I took Elijah to Tractor Supply a few daysback to look at the baby chicks, duckling, and rabbits. While there, I picked up a book on homesteading and another on raising chickens for eggs. After Elijah went down for him nap, I grabbed my chicken book, turned on some music, and began learning/dreaming about fresh eggs.
And then the phone rang. It rang that special ringtone that told me I was about to roll my eyes at least a dozen times in the next fifteen minutes- probably more since I’d gotten my packet of papers earlier in the week and, therefore, knew exactly why I was being called….
I filled out paperwork and included a nice long letter to the Department of Child Support in Washington to explain to them that although I had to listen to conversation after conversation about all the shows the X was playing and all the bars he was going to and there was a website devoted specially to the work he is getting paid under the table to do, he had yet to send Elijah more than $75 of the $1000 he is currently behind in child support (That’s five months, for those of you keeping track. Yeah, the X cannot find $200 a month to help with his son but going to bars regularly is par for the course).
So, he started the conversation saying that he’d (finally) gotten a job at a Subway but they weren’t giving him enough hours to make it worth the drive so he probably isn’t going to keep it unless they transfer him. I’d underestimated the bargaining power a guy who has the work ethic of a tree stump and a history of getting fired for threatening lives, sexual harassment, and simply sucking but apparently Paul thinks it’s mighty- especially in a sour economy. But what do I know? So, I rolled my eyes and flipped a page in my book.
Then he went on about how he has X much debt here and X there and X over here. So, I rolled my eyes and flipped a page in my book.
Then, he caught my attention. He said I abandoned the apartment. Say what? Abandoned? I set the book aside. Abandoned? Abandoned the place I’d called home longer than any place in my life? Abandoned a place for my son and me? No, no, no, no, no! I reminded him that we talked and he said that he wanted to stay in the apartment because he didn’t have any place else to go so I took Elijah (who he said he’d rather not see than give up his musical aspirations) and we started a new life. I reminded him that we had an agreement that he was supposed to get a roommate and then I would send in my paperwork to get my name off the lease. I reminded him that I couldn’t do that because he failed to be a decent enough person to find a roommate- that he chose to break the terms of the lease without consulting me first. No, I did not abandon my apartment. I upheld my part of the agreement. I was the responsible one. He ought to try taking on some responsibility some time.
And this is what really gets me. He manipulates everything so it’s never his fault. It’s not his fault he lost yet another job. It’s not his fault can’t get his shit together enough to scrap together a life. He acts like the power and cell phone companies are out to get him because he didn’t have the money to pay the bills. I abandoned the apartment, thus giving him this crappy life, because I did what? Do as we agreed? I “took” his kid away from him. Never mind the fact that I gave him the option of watching Elijah twice a week but he said he needed “alone time.” These are things that we agreed on. He said he was going to miss his son so I found a way for him to see his son regularly and he denied it because two days was too much!
And even through all this, I still helped him- not much mind you but a little. I told him to call DCS and work something out with them; that they’d help him figure it out. So, he called me a bitch and hung up….
Only to call back later and demand help with his credit report as if I know anything about credit discrepancies.
So, let me get this straight? Call me a bitch, accuse me of screwing you over, act like I’m some horrible person, and then call up and demand I help you? Yeah, I don’t think so. See, between the X not helping with Elijah and him pulling the stunt with the apartment, I have enough on my plate right now. But then he knew that because I’m the meanie.
No comments:
Post a Comment