This morning is a perfect example.
Megan has a young friend staying for the week. Her family has moved to Perth and she is just finishing off the school term with us before flying out on Friday. She is a very polite, decent kid and no trouble at all but boy is she loud! She doesn’t seem to be able to finish a sentence without the decibel level in her voice going up to impeachable levels!
This morning she forgot her retainer, an orthodontic tool for those in the dark, and I had to drive down the road to meet up with her and Megan so as she could have it for the day.
Both and her and Megan have left chocolate easter egg wrappers all over the house and there are shards of easter egg from one end of the place to the other thanks to their appetites and availability of these chocolate snacks. And I thought we were supposed to be on a low sugar diet in this house?!
It is my job to take out garbage but I’m sure that doesn’t mean that they can overload the bin to levels where the contents is falling on the floor as it was this morning when I had to deposit my own detrius into it. I’m not a mind reader who instinctively knows when the bin is full so I can rush out and save the day. Surely we can go beyond convention in such circumstances and allow someone else to empty the bin?
The 17 year old, because she goes to school in NSW is already enjoying her school holidays and is hunkered down in the spare room under a doona watching the entire series of that terrible show “Charmed”, episode by episode.
Now that certainly isn’t a problem but when I had to venture into the spare room this morning I found five empty glasses, two plates and an assortment of utensils casually cast aside and left behind. On top of the load of wet washing she threw on the dining room floor yesterday because she couldn’t find a washing basket, I began to look a her behaviour through darker lenses than I usually do.
Of course I’m no saint myself and I daresay my own flaws and laziness influence the girls from time to time but when we are starting to get to the levels we are today then even I am roused into action.
Don’t get me wrong. For the most part they are very good kids who I knock a bit of fun out of but they have their days. And today is one of them!
I recieved a mailout from AP on Tuesday in regards to accountability and addressing the so called “culture pillars” on which we must base our behaviour while employed by the corporation. For a moment I thought someone from management had stumbled onto my blog and some disparaging remark I’ve made here and was giving me a subtle hint to “cool it”.
Alas, it was merely my paranoia coming to the fore and the mailout was nothing but replacement for paperwork that was lost by the office staff six months ago!
It made me reflect on my efforts here and promise myself to be more careful when writing about my observations and experiences.
Some people may guffaw at reading that last line when considering what I have written earlier in this piece but observations of home life are one thing and criticism of my workplace is another.
AP don’t take criticism of themselves very well at the best of times and I’m sure an employee doing so on a public blog would be viewed with even more disdain. I shall be more disciplined from here on.
Have a nice day.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 