Journal Some Woman's Journal: The Crazy Chronicles: A different Perspective 24

So, previously on The Crazy Chronicles, we told you very vaguely about an incident. Some Guy happens to be the person who did most of the talking in that incident, as he had never witnessed an outburst and was of the mistaken belief that he could reason with her. Here is a transcript:

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What follows is another perspective on The Crazy. It is a similar tale to those already told with the added excitement that I displayedsome faith in the power of reason - a very big mistake.

I'm in the bathroom. I come out and a circle of people has formed around the little dish-chore list.

The Crazy: I'm not paying the $10!!! I put a note up and asked if anyone would switch with me!!!

Wit [Calmly explains in best bureaucratic tone that rules are rules, no exceptions are ever made, sorry. Unfortunate that she has to do this, but obviously if you give this woman an inch, next time she'll demand a parsec.]

Some Guy (sick and tired of this crap): Did it ever occur to you that the reason no one is offering to switch with you is the way you approach people?

The Crazy: No one will switch with me!! I'm not paying the ten dollars. You guys just want to to take my money!!!

At this point we whip out the +3 Sword of Rational Thought.

Some Guy: This is just an observation: your behavior seems to antagonize others and make them less likely to do helpful things for you. No one is required to trade chores with you, so if you need this to happen you might want to consider being more polite to others.

The Crazy: I am very polite!!! I only confront people when I'm not being treated fairly! And when I'm right I'm not going to back down.

Some Guy: Other people have had problems with similar matters, yet they seem to be able to resolve them without engaging in shouting matches or writing rude and profane notes. maybe you might be part of the problem.

The Crazy: [Dumfounded look and indignant reply.]

[Some Woman fetches the famous note to show to the one person who has not yet seen it.]

The Crazy: Ohmygawd, I can't believe that you saved that!! That was a private communication.

Some Guy: Why not? You were the one who gave it to her. Back to the real problem, other people have been unable to find someone to switch with them in the past. They have simply paid the $10 due to their lack of planning and moved on with their life.

The Crazy: Who?

Some Guy: [Gives 3 examples.]

The Crazy: Did those people post a note a week before? Did they do so in the exact same way I did?!?! Did they use blue ink?? Blue ink is easy on the eyes and draws one to reading it, goddammit!! (OK, I made that last part up, but you get the point.)

Some Guy: I have no idea. I have never given it much thought. It didn't seem like a big deal. But when their atttempts to solve this problem didn't work they just ate the $10.

[Wit leaves to go find verbatim text of Official Rules].

The Crazy: They just want to take my $10 - that's why no one would switch with me.

Some Guy: I know these people much better than you and spend enough time with them that I think I would be aware of an official conspiracy to extract $10 from you. Many people who are much better liked than you have paid the $10 numerous times without argument and complaint. The money does not go into some secret We Hate The Crazy Debauchery Night Fund. It goes to some sorority fund that neither of us cares about for some designated purpose. Again, I think that you are assuming people are actively hostile to you instead of the more reasonable conclusion that they simply don't like you. No one has ever done anything malicious toyou, they've just refused to help you out right now. And Some Woman switched chores with you in the past, hardly the act of a mortal enemy.

The Crazy: I am good person! I pay my rent on time, do all my chores, and I am not backing down! I am not paying the $10! When I leave here there will be a balance of $10 on my bill.

Me (internal calculations): Hennepin County Concilliation Court has a $50 filing fee, $15 service, and they'll have a claim for $10. If they win, the court automatically awards costs, so now you'll owe $75. Oh, and if you get really lucky Some Guy Sr. might have the housing calendar for that court next September (when the Crazy hopefully leaves). [Brain-to-mouth filter kicks in before I can say this out loud, but it seems very tempting.]

At this point The Crazy storms off. Discussion commences as to what is to be done about this problem. Five minutes pass as the group gradually moves a few feet from the kitchen to the common area by the Crazy's door.

The Crazy walks out of her room and just stands there. Conversation turns to small talk and again The Crazy just stands there. I can't take this any longer, so I politely ask her, "Can we help you?"

What follows is a very lengthy rant about how everyone is against her and they all hate her because she is not their friend.

Foolishly, I again draw the +3 Sword of Reason, this time while wearing the +2 Gauntlents of Utter Bluntness.

Some Guy: Look, I'm never going to see you again hopefully after next week and I'm getting really sick of this so I'm going to blunt. No one here hates you. No one is out to get you. To be totally honest, no one really likes you either, but they all have for more important things to do with their time than come up with stupid fucking schemes like "How can we force The Crazy to pay a stupid $10 fine?"

The Crazy: Yelling reply.

Some Guy: Let me make a couple observations. You tend to blow things out of proportion, you tend to be easily offended, and you tend to demand things and hope that if act aggressive enough you'll get what you want.

Some Woman: And you tend to talk to people about problems only when you are so angry that can no longer deal with them constructively.

Some Guy: And you only seem to interact with others to make rude demands. This probably explains why people aren't very fond of you.

The Crazy: Yelling reply.

Some Guy: See, you're proving me right. You're yelling at me for pointing out that you're yelling at people.

The Crazy[speaking in a very calm voice, genuinely]: You're right. I am yelling at you.

Some more back and forth. The Crazy claims that everyone has "tagged her as the bitch" and that she is quite happy to tag Some Woman as the bitch in return. I've never heard of this expression before. Where can I get an official Bitch Tag? If both the Crazy and Some Woman are tagged as such, why have I not seen their tags? Are they little infrared chemlights or something? How does one attach such a tag?

The Crazy claims that everytime she asks for something she is treated rudely, starting from the moment she moved in. In particular she claims that she was treated very rudely by Spex when she asked about the status of the DSL/Ethernet hookup.

Some Guy: There were eight different people who asked me multiple times about when the network would be working. I don't think any of them was particularly rude to me and I dind't think I was rude to them. A lot of them were really inconvenienced by the problems we had but none of them yelled at anyone or got upset when we told them we had no idea when fucking goddamn Qwest/MSN would get their goddamn act** together and we had no control over this. I'm only going to say this one more time: I think you're a big part of the problem. When 10 or so people inquire/complain/bitch about something and you're the only one people dislike afterwards, it definitely has something to do with you. I'm not being mean, I'm just being really blunt. Sorry. Try being nice to people. It will get you very far. Insert sappy quote about flies, honey, vinegar.

The Crazy: You guys are always talking about me behind my back!!! You know my door is right outside here and I can hear what you're saying out here.

Some Guy: So what? People talk about you behind your back. You haven't realized this by now? That when you do incredibly frustrating things people discuss you? That it's just human-fucking-nature to talk about people behind their back? They talk about me behind my back. I talk about them behind their backs. I don't understand this obsession with never being discussed when you're not present.

Pretty soon The Crazy breaks down and starts crying about how hard things are and how she has to live here with everyone hating her. I guess I'm a sucker, so I try and tell her one more time that people don't hate her, if she would just be nicer to people she wouldn't have so many problems, and it's just fucking insane to believe that everyone is out to get her.

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SW again. And thus ends our tale. Hopefully forever, as I move out on Sunday. But if a little stray tuna ended up in her air conditioner from the outside, well...that would be a shame, wouldn't it? :^)