My apologies in advance because this will be another long post, but this story is difficult to shorten. After Cathy and her kids moved in two friends of mine and
their families had come and gone, and two more families moved in. One was a
young girl, Marcy, and her baby; and the other was a mom with three kids – a preteen
daughter who was very sweet, and a teenaged boy and girl who were typical street
kids. No disrespect or offense intended toward anyone but these two kids were
the types of kids who really won’t amount to much if someone doesn’t step in.
They were both failing in school; they used worse language than I do; they both
smoked, at 14 and 16; their answer to any problem was to “beat someone’s ass”; and
they treated their mother with such disrespect I wanted to slap them.
Marcy became fast friends with Cathy with that same “follow the leader” attitude that Josie had with Betty, and the teens became friends with Cathy when they moved in because she had the same attitude that they did and they thought it was cool that an adult understood them. Their mom was a bit messed up also because one day she’d be telling Cathy not to associate with her kids because they were just kids even though they appeared older; and the next day she’d let the kids leave the shelter with Cathy to go hang out at Marcy’s friend’s house. The entire group of them was like a high school clique that thought they were better than the rest of us.
Their basic objective was to spend their time making fun of us “old” people and to spread shit about us, even when it wasn’t true. That’s how the incident I mentioned came to pass. L and I had been sitting in the kitchen one morning just talking about our kids and whatever came to mind. Then Marcy came into the kitchen and began joining in our conversation. She brought up the teens acting as if they were getting on her nerves – yet when she was with them they were all best friends – and telling us she was tired of them always asking for food and whatnot from her. L mentioned that they’d asked us for cigarettes but that neither she nor I would give any to the teens. Then L mentioned that she’d seen teen boy looking for clips in the ashtray in the back yard.
Marcy and I both admitted that it was gross and I left the kitchen to go do whatever it was that I had to do. I told L I’d meet her in the yard when the kids went out to play, and that’s what I did. We’d been out there for about a half hour or so when teen boy came out to the back stoop with his older sister in tow and proceeded to berate me for telling people I’d seen him digging in the ashtray for cigarette clips. This 14-year-old little shit was talking to me like he was my lord and master. I very calmly told him that I’d never said such a thing and that he needed to take his attitude back in the house. He ignored me and continued to tell me to mind my own business and not to be spreading rumors about him. I repeated what I’d said the first time, with a little more authority and ended it by telling him that if he didn’t get back inside with his attitude I’d take the issue up with staff.
That snot-nosed little shit looked me in the eye and said, “Go ahead!” And when I didn’t immediately jump off the bench I was sitting on, he sucked his teeth and said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” and he turned and went back inside the house. My anger raged inside me and my very first thought was, “Don’t fucking challenge me, mother fucker!” Good thing I kept my mouth shut. Nobody in that house had ever seen me as angry as I was right then, and it took every ounce of my self-control not to race after that boy and beat the ever-loving crap out of him. Zach, who was eight at the time, was livid because nobody talks to his mama that way and he took off after teen boy screaming, “I’m gonna kill him!!” I literally had to grab the back of Zach’s shirt to stop him and I made him sit with L, but I was inside the house and up the stairs to the upper common room in a heartbeat. That’s where H was and she’s the one I needed to see about it.
Right in front of all the clique assholes I went straight up to H, who could tell I was holding back some serious anger, and I told her I needed to speak to her because I wasn’t pleased with the way the little boy had spoken to me or accused me of something I didn’t do. I described teen boy coming into the yard, yelling at me with his accusations, and refusing to leave when I asked him to. Then he started to interrupt me while I was telling her and I looked directly at him and said, “You shut up, I’m not fucking speaking to you!” His mother was stunned because she hadn’t realized he was being so rude to anyone but her, he was stunned because he didn't realize I could be so rude, but Cathy and Marcy sat there smiling, enjoying the chaos they'd created.
H went back downstairs with me and we talked in her office. I explained everything about the incident and how it was L who’d made the statement about the ashtray, not me, but that Marcy had mentioned to Cathy what was said and Cathy had decided to change the story for her own personal pleasure. I know that’s how it happened because Marcy wasn’t the type to speak spread anything herself, she’d wait until Cathy did and then join in the fun. But I didn’t just tell H about that incident, I told her everything that had been happening in the shelter with regard to Cathy and her little group.
I told her how I felt about the broken rules, the constant attitude, the spreading of rumors, not being able to feed my kids breakfast until lunchtime or let my kids watch TV because Chatty was always in control of it – I told her everything that had been festering inside of me. She agreed with everything I’d said and told me that she’d written things up time and again but that nothing was being done about it. She wrote down everything I said and then asked me to send L into the office to discuss it with her. And she went down the line with everyone in the house until she had all the information she needed.
She was going to put in a report for the case manager to deal with on Monday but L and I knew it wouldn’t do any good because FC would be there too and she was friends with Cathy. H did what she had to do but I also changed my attitude that day. I made it perfectly clear to everyone in that group that they needed to stay away from me, to stay out of my business, and to leave me the hell alone. The teens’ mom actually apologized to me for her son’s behavior toward me, she felt bad about it but I told her I didn’t want him around me for any reason. She agreed and was fine with it. Everyone else knew I meant business too because they didn’t even look me in the eye when we passed in the halls. They knew better because the next time something happened I was going to explode on someone.
