Well, Bob quit. I just had an email. Peg has been so foul to him he can't take it any longer. Four and a half years he's been there, a trusted, devoted employee, who has not only cut grass and fixed sump pumps but cleaned up my parents' shit, literally, for them. Peg lit into him on Friday, then again upon arrival this morning. He hadn't even got into the house yet before she started. So he handed her her Berkshire Eagle and said that's it, I quit.
And I don't blame him. I feel like quitting, myself.
The latest contretemps began on Friday, when Bob arrived. He is normally Mondays and Tuesdays, but Arlo Guthrie up the road needed him on Tuesdays it seems, so he asked if he could come Fridays, and Bonnie said yes. Although Dominick is there on Fridays, and two Peg-sitters are unnecessary. Bonnie figured Peg would object to having Bob there instead of Dominick and sure enough, this turned out to be the case, so it was decided (not by me) that they would BOTH be there, something that was on my list to address but hadn't got to it yet.
In any event, the old I WANT TO GET INTO THE SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX GODDAMMIT (and fuck it all up or lose it) issue arose, yet again, and Peg asked Bob to go up to my room to see if he could find the key. He found the key, it was not hidden (as Peg suggested), it was where it's always been. The problem then, was that both Dominick and Bob, quite rightly, refused to take Peg into the bank. They know from experience that this results in chaos. Peg got mad, mostly at Bob, then called Trevor, gay Friday Night Brigade friend, who also made some excuse--so, she's steaming, and let fly at Bob with both barrels. Dominick calmed her, and Bob, and so Bob showed up for work today but then..
So now there is no handyman there to do butch stuff. This is not totally the end of the world, many a day Bob sat around with not a lot to do, but still. We will now need a garbage remover person, lawn mower, strong guy to lift stuff, etc. People can be replaced. Mostly though I just feel so badly about how she behaves, I'm embarrassed, because she does this to everyone sooner or later. And I liked Bob. And he was good. And, oddly enough, he cared about Peg. How Bonnie has lasted this long, I don't know. And Terri is a saint. She acted as intermediary today on the phone, because you can be sure I rang after getting Bob's email.
According to my mother and today's lengthy phone conversation:
- I always blame her for everything; it's never my fault.
- She does not forget anything; she remembers everything, it's me who can't remember
- She never knew I sold her Great Books of The Western World on eBay, I did it behind her back, she had money, cash, secreted in all those books
- I never had a tag sale last summer at Outside Bob's
- I never had her permission to put her shrimp dish in the tag sale
- It is because of me that she is in this financial mess
- I never included her when I was creating her website
- I know nothing about her or her house
- I do not treat people well
- She doesn't need me
Poor Terri. I was calm, in fact close to tears at one point, as I am now. Why doesn't she like me more? Why doesn't she trust me? Did she ever like me?
I asked about this. Mentioned all the nice things I do, things I do because I love her, things I sure as shit wouldn't drop everything to do if I didn't--her website, getting her archive preserved at U of Oregon, the birthday parties I give her, the teas, the gifts, the things I make for her, cook for her--I said please, please, I am coming over there this summer as soon as my committments here to my husband and son are over, and she and I, together, must solve these housing and financial problems, with no arguing, that we are both on the same side and to please please stop treating me so badly and so unkindly, that I have done nothing wrong.
I really honest and truly do not know what I've done to make her so angry. I find it terribly, terribly upsetting.
Having said that, if she wants to fire Bob, let her spend all day Monday then without anyone there, let her see how much she likes being all alone with no one around, so she can do what she likes. If she chokes on her pills, well. So be it.
(Why is she so mad at me???)
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