So Done With Cathy

Fair warning to all, this will be a really long post because I’m going to finish with Cathy tonight; her story’s almost over and I’m tired of talking about her. I just want to get her out of my system. I’ve already mentioned this incident in my January 2, 2012 post but now you’ll get all the details. I told you, after the house meeting where everything was chalked up to a personality conflict between her and me I backed way off of everything. I was still friends with L but pretty much stayed away from everyone else. I did what I had to do and that was it. I was cordial to everyone because I believe that, regardless of how much you dislike someone, you can still be respectful. That I was.

Cathy, on the other hand, began to change, and it wasn’t for the better. She’d gotten away with so much that she figured she’d add to the list. Just before Christmas she was due to get kicked out for her antics but CM fought on her behalf because she felt bad putting Cathy and her kids back in rotation at Social Services during the holidays. Fuck that! If the chick deserves to be tossed, toss her. But CM fought with central housing to allow Cathy to stay. Big mistake.

Cathy continued breaking the rules whenever she got the chance; Chatty still did what he wanted to do because “my mom says it’s okay”; Cathy argued with staff who confronted her; and staff kept putting in their write-ups only to have them ignored. Cathy was living the high life around the PRD house. Unfortunately for her, or maybe it was fortunate for the rest of us, she began to go too far with her bullshit.

She was still taking about L and me and we knew because Marcy would tell L about it. L was still friendly with all of them because that’s what her religion told her to do. She was studying to convert to a different religion than she currently held and, ironically enough, Cathy was studying to convert to that same religion – and they both had the same teacher because of the area in which we were located. Imagine that. They didn’t discuss religion with one another often but they did occasionally. L, however, told me that Cathy’s behavior countered what she’d supposedly been taught. L had the same lessons so she knew what Cathy was learning and she said that their teacher would be appalled at Cathy’s behavior.

Since L was still friendly with all the residents she’d find out from Marcy what Cathy was saying about L and me, and then Cathy would speak to L about Marcy and me and other residents. Cathy was also discussing the mom and her teens who’d recently moved out to live with relatives. They had been friends but I guess them leaving gave Cathy license to discuss them too. Another girl had moved in upstairs with her daughter and she spoke to me in the kitchen one day telling me that she’d heard a lot about me. She’d heard that I gossiped about everyone and that I thought I owned the place. I just laughed and asked her what she thought. She said she’d been there for a couple of weeks and that I didn’t seem like anything she’d been told. She was friends with Cathy, too, so you can imagine where she got her information. I just told her to be careful and wished her a nice day before I left.

Staff was even beginning to dislike Cathy. FC, who’d been friends with her, had a hard time tolerating Cathy anymore. She’d told me, of her own accord, that she’d been the one to try to get Cathy discharged before the holidays because she saw the upheaval Cathy was bringing to the house but that CM had allowed Cathy to stay. FC wouldn’t even speak to her because Cathy had lipped off to her when she was reprimanded. My favorite staff member, GG, who never liked Cathy, had reprimanded her often and every time Cathy would give attitude then would go off on him to other residents to the point that he’d return to her and actually yell at her and tell her that his job was more important than her attitude.

Chatty was also taking it upon himself to take over the house, as set by his mother’s example. L came to me one day telling me there’d been a confrontation with her daughter, D, who was a teenager, and Chatty, who was eight. I don’t recall the exact nature of the first confrontation between them but I do know that Chatty did his best to get in D’s face and D, who had mental issues, had to work really hard to control her temper with him. She can be dangerous when provoked because of her issues – which are being medically treated – and staff and other residents knew it. If you treat her right she’s one of the sweetest kids I know. Regardless, Cathy decided to intervene on her son’s behalf and L got angry. I guess she decided it was her place to discipline D which is a big no-no in the parental circle. L calmly and politely told Cathy to come directly to her the next time she had an issue with D. Cathy said she would but just turned away with a “whatever” comment.

A week or so later, on New Year’s Eve, another confrontation took place between the two kids. L had texted me about it but without the details. I was working with Mark and Ursula so I didn’t have time to chat. When I was done working I had to go pick up my kids at a relative’s house and asked L if she and D wanted to ride along to get out of the house. They did so I picked them up and they filled me in on the details of the incident.

D had been in the upstairs common room watching TV when Chatty came in and changed the channel without even asking permission. D, who didn’t like Chatty at all, took the remote back from him and changed the channel back to her program. Chatty, who was a bit of a crybaby, ran into the kitchen to tell his mother what D had done without ever telling her what he’d done. Cathy got angry, waltzed into the common room, snatched the remote out of D’s hand and changed the channel again. Then she told D never to do that to her son again but ignored D when she tried to defend herself. Cathy tried to apologize to D later but it was too late for L.

