Ugh, your day sounds pretty crappy! Work BS, family BS, and therapy all in one day??? Are you actually in the room or on the phone for this? I can't even imagine trying to do something like that remotely.

I also worry that I am like my mother re: taking things personally when they aren't, but I seriously doubt either of us are doing what she does. I mean, I know I do it to a slight degree, but she's on another level with this stuff.

It would be like if some maintenance guy at your condo told you that you couldn't prop the fire door open anymore because code enforcement had done an inspection and marked this as a hazard. If you were my mother, you would talk about that rotten janitor for the rest of your life - even though all he is doing is passing along a message that's actually pretty reasonable. You would tell your story at every other social function for the next five years, even though there's not really any story to tell.

It's one thing to be annoyed that you can't prop open the fire door anymore, but something else entirely to have a permanent hatred for the janitor because he told you so. I even wonder what this is called - I have not run into anyone who does this *except* my mother.

I can't believe your brother is calling to ask what day you sent stuff. I guess if it isn't there, it will get there when it gets there! OMG.

You aren't the only one who needs to figure something else out. It's awful, dealing with these jobs is so draining that it's really hard to find the energy to work on the back up plan. My situation is NOT good for me and NOT something I want to do for the long term. I've also had some discussions with my friend - there is some writing on the wall that we both see, but no one else seems to.

I guess I should use the situation to practice new skills, like not caring so much... I'm really struggling with confidence issues. I've been dealing with an awful, awful sales rep, so bad that I had to bring in their manager, who is also not very good. I mean, the things they are messing up are *so basic* and there's just *so many things* that they are messing up, like shipping our stuff to the wrong address, not shipping stuff at all, placing orders for the wrong stuff.

So I am seriously annoyed with the rep, but I also worry that I've contributed to the problem by somehow being confusing. I don't *think* that's the case. I don't have this problem with anyone else. I want to switch vendors entirely, but the company refuses to!

The crazy CEO is just a bit crazy. That was definitely an instance where I was taking something personally when I shouldn't have