I don’t know what happened when CM got the report or if any of them were even spoken to about the incident that took place; nothing was ever mentioned to me about it again. The little clique still hung out together, still had their attitudes, and still talked about us behind our backs, but nobody directly bothered me again – for a while. Then, a few weeks later, Cathy actually had the nerve to come at me for trying to protect my kids from getting sick. When you hear about that incident you’ll see just how manipulative she was, and probably still is; and how she got even worse in the aftermath.
Until next time…peace to all.
Marcy became fast friends with Cathy with that same “follow the leader” attitude that Josie had with Betty, and the teens became friends with Cathy when they moved in because she had the same attitude that they did and they thought it was cool that an adult understood them. Their mom was a bit messed up also because one day she’d be telling Cathy not to associate with her kids because they were just kids even though they appeared older; and the next day she’d let the kids leave the shelter with Cathy to go hang out at Marcy’s friend’s house. The entire group of them was like a high school clique that thought they were better than the rest of us.
Their basic objective was to spend their time making fun of us “old” people and to spread shit about us, even when it wasn’t true. That’s how the incident I mentioned came to pass. L and I had been sitting in the kitchen one morning just talking about our kids and whatever came to mind. Then Marcy came into the kitchen and began joining in our conversation. She brought up the teens acting as if they were getting on her nerves – yet when she was with them they were all best friends – and telling us she was tired of them always asking for food and whatnot from her. L mentioned that they’d asked us for cigarettes but that neither she nor I would give any to the teens. Then L mentioned that she’d seen teen boy looking for clips in the ashtray in the back yard.
Marcy and I both admitted that it was gross and I left the kitchen to go do whatever it was that I had to do. I told L I’d meet her in the yard when the kids went out to play, and that’s what I did. We’d been out there for about a half hour or so when teen boy came out to the back stoop with his older sister in tow and proceeded to berate me for telling people I’d seen him digging in the ashtray for cigarette clips. This 14-year-old little shit was talking to me like he was my lord and master. I very calmly told him that I’d never said such a thing and that he needed to take his attitude back in the house. He ignored me and continued to tell me to mind my own business and not to be spreading rumors about him. I repeated what I’d said the first time, with a little more authority and ended it by telling him that if he didn’t get back inside with his attitude I’d take the issue up with staff.
That snot-nosed little shit looked me in the eye and said, “Go ahead!” And when I didn’t immediately jump off the bench I was sitting on, he sucked his teeth and said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” and he turned and went back inside the house. My anger raged inside me and my very first thought was, “Don’t fucking challenge me, mother fucker!” Good thing I kept my mouth shut. Nobody in that house had ever seen me as angry as I was right then, and it took every ounce of my self-control not to race after that boy and beat the ever-loving crap out of him. Zach, who was eight at the time, was livid because nobody talks to his mama that way and he took off after teen boy screaming, “I’m gonna kill him!!” I literally had to grab the back of Zach’s shirt to stop him and I made him sit with L, but I was inside the house and up the stairs to the upper common room in a heartbeat. That’s where H was and she’s the one I needed to see about it.
Right in front of all the clique assholes I went straight up to H, who could tell I was holding back some serious anger, and I told her I needed to speak to her because I wasn’t pleased with the way the little boy had spoken to me or accused me of something I didn’t do. I described teen boy coming into the yard, yelling at me with his accusations, and refusing to leave when I asked him to. Then he started to interrupt me while I was telling her and I looked directly at him and said, “You shut up, I’m not fucking speaking to you!” His mother was stunned because she hadn’t realized he was being so rude to anyone but her, he was stunned because he didn't realize I could be so rude, but Cathy and Marcy sat there smiling, enjoying the chaos they'd created.
H went back downstairs with me and we talked in her office. I explained everything about the incident and how it was L who’d made the statement about the ashtray, not me, but that Marcy had mentioned to Cathy what was said and Cathy had decided to change the story for her own personal pleasure. I know that’s how it happened because Marcy wasn’t the type to speak spread anything herself, she’d wait until Cathy did and then join in the fun. But I didn’t just tell H about that incident, I told her everything that had been happening in the shelter with regard to Cathy and her little group.
I told her how I felt about the broken rules, the constant attitude, the spreading of rumors, not being able to feed my kids breakfast until lunchtime or let my kids watch TV because Chatty was always in control of it – I told her everything that had been festering inside of me. She agreed with everything I’d said and told me that she’d written things up time and again but that nothing was being done about it. She wrote down everything I said and then asked me to send L into the office to discuss it with her. And she went down the line with everyone in the house until she had all the information she needed.
She was going to put in a report for the case manager to deal with on Monday but L and I knew it wouldn’t do any good because FC would be there too and she was friends with Cathy. H did what she had to do but I also changed my attitude that day. I made it perfectly clear to everyone in that group that they needed to stay away from me, to stay out of my business, and to leave me the hell alone. The teens’ mom actually apologized to me for her son’s behavior toward me, she felt bad about it but I told her I didn’t want him around me for any reason. She agreed and was fine with it. Everyone else knew I meant business too because they didn’t even look me in the eye when we passed in the halls. They knew better because the next time something happened I was going to explode on someone.
I don’t know what happened when CM got the report or if any of them were even spoken to about the incident that took place; nothing was ever mentioned to me about it again. The little clique still hung out together, still had their attitudes, and still talked about us behind our backs, but nobody directly bothered me again – for a while. Then, a few weeks later, Cathy actually had the nerve to come at me for trying to protect my kids from getting sick. When you hear about that incident you’ll see just how manipulative she was, and probably still is; and how she got even worse in the aftermath.
Until next time…peace to all.
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