I have myself to blame (Part II)

After Wednesdays “misunderstanding” things got back to normal. D pretended like nothing ever happened and I was supposed accept it.

The week was pretty uneventful and I made it to Friday feeling a bit more rested than normal thanks to the extra sleep. So I prepared my stuff for my night shift, loaded my car and headed off for my day job at the bank.

D called to say he’d need a ride. I knew he would but didn’t talk about it with him because he usually takes my car home Friday night after I start my shift. I told him he could take my car as usual for Fridays. Everything seemed ok.

I had a pretty good day at work. Good for me because I finally signed off on my lending authorities. It might not sound like a big deal but in a way it is because I’ve been working at the same job for three years without having any lending authority. The authorities for my job are unlike any other in the bank (until now and there will soon be dozens with the same skillset, but I’m amongst the first few in Canada) and allow me to lend to personal clients, business clients, professionals, self-employed clients and self employed clients who have conjunctive borrowings through their business. Being able to do all in one is exciting (if you’re a banker) and I’m glad my work has finally paid off.

After work I drove to the set and D was wrapping up. I told him that I finally signed off on my lending authorities. He said “Oh?” and that was about it. I emphasized that I had wanted to lend in my capacity since I took my job three years ago and I was happy it finally happened. He said that was good and on he went with his work. I was honestly expecting as much from him so he didn’t really let me down.

Then he said “Oh ya, UPS keeps calling telling you to pick up your birth certificate. Today’s the last day. You only have five days to pick it up.” Before I go in with the story, I want to say this means several things to me:

• UPS called and left a message.
• UPS called and left at least one reminder message.
• D knew for up to 5 days that I had to pick up a package and omitted to mention it.
• It was now too late to do anything.

My health card lapsed because I did not get a notice in the mail. I actually had no idea it would lapse. I need my birth certificate to replace it because it’s past the deadline. I had to get my lawyer to sign some form that he’d known me for 16 years and I had fill the rest out and wait. It's been a few months now since I sent it in.

My condition has taken a bit of a turn for the worse recently. I have Ulcerative Colitis which is very hard to live with and for anyone who hasn’t heard of UC let me just summarize it as having to go to the washroom on a minute’s notice, going to the washroom up to 8 times a day or more and chronic blood loss. Minor irritants include swollen joints, dizziness, fever and mouth sores. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. One of my coping strategies is to starve myself a day in advance of an outing followed by a dose of codeine the next day. It’s the only way I was able to make it out camping last weekend.

So I need to see a doctor soon because the only medication that really helps is steroids and my prescription is almost out. I’ve done my best to make it last but I’m down to a matter of days. My condition is aggravated by stress so you can imagine what the last 2 months working 2 jobs and driving D to work every day has done to me.

I asked D why he didn’t tell me there was a message. He said “because it’s on the answering machine and I thought you’d get it.” Well, I would have done that if the message light flashed but that doesn’t happen after the message is listened to. Besides, if someone leaves a message for D, I tell him or leave a note so he knows it’s there. I was thinking he might do the same for me. Was that so dumb? Especially when I was expecting my birth certificate to come by mail? How was I to know that they would 1, use a courier and 2, the courier wouldn’t leave a package or a note saying they had been by?

I was naturally pissed so I said “Thanks, now I have to wait who knows how long and my medication will run out for sure.” And D said “It’s not my fault you don’t check messages.”

Well, maybe a person ought to check their voicemail daily just in case. But no one leaves me voicemail at home because I carry a cell phone. D knew about at least 2 messages. He knew there was a deadline to pick up my package. He must have been able to figure out after the second message that I was unaware that a package was waiting for me. But he did nothing until about, oh, 7:10 pm Friday which is just 10 minutes after the depot closes. Stupid fuckface.

He felt bad but wouldn’t apologize. He tried to compensate by making sure I knew where everything was before he left. He asked if I would be OK before he got in my car and if I needed anything else before he left. I said an apology would be nice but otherwise no, there wasn’t much he could do to get my mind off of how hellish life will be when the steroids run out. He took it personally and, leaving my car door open, set out to walk home. It’s about 20 kilometers. I didn’t stop him.