Today I had some of the art that we've collected over the course of our trips to Europe framed at Hobby Lobby. (Boy, that sounded pretentious.) I thought the framing guy smelled a little, uh, like a person smells when they don't wear deodorant, or when he's shown a lady like me 5 bazillion different options on matting and all she keeps saying is "I don't know. I don't think that's it. What do you think?"
But, when I got home and started on my little painting project, I discovered it was me who smelled. I had somehow forgotten to wear deodorant. Take away my schedule and all of a sudden personal hygiene eludes me. Now Ben at Hobby Lobby thinks I'm the somewhat ripe smelling and very picky lady of his day. Sigh.
Then, there was this lady. She bought our dining room table, which I had posted on Craigslist. Although my ad clearly states, and the norms of craigslisting clearly imply, that one is responsible for moving and hauling any merchandise, this lady either didn't read it, is used to people doing things for her, or she blatantly disregarded that information. Anyway, she showed up to move her new table, which I had taken apart for her, with a Ford Focus and 3 herniated disks. No friends to be found. And my husband is sick. Oh, and she showed up just as I was washing my brushes from putting the gray primer on the walls from above painting project.
After an acrobatic act proving that the table top (3 feet by 5 feet) will not, in fact, fit in a Ford Focus, and carrying all the stuff myself for her, the lady seems a bit put out and states how her truck is in Joliet, she can't get the table top until Saturday, yada yada yada. Okay, fine, I'll carry the table top back up, you pay me and come get your stinking table top on Saturday.
But, then, she asks, "Can I pay you extra to drive the table top over in your station wagon you said it fit in (30 minute drive one way)?" I said, "No..I'm in the middle of painting and No." We start discussing her coming to pick it up, and I stated that I could leave it in the apartment lobby for her to pick up even if we're not home. She replies, "Well, I'll need your help to load it, I can't put it in the car by myself."
So, now I feel guilty, and unsure where Christian duty ends and good boundaries begin. This lady had no hesitation to ask over and over again for more than was expected, and seemed miffed that a little extra dough wasn't what I wanted to leave my home when I was dressed in my painting clothes with primer drying on my brushes upstairs.
By the way, the primer dried on my brushes, and now our tub is a grayish hue of dried primer. Then I ran the hot water to rinse away what I had scrubbed off, and the shower curtain wasn't closed all the way and my floor and rug got completely soaked.
Now, 1.5 hours after the table lady arrived, I'm finally back to painting. What do ya'll think? Did table lady finding my selfish vein and I should have driven her table top away? Or are my brushes in the tub like my ox in the mire?
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2 comments:
In my opinion, you went above and beyond your "Christian duty" by dragging the table down to her car. I think you were quite justified in turning down her other requests -- and her actions really seemed to reflect a sense of entitlement.
You've already received the money from her, right? So I guess you can't cancel the sale altogether, but you certainly would be justified in doing so. Might it be time to show her the Craig's List norms?
Helping her is one thing; doing it for her is only going to allow her to continue being a freeloader.
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