The Bullying Kind

You would think that working at a church would mean not having to deal with irritations.  There's one particular guy who gets on my last nerve.  He frequents the food pantry at church, and is always trying to scam his way around the rules.  I don't even answer his calls anymore.  Each time he calls, he's rude and disrespectful to me, mainly because I'm onto him.  On top of that, he expects me to do his leg work.  The guy never keeps up with the times he's supposed to come to the pantry.  Then he wants to know what is available before he decides to "make a long walk" to church.  The last time he did that I snapped, "I have arthritis in both of my knees.  I'm not about to run up and down the stairs to check on your appointment or give you a menu of what's down there.  If you want to know that, walk over here."  Pastor Roger is always telling me to be nice and sympathetic, as we do have several characters who frequent the food pantry that sorely try my patience.  However, my tolerance for nonsense is going down as I get older, not up. 

I don't even know what the guy in question looks like, because I don't usually go downstairs during the food pantry hours on Mondays.  Nor am I usually at church when the doors open for the Tuesday afternoon food pantry  I keep saying that I'm going to catch the guy and threaten him with the possibility of being permanently banned from using the food pantry.  But I haven't (as of yet).  I guess it's not in me to be a bully.

Maybe that's the reason behind me not always returning fire as I should whenever I spar (or during the last two fights I had).  My late sister Cindy had a talent for bullying people, and many were intimidated by her.  It's not that I won't step to someone whom I find annoying, irritating, or has threatened me.  But Cindy liked to do that, and I'd rather be peaceful most of the time.  I think that boxers have to have a bit of a bullying attitude in them in order to be successful. 

Joe, a coach who knows Alan, came in last night with Chloe, a fighter of his.  Joe can also been seen working the corners of various fighters sometimes on ESPN's "Friday Night Fights".  I sparred with Chloe, who looked to be fifteen years younger than I.  She also weighed less.  But Joe taught her well.  A right hook from her nearly floored me.  "I thought you lost your balance," Alan said later,  "No, it was the punch!" I replied.  I got a good body shot in, but like Alan noted, I ate most of her jabs with my head.  "Remind me that we need to work on some jab and catch drills," Alan told me.  Later, after I got home, I felt the rest of the pummeling I took.  "Don't get too friendly with her, because you might be fighting her down the line," Alan joked. 

I overheard Joe and Alan talking.  "She's had two fights," Alan told Joe, referring to me.  "With whom?" Joe asked.  "Meg," Alan answered.  "Oh, yeah, she's one of Bill's fighters at Hamlin," Joe said.  "She's a fire fighter, you know," Alan said.  "Really?  Meg's good," Joe said.  Don't I know it, I thought.

I lent Jamil the memory card from my digital camera.  He said he knows some people who could possibly get the videos I recorded of him and others sparring off of the card and onto YouTube.  Jamil begged off sparring last night.  St. Louis had given him a black eye the week before.  "My father saw my eye and he was trippin' about it, so I don't want to come home with another black eye so soon", he told me.

Kevin, John and Carlos didn't come in last night, and Alan and I were concerned.  The sign up for the Golden Gloves is at the end of next week.  "I hope they're not changing their minds about competing," Alan said.