Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Life lessons and some sucky South Africans

We finally have our stuff here in SA. We are almost done with the insurance claim. The weather's good. We started golf lessons. I realized I don't have to read Shantaram if I don't want to. We have awesome friends. We are almost the (not so proud) owners of two cars, so I can get around soon too. We are in good health. I haven't come across any snakes yet. I have plenty to read. After six years of marriage I am more in love than ever.

Life should be good, right?

For the most part life is good too, and we are happy. Still, apparently it doesn't take much to pull me down into the dirt. All it takes are a couple of rude people and I'm sad. I guess I'm writing this post to remind myself of how lucky I am to be who I am and to have what I have in my life, and to remind myself of the negative power a proper hissy fit will have over me. Believe me, had I been privy to the minus energy of my frequent hissy fits as a teenager my mother would not be looking back now at (and I quote practically word for word) "the horror that were the teenage years of my daughter." Sorry mom, at least for some of it...  

Now, I am proud of the fact that I am very much in touch with my own self-worth and if I feel someone is not giving me the respect I deserve I will, without a doubt, let them in on this epiphany. Sometimes in a not so nice way. But, I respect people who deserve my respect. 

What is going on then? Well, something has been going on with the house that we are renting pretty much ever since we moved in. No, the house is not haunted. I wish, that would have been much easier to deal with - get an exorcist and move on. The current problem now is how to deal with the extremely unpleasant aftermath of very much required and warranted repairs in the house. The repairs were eventually taken care of, but for one thing, and as we were trying to get the remaining issue fixed, such rudeness took place that I spent a good 30 minutes crying - over a rude contractor's visit. Naturally after drying my tears I complained, loudly and in writing, and lo and behold instead of an apology I got more shit thrown on me. Points deducted from SA. The contractor's response really got to me, since I had not been rude. Frustrated yes, but not without some very valid reasons in the form of water pouring in every window, construction material blocking the drain, and mold thriving underneath the wood floor, to name a few. In my opinion, we had been more patient than was warranted by the situation, and kind of nice too, regardless of people being late all the time or not showing up at all, or showing up unannounced. The guy actually had the gall to say they never showed up unannounced, because we have to okay them to come in through the gate. However, in this case I consider the gate my front door, and the guards giving me a minute's warning before someone shows up does not an appointment make! 

Currently I am divided as to whether I should mention the name of the rude party (not me, even though they said I was "always unfriendly"). The owner of the house is part of the same company, just a different division, but apart from minor issues has been a fairly decent landlord. I really would like to warn others never to deal with the construction side of this company as they have apparently never heard of such concepts as professionalism or common courtesy, but I am trying to take the high road and use this experience to remind myself how lucky I am if I have nothing better to cry about than an a-hole of a contractor. 

Taking the high road!
Taking the high road!
Taking the high road!
Taking the high road!

Maybe if I keep saying it it will come true.  

No comments: