Yes, I do think addressing the small boundary breaks is necessary to do because over time, they reflect the bigger boundary breaks. Like, that friend I had for 4 years who was chronically late. Internally, I sent her the message, "Blanche isn't bothered by your chronic lateness," which was a lie. I was bothered by it. All the time. The message I sent myself, "If I don't make a big deal out of this small boundary break, she will appreciate me for it." Um, no. She didn't appreciate me at all. The whole thing blew up on my birthday when her excuse for being two hours later to my birthday dinner was because she had to feed her cats. I had cats at the time too, whom I fed before I left for work, so that I wouldn't be late to my own birthday dinner. No one else who showed up to my group birthday dinner was late -- and some of them had their own families or other commitments.

My point is: if we don't give credence to the small boundary breaks, we essentially set ourselves up to be taken advantage of by other people over the long-term. Everyone has their own standards too. Why should you lower your standards for someone else, who has their own standards? Why aren't your standards important to you?