Crazy People, part 3

I got a call from "Jim" (not his real name, I don't need any law suits here.) He had to move the motor home I gave him.

Why? Well, he moved it into the trailer park without first clearing it with the park owner. When she came out to see what was going on, he and she got into a big discussion. And of course Jim started shouting and waving his arms around because that is his modus operandi. The owner of the park, whom we will call "Ruth" because she is definitely not ruthless (pretty nice play on words, huh?) decided she had had enough of Jim's attitude. She told him he needed to move his nice motor home right on out of her park... and do it pronto.

At first, as Jim was telling me this, I was sort of sympathizing with him, but then he got to the kicker.... he had never paid her his rent for the month. No wonder she was already predisposed against him. So, he did not pay the rent, he moved out his tiny travel trailer, and moved in my huge motor home. Which doesn't fit in the space where he put it... And then he got into a fight with his landlady. Hmmmm.

Now lest you think that Jim got a good deal from me when I gave him the motor home, you should know that it will take thousands and thousands of dollars to fix all the myriad things wrong with it. I did not bless Jim, I cursed him with a motor home. It is a money pit.

And during their very animated and loud discussion, Jim had the audacity to try to tell Ruth how she should run her trailer park. It is no wonder that Jim was asked to move. I mean... three strikes and you are out of there.

Yes... this is the same Jim that threw all his wife's things out into the yard. That Jim. And now Jim was asking me to help him find a new place to live.

When I asked Jim what happened to his travel trailer, he causually mentioned that it had burned. Burned? Well, he told his wife "Angela" to set it on fire. And for some strange reason, for once she actually did what Jim asked her to do. So it was partially burned inside. Jim was bemoaning the fact that she had set it on fire.

"Only because you told me to!" was Angela's response. "Yes, but you never did anything else I ever told you to. Why did you have to do that?" Nobody could ever quite explain why Jim asked Angela to set the trailer on fire.

I don't know, but I don't really think I will be able to find a new place for Jim to live. I mean, what is he going to tell the new prospective landlord?

"Well, I am crazy, so I burned the travel trailer I was living in and then without telling the landlady I moved in a huge motor home that was 30 feet long instead of the 18 feet the travel trailer was. Oh... and I 'forgot' to pay my rent, and then the land lady and I had a big fight, and now I have to move.... so.... ummmm.... could I move into your park?"

If you were the landlord, what would YOU say? When Jim asked if he could park the motor home back up in "my" yard, I said "NO!!!" I don't own the place. And I don't need any more crazy neighbors. I have a couple of those already across the street.

"How about if I just park it on the street in front of your house?"

"NO!! It is illegal and you will soon be talking to the police explaining to them why you are parking illegally on the street."

So Jim is trying to find a place to park. I mean, another place. Meanwhile he is still where he was, down in Ruth's park. She won't accept his money because that would be in effect agreeing to allow him to stay there. And Jim IS trying to find another place. But... it is a strange thing--nobody will let him move in. Isn't that odd? Maybe he should use Ruth for a reference.... yeah, that would probably help a whole lot.

Some people really are crazy. Don't be one of them.
David A. Youngs

Crazy people part one

The neighbors across the street are feuding again. I went out this morning and the one directly across the street said, "don't have anything to do with the people that live upstairs in that house. (she was pointing) They are all 'crack heads' and they egged my car last night."

I assured her that I did not even know the people who lived up there. And there was a fellow scrubbing his car with soapy water by the curb. His complaint was that the eggs took off some of his primer paint. Well maybe the eggs "took it off," or maybe it was the stiff brush he was using to literally scrub the car. I don't really know.

But the first lady was really upset at her next door neighbor. I tried to lighten up the situation by pointing out that she didn't even need reality television because she could just sit on her porch and watch all the neighbors. This did not really console her. She was yelling at the top of her lungs how she had nothing to do all day and was "just going to sit at the edge of her property in a chair and watch the neighbor all day."

When she called the police to report her neighbor egging her car she said that they were "too busy looking at my tits to take me seriously" and had done absolutely nothing about the situation. I did not know exactly what to say about this last remark. I mean if I agreed that she had breasts worthy of looking at, she could easily have me up on sexual harassment charges. On the other hand, if I said, "I don't think they were looking at your tits," it would be a direct challenge to what she had just stated and she was already very angry. So.... I just bit my tongue and mumbled "hmmmmm."

Fortunately for me another guy came walking down the sidewalk that she seemed to know and off she went to tell him about the horrible mean evil upstairs neighbor. I took this opportunity to cross back to my side of the street and quietly withdraw from the fracas. I could still hear her screaming at the neighbor upstairs at the top of her lungs again.

Fortunately my "next door" neighbors seem more normal, and are not prone to being crazy. But believe me, there are plenty of crazy people out there. I hope you are not one of them.

Sincerely,
David A. Youngs

Dealing with controlling people

You know what a controlling person is--it is somebody who feels that have to be in control of everything. If you are around them, then they want to be in control of you too! So how do you deal with a controlling person.

Well, if it is your boss, I guess you let them think they are in control. But for others, I just don't like other people telling me what I ought to do.

Once when I was in the mental ward, (I did not handle stress very well in those days) I decided that the medications I was being given were not helping me, and I wasn't going to talk any more of them. I had been flying pretty high in a manic phase, and the psychiatrist was trying his best to bring me down using drugs. But I enjoyed being manic. Therein was the problem.

The visiting psychiatrist on duty said, "well, if you are not going to take your medications, I cannot help you." To which I replied, "you are not helping me. You have never helped me, and you never will help me. Besides, I don't want or need your help."

Well, the psychiatrist thought he had to be in control. After all, I was the patient in the psychiatric ward, and he was the doctor in charge of said ward.

He said, "if you don't take your medications, I have no alternative but to put you in the insane asylum." I didn't care what the fool did. I still wasn't going to be pumped full of any more mind numbing drugs with what I perceived as horrible side effects. So I told him, "you do what you gotta do. I am not taking any more drugs."

Apparently he did not particularly like that answer. Within 30 minutes, 4 men in white showed up. Each of these men weighed at least 300 pounds, and was built like a line backer on a professional football team. Can you say "checkmate?" Guess what -- those men had come for me. I was given a huge shot in my buttocks that was supposed to knock down a horse, but I was so angry at this event which I saw as invading my personal space, I successfully resisted the drug. Now I was not only high, I was very angry. I never did see that particular psychiatrist again or I might have had a conversation with him in which he would have realized he was NOT in control. It was probably a good thing I never saw him again, or I might be writing this from jail.

Fortunately, a nurse found out about the power play that was going on, and routed me to a half way house instead of the insane asylum. Too bad--I was looking forward to the adventures in the insane asylum. But as my mother carefully pointed out later, it really doesn't look good on your medical records to have been housed in an insane asylum!!

From this incident, I finally figured out that it is far better not to directly challenge controlling people. Just let them THINK they are in control and then go on with your life, doing what you planned to do anyway. This works for bosses too, unless they find out later you did not "obey" them. Then they might fire you to retain control. But if they fire you, they can't control you any more!!

Good luck with controlling people, and I hope you are not trying to be one. It is a very difficult position because nobody will like you.

David