriend and how she was so able to fit right in and seemed to fill a role in the family that wasn't hers to fill. I am glad that has all been resolved.

And work. I have a job that I really enjoy. I like what I do, and I feel like I am good at it. But some of the women that I work with are jerks. And all they do is complain. All the time. About everything and everyone. What is interesting to watch is how they complain about each other. I have learned to ignore them, but the first few months of working with them was quite a challenge.

I know that these problems are not unique to us. And I know this has been a long list of complaints. When I step back and look at all of the confrontations we deal with on a day to day basis, I understand why we get exhausted. But I also know that is not impossible to handle.