oh, woe is me

the past month has been infuriating, and here's why, in list format:

1. everyone and their mother has been lying to my face for, as far as i can tell, no reason. no good reason, at least.

1a. a couple of weeks back i was working the 4-close shift at the portrait studio when a woman called in to "doublecheck her appointment time." supposedly we returned a message she left on our answering machine and confirmed that her appointment was scheduled for 6:00, 6:10, 6:20, 6:30, or 6:40 - but for the life of her she couldn't recall which.

but she wasn't in the book, and there was no indication whatsoever that her name had been erased. on top of that, we scoured the answering machine log, which is essentially a list of names and numbers left on our answering machine, and she wasn't on it. in other words, she was fucking lying. but she insisted that she had in fact scheduled an appointment, so in the end we had no choice but to take her word for it.

it was a quarter to 6 at that point.

long story short, she showed up at 7:30, just as i was about to take the last portrait sitting before the studio closed at 8.

she said that she couldn't have possibly arrived a minute before 7:30, because "i didn't get off the phone till a quarter after 6."

um, with whom?

"and i live all the way in inver grove heights."

i live in west st. paul (west st. paul and inver grove heights are less than 10 minutes apart, fyi), and under normal circumstances it takes me no more than 20 minutes to get to the portrait studio from home. oh, how i yearned to tell her in no uncertain terms how full of shit she was!

"what time was your appointment?"

"6-something."

"even if your appointment was at 6:45, you'd be 45 minutes late for it. i'm sorry." but i wasn't.

"i want your district manager's name and phone number!" and then her head spun around in circles and she spat out pea soup and that was the end of that.

1b. on christmas eve (i actually volunteered to work 11-4 christmas eve for no other reason than BECAUSE I AM HOPELESSLY STUPID), my assistant manager gave me a peanut butter brownie fresh from mrs. field's and said cheerfully, "here, kate. i got this just for you." i was touched - until i noticed that she'd taken a bite out of it. that's when i realized that what she meant to say was, "here, kate. i got this for myself but ended up not liking it so here you go." merry christmas to you, too.

2. i assumed that because new year's day is a national holiday the portrait studio would be closed for business, but oh, was i wrong. and because i didn't think to request it off, i was scheduled. i was scheduled on new year's eve, too, which coincidentally is also my mom's birthday, but i digress. on new year's eve i found out on accident that i would have to both open AND close the studio on new year's day, A NATIONAL HOLIDAY, because the girl whom my manager scheduled to open the studio hadn't received the proper training as to how to do so.

on new year's eve, i was in bed by 11 p.m. after having celebrated the coming of the new year - by myself. happy new year's to you, too.

3. MY BOYFRIEND'S NEUROLOGIST PRESCRIBED MY BOYFRIEND, A HEMOPHILIAC, SEIZURE MEDICATION THAT LOWERS PLATELET COUNT. THE ONLY WAY I CAN ADEQUATELY COMMUNICATE MY SEETHING RAGE IS BY TYPING IN ALL CAPS.