Saturday, January 8
4:45 pm

rantypants

alright, so i was debating whether or not to write this, because it's most likely going to be terminally boring to everyone who is... well, not me, or not playing drinking games and taking tequila shots whenever i say i'm not resentful but follow it up with passive-aggressive bitchery, aaaand not to mention going to come out rather nasty and bitter sounding and run-on sentence causing, but ANYHOW, as it turns out, i'm just about grumpy enough to do it, so yay.

okay, i mentally said that in like, one big (and, i suspect, incoherent) brain-breath, so i'll need a short paragraph to wheeze a bit.

so as life would have it, in the order of all things social, i usually end up in the planning/suggestion-giving row. which, don't get me wrong, isn't someplace i majorly resent or dislike being. most of the time it's either no trouble at all, or pretty fun work. and most most of the time, no one else wants to step out of his or her lazybed to do anything constructive anyway (DRINK!).

but really, some people ought to be shot dead where they stand and have their stories whispered in the dead of night by parents all over the world to ungrateful children because the fear of petrina will be struck in young hearts everywhere if any more of this crap transpires.

good heavens above, you people should know better by now. and if you think this is coming out condescending and snobbish, well, a great big fuck you to you too. because really, really, really - arriving late, en masse, for a dinner reservation? last minute cancellations? not knowing how to behave at a restaurant? is extremely poor form. in a place which knows my face. with a reservation under my fucking name.

but you know, all that's fine, really - i've usually let the annoyance go by the first course (DRINK!). plus, i am assured, this happens at group gatherings everywhere. but what will indubitably cause the excrement to hit the fan is telling me that my admittedly hyperbolic complaints about having to plan everything are unjustified. because, no doubt, of that one gathering so-and-so had a weak hand in planning! or, hmm, let's see, criticizing my choice in shows, or saying that a particular party game suggestion is "stupid". say it with me: fuck. you.

if what i do really is all that bad, then let's see you step up to the plate once in a while to handle all the things everyone seems to think are so simple. like finding a date everyone agrees on, or buying supplies, or trying to restrain yourself from screaming that it's really easy to find the information out on your own if you'd just get off your massive backside and haul it to an agent instead of relying on me to do everything for you. like ensuring that check-in goes well, or arranging who-brings-what to the potluck, or being the go-to girl for suggestions on parties, trips, or birthday gifts. like dealing with late cancellations, or collecting frikkin' money, or double checking details like customs' restrictions just so everything's right. like gladhandling pissy employees, or lending out discs which come back, if at all, with unmentionable stains, or digging deep and coming up with, hmm, what was that quaint little descriptive again? oh yes. "stupid" ideas.

and oh, all the while fielding endless questions along the line of, "when are we going to genting / have that dinner / throw the party / brazil churrascaria / dance on your poor, dead, exhausted but still unquestionably hot body?"

here's the thing: everyone's right. they aren't that difficult to do. but - and this is the important bit - these things add up. and i don't ask for help unless i really need it, though it would be nice (DRINK!) if someone offered, or, in the alternative, said thank you. but what pisses me the hell off is how people do neither of these things, and have the sheer, unmitigated gall to criticize my ideas or imply that i have no real reason to complain on the rare occasions that i do.

well, alright, i know i'm making it sound like all this happens a lot. in all honesty, though, only once have i complained about having to plan, and only once have i received the "you don't do much," reaction. and that's what's really pissing me off. the rest of it really only became an issue in the period of severe anger and hypersensitivity following in the wake of that remark. so it's really not as bad as all that. hell, it's nice being the go-to girl for something. doubly nice because it's for something cool, as opposed to, say, being the go-to girl for reliable deodorant brands. plus, i have to say, i'm not as much of a martyr as this post makes me sound.

and FYI, i think i dissed quite a wide range of people in the above, so if you think some of what i wrote sounds like something you've done... you're probably right.

Comments.

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