A good news can ruin a day. All it took was one notification on my phone, one I hadn’t seen yet, nor swiped away. It was an email from a job I applied to recently, a good offer, but it wasn’t a good incident. The morning had started with a horrible rainstorm, so we decided to commute to work with a rental that just happened to be nearby, as if by a miracle. I was driving, in hectic peak rush-hour traffic, operating a motor vehicle, worst intersection in Tallinn, and then my girlfriend just grabbed my phone to change the song and instead opened the email and went through the entire thread. And got really pissed off that I had seemingly been procrastinating on it.
I don’t mind if she knows what’s going on in my life, I don’t even mind if she sees my stuff—but this felt like the worst violation. Ambushed. Total violation. Why did I, when I had applied for a job, ask follow-up questions on the same date as the due date? I didn’t have a good answer. Traffic, life, rush hour, worst intersection, couldn’t think. No mental capacity.
And of course, the worst part? She was right. She saw right through my ruse. I HAD been procrastinating on this one. I had no good idea for that. Pissed me off. Worst place, worst time, worst moment ever. Morning started well, everything going great, then irony hits: email from the employer, they loved my work, good news, but my partner gets left out. And she proceeds to grill me, why haven’t you responded sooner? Because, of course, in her mind it fits a pattern—me avoiding duties—but the timing, the traffic, the whole situation, completely wrong.
I’m stuck. No money for a drastic move. Emotionally exhausted. Unemployed, feeling worthless but capable, and having someone point out how you’re “doing things wrong” in the middle of rush-hour life? Unhelpful, to say the least.
