Hi greenshade,

I would just keep my head down and continue working. (With five minutes of obligatory small talk, of course). Eventually people will follow your lead and do their work as well.

Oh, my boundary story…

So an old friend wanted to store her stuff at our place. (She was “marking her territory” in other ways, so keeping her physical stuff for years on end was out.)

Anyway, I politely said, “We are actually going to renovate and are getting rid of a lot of stuff, so you should rent a storage locker or ship it home.”

She says, “I’ll ask your DH if that’s OK.”

I replied, “I’m telling you no now so my DH doesn’t have to.”

The day she was to leave she starts yelling about how much extra $$ bringing her stuff back would be at the airport.

I replied, “It’ll cost more, that’s OK.” I held my ground. I was a calm broken record.

After she leaves, we find a giant pile of her stuff in the guest bedroom.

Then I had my DH ship them back to her. (I didn’t. He did. To prove a point that we’re a team.)

She was pissed and incensed that we said “No” and then enforced the boundary by shipping her stuff back.

And that’s my boundary story.

Best,

Inky

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Inky.