AHHH this is so important, isn’t it?

The parents of students often tell me, oh you are so patient, or “you must be so patient.” I’m totally not. I’m very impatient, quick to anger, I get annoyed really easily! But students, no, because violin is totally hard to do and I get that they might sound terrible for awhile, so that doesn’t require patience. I find it very easy to just be nice to my students, because they are mostly trying their best, or because, failing that, they have other stuff going on and/or it’s certainly not worth getting annoyed at.

In any case, trying to get estimates on my front stairs is different. I feel like I’m trying so hard (well, as hard as one can try without actually calling and bugging people, which isn’t something I want to start doing at all) to get some people to show up and give me a freaking estimate on the repair job! I’ve spent a good amount of time the past week waiting. I’m still waiting on my first official estimate, but I feel pretty good about the guy earlier today, because he had a clipboard and everything. He told me I’d hear something in a few days, so let’s keep our fingers crossed. I have some more leads and appointments so hopefully something will pan out. *and in the meantime I got a phone call from another guy who is working on a quote…

So I’ve spent a bit of time this afternoon trying to stay near the front door in case somebody showed up. A thing you should know about my house (well, FedEx in particular should know): if you ring the doorbell, it’s really loud everywhere in the house, but if you knock, I can barely hear it, but especially not beyond the front two rooms. So I’m always worried when I’m expecting someone that they will knock and I won’t hear it (this has happened on many occasions) and then not notice the doorbell and just leave.

In any case, I feel like this week has been taken up so far with annoying tasks. I’ve been trying to spread them into next week also, because I realized that in my haste to GET THINGS DONE I started too many things and was feeling stressed out and that’s not how July needs to be. But all the tasks I’m doing seem to be slightly more annoying than they should be (I’m shocked by still how few tasks can be completed via the internet versus needing to talk on the phone or have a face to face) and that is trying my patience as well. On an unrelated note, I’ve recently noticed that I can hear trains more often while sitting at my computer than I used to be able to. Perhaps that’s because my air conditioning is softer than it used to be (new system from last summer)?

So there you have it. Patience. I have it for a few things, at least.

I suppose this is why people complain about contractors and try to do things themselves. To be fair, I know people call me when I’m busy and then sometimes when I call back they are unbelievably rude, so I’m trying to be nice (and there’s no reason not to: either the person will help me or not, my being rude doesn’t help anyone)…recently somebody lefta message on Friday and when I called back on Monday they acted incredibly rude. That wasn’t the first time something like that has happened, but it was the latest time and since then, phone messages have really stressed me out because I’m afraid people are going to yell at me when I call back.

In fact, this blog is a little bit of therapy, because writing that out made me realize how true it is. That since a woman a few months ago yelled at me on the phone I’ve been super anxious about responding to phone calls to the point that I sometimes don’t even respond. I know that most people are actually really polite and great, and even when I call after they’ve found another teacher are usually perfectly polite about it (especially as I’m often returning their call to only give them recommendations)…but that one person was so rude. And it made me mad too, because don’t I get weekends off? I certainly don’t expect people to call me about business matters on weekends, so calling first thing Monday morning for a message left late on a Friday afternoon IS calling back right away, and yet, this woman was so awful.

I’m just ranting now. This week is so crazy (treason much?) and it’s only Tuesday, but I only have two more students today and then 17 more for the week…summer teaching is going well!