Exasperated

Generally, I am a rather patient person but there have been a few occasions in England that I have been totally put out. Once was when we were moving out of our first rental house here. We had been exemplary renters - always paid rent on time, didn't ask for much from the owner, improved the place by adding accessories and landscaping which the landlord found 'unnecessary'. She owed us £100 towards a table we all agreed on back before we moved in. Valuing the bottom line only in this business deal, she decided to dig in and didn't want to pay the £100 but she expected us to leave the house spotless, have the carpets shampooed and the house repainted. While I was planning to leave the house extremely clean, I felt it was out of line for her to expect us to pay hundreds of pounds to 'redecorate' her house when for nine months we had patiently waited for her to have the leaking roof fixed. In the end water was running down the girl's bedroom wall, bathroom, hallway, and office walls. I was very understanding and undemanding the whole time yet this was how I was thanked?

Well, I just don't operate that way and I fussed and fumed to Dennis about it. I typically believe the best about people and apparently expect them to do likewise. I don't look at people for what they can do for me so to be viewed as 'business only' upset me. 'Why did it upset me so much' is the real question? Did I feel taken advantage of or was it the fact that I value relationship over money when the landlord was the opposite? Or perhaps something I'm unaware of?

I had another exasperating moment the other day. Dennis had finally replaced our french press with a coffee maker which he ordered on line. We received emails that it had been shipped but it never appeared. After three weeks of the coffee maker being MIA, the company decided to ship us another one at their cost. Within days, the

new coffee maker was in business on our kitchen counter. 7 weeks later, the original coffee maker made it to our house. Now, we had two very nice espresso/filter coffee makers but had only paid for one. On Saturday, I lugged the rather large, cumbersome box to the nearest Debenham's department store as you could return online purchases to the store without having to pay return shipping costs. When I explained the story to the cashier, she just shook her head and said they couldn't take it back because it would mess up their inventory since I didn't have a receipt. What? You don't want this coffee maker that I am giving back? I really didn't think I was hearing correctly. She called another associate over to confer - now they were both stumped. Nope, they said I needed to call the courier to come get it... Ridiculous. Anna Catherine wrestled the box back down the three floors and out to the car to take it back home.

On Monday, I called the phone number they gave me and explained the story. The customer service person then asked for our contact details, etc. She asked if I was Dennis Thompson. Duh? No, he was at work of course. She apologized and said she needed to speak with Dennis, nothing could be discussed with me as I wasn't authorized. In disbelief I told her that her company obviously didn't want this £100 coffee maker as I felt I was being punished for being honest. She put on her pleasant customer service voice to say she understood...yada-yada-yada. At this point I closed my ears and told her maybe I would have Dennis call back, said thank you and hung up. I was MAD! That was ridiculous! Dennis says I was mad because yet again I was told I wasn't authorized to discuss things with Dennis' name as the primary name on an account. (This has happened numerous times over here) How sad, that you can't be trusted even to return an extra coffee maker because people have screwed one another as a result of lying, cheating, bitter divorces and split ups.

I have since calmed down but just writing about it gets me riled up. I think I may have some 'unresolved issues' lurking in there - why else would I get so exasperated?