Dear dear Abby

Do you ever find yourself tempted to whine a little bit to dear Abby? Not many annoyances end up irking me so much as to give me a need for an an outlet so that others may hear my plea, but I must admit greatly annoyed I have been in recent times.

In accordance with true dear Abby style we will call man #1 Richard. Richard is my landlord, oh no you say a landlord story. Well as a tenant in my neighborhood I do my duty to pay my rent in a timely manner, follow rules to the best of my ability and keep to myself most of the time. I have always gotten along nicely with "Richard" but in the last eight months have taken on a new job. A job I like, a job I am good at, a job that is mine.

Lately every single time I encounter Richard (to pay rent, or just at the local coffee shop) he dives straight into a particular conversation about: when I applied for that job 10 years ago (and didnt get it) they told me I needed a college degree.....blah blah etc, this conversation can drift along for a good 10-15 minutes if I dont bat my eyelashes and politely excuse myself all the while brimming with irritation with the smile that is fakely plastered onto my face.

And Richard isn't the only one! Into the story comes "Ned" I'm not sure what Ned does for a living but Ned seems to have an intuition (oh I left an important part of the story out, I have "routes" that I do different times during the month) Ned has the uncanny ability of knowing exactly when I will be in his neck of the woods. Ned greets me, and it would be cute if he didn't also slip into the reminiscent ploy of: when I applied for that job, they told me I wasn't fit enough.....

Yes you have to be fit to obtain my job, yes you have to be smart to have my job, yes you have to know how to deal with lots of people who you will encounter with my job, but I might lose my head if I don't find an alternate way of keeping myself from screaming at these guys: ITS NOT YOUR JOB ITS MINE!

Most likely I will not end up sending this little outburst to the dear Abby column in the near future but oh doesn't it feels better to rant and rave about it. I really am not looking for someone to give me hints at how to solve my own dilemmas, I just wanted to give a little shout out to all the Richard's and Ned's in my world. Maybe a little ego statistical but: I see you guys, and the job is all mine.

Cheers!!