New Year’s Day L and I gathered our kids to go food shopping and when we returned Cathy was still in the kitchen, where she’d been when we left mind you, and she was talking to Marcy, or rather, at her; Marcy wasn’t really paying attention. Dolly was in there with Marcy’s toddler and my boys went into the common room to watch TV. Cathy wasn’t about to move so I put my bags on the table in front of her and began packing out my groceries.

L walked up to Cathy and very politely and calmly – I was standing right next to them – requested that the next time Cathy had an issue with D Cathy come to her. She said she’d asked her before and was asking again to be polite, but the next time something happened they’d have a big issue. Cathy and her dumbass attitude decided to take offense and she jumped from her seat and got directly in L’s face and started screaming at her. She told L that if she’d teach her daughter some manners nobody would have to say anything to her. L was angry; we all knew D wasn’t the problem child. But L held her temper and told Cathy to back up out of her face to which Cathy just laughed and said she didn’t have to do anything anybody told her to do.

She was screaming so loudly that GG, who was staff for the day, came running upstairs. I told all of my kids – the boys had come running in – and Chatty to leave the kitchen. I was going to let the women do what they had to do but the kids didn’t need to see it. I continued putting away my groceries, Marcy continued cleaning her dishes, GG tried to interrupt the argument, and L tried really hard to control her anger but it didn’t work. The women began screaming back and forth – Cathy talking shit about D and L telling Cathy to back out of her face. I guess L’s anger got the best of her because she shoved Cathy backward to get her away and Cathy started swinging. L yanked off her boots to get better footing and they went at it. On instinct I jumped in between them, Marcy pushed her toddler out of the kitchen and grabbed L from behind, and GG helped Marcy.

Meantime I had one arm up to block L and my other arm against Cathy, using my body weight to push her backward away from L. At some point I got slammed in the back of the head with Cathy’s cell phone, which was in her hand. I found out later that she thought it was funny that she hit me in the head. What a fucking bitch. Anyway, I kept pushing against her. It wasn’t an easy task because I already told you she was about twice my weight, and only my height. My adrenalin worked, though, and I got her back to the wall through all of her swinging and screaming at L. Once she was against the wall she yelled at me, “Get the fuck off me!!” Lucky for her she didn’t try to push me off or I’d have belted her. I moved, L went into her room, Marcy and I checked on our kids and on ourselves – she’d been scratched a couple of times, and GG went downstairs to call FC. I gave my kids lunch, got some ice for my head, and went outside to calm down.

A few minutes later FC arrived along with the head FC, HFC, and her really large son who also worked for PRD. The senior case manager, SCM, also arrived. The house was on lockdown which meant no TV and everybody had to be in their rooms. I wasn’t happy about that because I hadn’t done anything wrong. GG, FC, and HFC all told me I was okay to sit outside with my kids. And they all went inside to do what they had to do, which carried good news and bad news.

Cathy was getting discharged for the fight; she had no choice in the matter. All of her write-ups and attitude and arguments with staff were also a part of it but the fight wrapped it all up neatly. She was out. Unfortunately, L and D were also discharged. Apparently one of the major rules of PRD is that fighting is an automatic discharge regardless of the circumstances; no defense is good enough. Since the next day, Monday, was a holiday both families had to stay at PRD but would return to Social Services on Tuesday. Until then Cathy and her kids were confined to their room and staff had to be up in the kitchen when Cathy was up there to make sure Cathy didn’t start any shit with L.

They spent Monday packing their belongings and Tuesday they were taken by separate cabs, at separate times, back to Social Services. L and D dealt with it and were placed in a motel about a half hour away from me; Cathy, however, called CM numerous times during the day, bawling up a storm, begging to come back, but was told by CM that there was nothing she could do to help. CM told her she’d done more than enough to help Cathy in the past but Cathy chose to not follow the rules so now she had to deal with the consequences of her actions. Cathy and her kids were placed out in East Bum-Fuck Long Island miles and miles away from her family and friends, who all lived in Brooklyn. Sucked to be her but I, for one, was extremely happy she was gone.

Apparently so was everyone else in the house. Marcy had a nice talk with me and apologized for the way she’d treated me. She said it took her a while to realize what a shit Cathy was but she’d pretty much been cold to Cathy for the couple of weeks prior. She’d listen politely then walk away. Staff was more at ease without Cathy there and tension in the house dissipated. I missed L and D but we still talked on the phone, and still do today even though they’ve moved to Florida to start their lives over.

I have no idea what happened to Cathy and her kids after that day other than to find out they were placed so far away. I was told that, although they had their own little suite in the shelter they went to, the rules there were much stricter and that the staff wouldn’t take any of her shit. Maybe someone finally got her to understand that she’s not a fucking queen and that she will be treated like every other resident that lived there. I don’t know, and I don’t really care. I’m done talking about her, although her name may come up briefly in the future. For now the Cathy chapter is closed and I can move on from here. Thank goodness.

Until next time… peace to all.