You know you're dealing with an insane person when...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday

Ex: Will you look after the kids both days this weekend? I want to get away to recharge my batteries. I hope it doesn’t interefere with your plans.

Me: Sure. No plans. No problem.

Today:

Ex: (email) Call me right away I’m trying to make plans and I need to know if you can take the kids Thursday night and stay home with them Friday because there is no school this Friday so you have to take the day off work. I won’t be back until late Tuesday night so you’ll have to take them to spring break camp Monday and Tuesday and pick them up at 4pm. I hope that’s alright. Thanks. I really need the break.

Me: Ummmm… no I can’t take Friday off. I’m the only senior person on my team available this Friday and I have to be at work.

Ex: Well I took two days off last week to be with QS_boy cuz he was sick and I don’t get paid if I don’t work.

Me: Yeah…me either. So you probably shouldn’t take off another three days from work to go play if money is an issue.

Ex: But you make more than me.

Me: Yep. That’s why I give YOU child support money every month and that’s why I HAVE to work or Friday.

Ex: Yeah. Sure.

Me: What does that mean?

Ex: Well I take time off when the kids are sick.

Me: You’re the custodial parent. It’s what you insisted on. That’s what happens when you get what you ask for. And the kids are not sick, you are going on vacation. Why do I have to lose income because you are going vacation?

Ex: Yeah. Well thanks a lot.

Me: I can’t have this conversation at work.

Ex: Fine, I’ll make arrangements for the kids for Friday. And maybe I need to start working full time and the kids will have to go to an after school program.

Me: Well, if that’s what you think is best then let’s discuss it at a better time.

Ex: Well, I get paid for the hours I work, so maybe I should work more hours.

Me: Like I said, perhaps you should not be taking this time off if money is such an issue for you.

Ex: Forget it!

Me: Okay. Let me know what arrangements you make for the kids on Friday.

<bang my head on desk for 5 minutes>

…I did nothing to deserve this… nothing.

2

How’s about my poor sis, who, looking after her husband’s child-from-a-previous-relationship, as well as the child’s two cousins, was accused by the husband’s ex of “child abuse” due to one small bruise, inflicted on said child by one of the child’s cousins.

The jealous and vindictive ex pursued it all the way to court, where it was just she-said-she-said, but the four-year-old child had been persuaded to testify against her, and the judge agreed to take this testimony into account. My sis therefore had to plea bargain “guilty” because she couldn’t afford any more lawyer time. The judge imposed the minimum sentence, which was not to see the child for a year.

This is how guilty the ex actually thought my sister was: on the day the banning order expired, the ex turned up on my sister’s doorstep, dumped the child on her and left. Whereupon my sis discovered the child was running a high fever, and so had to take her to a doctor and pay all her medical bills. Every time the kid needs to see a doctor now, her deadbeat mother drops her off at my sister’s place.

Exes can be bastards.

3

Ummm… so you mean those acts of sex don’t count? :slight_smile:

4

Quicksilver,

You ex sounds pretty selfish to me. A 2 day battery recharge should be enough - it’s crazy to expect you to take a day off from work so that she can have a longer vacation.

5

Frankly, I’ve had better since the divorce. Much.

If I give you her telephone number, do you think you could explain it to her? I know I never could.

6

Face it, Quickie, you’re in love with the girl. That’s why she makes you crazy. I think you should just admit it. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

You know what… <bring…bring…bring> … hang on, it’s my phone…

Yeah. Aha. Yep. Okay. Bye.
Hey Inigo. That was your wife. Tell her to stop calling me.

:stuck_out_tongue:

Bastard.

:smiley:

8

Man, I’m sorry you have to deal with this. The worst thing is, in each of these little volleys, your kids are the ball. You can’t win, because she’ll tell them they can’t go to camp because you’re too mean to take them, or whatever the next thing is.

With both of you working your current jobs, even if you were still married, you’d still have to work this sort of thing out.

The best solution would be to find a job that has paid Vacation/Personal Time Off (Aren’t you in the DC area? - plenty of options here!), and always be there for your kids, regardless and in spite of what their mother does.

9

I think the official term is “Felony Possession of a Penis”.

10

Thanks An Arky. But I’m an independant consultant and I’m good at what I do and it’s a good living. I can’t complain. It’s just that I really can’t take time off this particular friday because I am the project lead and it’s just a busy time. Plus, it’s the sheer arrogance of it.

As for the kids… she’s a good mom, I can’t deny her that. She just knows that the children are one of the last hot buttons I have and she presses that when she can. I’m not going to make the kids a battle ground just to prove a point and in the end neither will she. It’s just the inconsistancy of her logic and the manipulation that I detest so much.

11

I think she should be killed slowly just for using this expression.

12

LOL!

I thought so too when she said it.

:smiley:

13

Maybe she could consider bringing the kids with. It’s not so bad recharging with the children as long as you can leave the job behind.

14

Nah. I have no objection to having the kids with me for 4 or 5 days/nights. I love to spend time with them and they with me. It’s not like the kids are a imposition on me. It’s the assumption that I can just take time off work when she needs me to.