How do you deal with socially inept people who zero in on you at parties, church coffee hours and other events? The same people do this to me time after time, because they mistake my politeness for eagerness to listen to excruciatingly long monologues on software installations, cute things their cats did, etc. I finally cut them off or simply walk away in mid-sentence, since they can't take a hint, but it feels incredibly rude.
Mrs Ditter, I have neighbor issues! The house next to us is a rental house, need I say more. Anyway, their fence has been in really bad shape for years. Since we don't really know the owner, we have just tried to ignore it. THREE YEARS ago the owner approached my husband in our front yard, introduced himself and said he was going to have to have the fence replaced and asked if we would be willing to share in the expense of the side that we share. My husband asked that he let us know what the quotes were for replacing it and he would let him know. A few months later the son of the owner knocked on our door with the quote. It was an outrageous amount, we had been getting quotes as well, and it looked to me like our portion would pay for his entire fence. So as soon as my husband saw the quote he said no, that looks really high, we can't do that. Time has gone by, now the son of the owner lives in the house. A few months ago I came home from work and the old fence is being removed. No one contacted us to let us know (I have a dog!!) I recognized one of the guys working on the fence, I believe it is a friend of the son that is living there, I have seen him several times there. Anyway...they built a really ugly fence, 9 feet tall, which is against the neighborhood association rules and, it is already leaning into our yard. But the story gets better. A few weeks after it was finished a hand written invoice for "our portion" of the fence appeared in our mail box. No letter, just an invoice asking us to make payment to the owner and leave the check next door. What is up with that!! They didn't even contact us to tell us they were doing it!! And we would have NEVER agreed to such an ugly fence. So my question is, should we just ignore the invoice or find the owner (he has never left us contact information) to discuss. I don't really think it is worth discussing. I am looking forward to your input!
How do you deal with socially inept people who zero in on you at parties, church coffee hours and other events? The same people do this to me time after time, because they mistake my politeness for eagerness to listen to excruciatingly long monologues on software installations, cute things their cats did, etc. I finally cut them off or simply walk away in mid-sentence, since they can't take a hint, but it feels incredibly rude.
ReplyDeleteMrs Ditter,
ReplyDeleteI have neighbor issues! The house next to us is a rental house, need I say more. Anyway, their fence has been in really bad shape for years. Since we don't really know the owner, we have just tried to ignore it. THREE YEARS ago the owner approached my husband in our front yard, introduced himself and said he was going to have to have the fence replaced and asked if we would be willing to share in the expense of the side that we share. My husband asked that he let us know what the quotes were for replacing it and he would let him know. A few months later the son of the owner knocked on our door with the quote. It was an outrageous amount, we had been getting quotes as well, and it looked to me like our portion would pay for his entire fence. So as soon as my husband saw the quote he said no, that looks really high, we can't do that. Time has gone by, now the son of the owner lives in the house. A few months ago I came home from work and the old fence is being removed. No one contacted us to let us know (I have a dog!!) I recognized one of the guys working on the fence, I believe it is a friend of the son that is living there, I have seen him several times there. Anyway...they built a really ugly fence, 9 feet tall, which is against the neighborhood association rules and, it is already leaning into our yard. But the story gets better. A few weeks after it was finished a hand written invoice for "our portion" of the fence appeared in our mail box. No letter, just an invoice asking us to make payment to the owner and leave the check next door. What is up with that!! They didn't even contact us to tell us they were doing it!! And we would have NEVER agreed to such an ugly fence. So my question is, should we just ignore the invoice or find the owner (he has never left us contact information) to discuss. I don't really think it is worth discussing. I am looking forward to your input!
@Anon Oct 20 & Anon Oct 22: Working on responses, so stay tuned! And thanks for writing.
ReplyDelete