Growing up, my father was never really the easiest person to get along with. Even if you were his children. His attitude was basically... if you didn't think like him, then you were a bum. Being grumpy and short-tempered were 2 best qualities, with his sense of humor coming in a strong third. Retirement though has tamed him. I feel that he is definitely a different person now than he was back then.
On that note, here are a few things about him that still irritate me to no end...
- Whenever he calls and we are unable to get to the phone, he immediately assumes we are screening our calls on purpose. Then he will leave annoying messages like, "Screening your calls again? What's the point in even having a phone?" or "Boy i can't wait until i get a cell phone so i can never answer it."
- He knows i am a huge Chiefs, Royals & KU Jayhawks fan, and for some strange reason he really gets a kick out of telling me how awful they are. Take this year's Chiefs team for example. I know they are horrid. But does my father really need to call me Monday afternoon just to say, "Sooooo, how do you like your Chiefs? God they stink." It's easy for him because he doesn't have a favorite team anywhere. That way nobody can tell him how awful his teams are. It's ingenious actually.
- Whenever we have to meet him somewhere, like for dinner, and we show up 2-3 minutes late, he make a huge deal about it. "What's the deal? I said 5:30" or "No big surprise, can you ever make it on time?" If i give him a reason, it is always followed by a "Yeah, right." I think i may have cured him of this problem though. There was one rare instance that he was actually late, like 15 minutes late. He showed up at the restaurant and started spouting off all these obstacles (all his wife's fault) that made him late. Instead of giving him a taste of his own medicine i decided to let it slide. Instead i told him that i was kind of hoping that i had shown up late because i had a good comeback for his complaints. He loved it!!!
"Can you ever be on time?"
"I'll be on time to your funeral."
3 comments:
Came across your excellent blog by clicking the "next blog" feature. Felt moved to comment on that post about your dad that evokes some of my own dad's behaviors - no worries, though, not similar enough that we're long lost siblings.
-V.
Aaaaah, Dad. Your post makes me think of all the fast-food employees that he berated over the years. Good times had by all.
I think dating Nancy changed him more than retirement did. But I'm no psychiatrist (which sucks, cause I think that would be an interesting job).
He doesn't irritate me at all anymore, of course that is easy to say from 500 miles away :) When I was living down there and especially when he and Mom were still married is a completely different story though. But, that's all the past.
You should know by now that Dad's gruff words are just who he is. His actions speak much louder. I'm going to quote Marge Simpson: Sometimes you have to take a step back to appreciate a work of art.
Don't tell him I called him a work of art. We'll never hear the end of it.
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