Sunday, part 2

He woke up.  Very condescending and hateful to me.  I called him on it - being condescending.  He argued he wasn't and got worse. 

I really thought, back in 2003, after the accident, that things would be different.  Yes, Ron had his problems before the accident, but, for a while after, he was very sweet and kind.  I falsely believed that man would endure.  That Ron would appreciate the sacrifices I had made for him (including giving up my career to help run his business), cherish me, and treat me with respect. 

All that was shattered a few months after our wedding when, drunk, he "didn't like my tone" and began choking me, saying "You want a monster?  I'll be one!".  I managed to get him off me but something died that day. 

So we are going to get something to eat now.  He has proven stubborn and resistant to getting dressed, etc. 

At least Baby Girl was sweet and cute, made biscuits on the bed, purring, let us pet her.  She can be very cute when she puts her mind to it. 

Well, I wish I could say it was uneventful. 

Our driver was late, and pulled up as I was throwing something into the recycle bin.  I walked up to say hello and she scowled at me.  I recognized her as one of the not-very-friendly drivers.  She just hates Ron. 

I made a joking comment about "them" "punishing" her by giving her our trip, she scowled again and said "Just go get him".  Oh-kay. 

I didn't say anything to Ron.  I had him outside in 2 minutes.  We get out to the cab and she is BLASTING the dispatch radio.  Some drivers like to do that, turn the dispatch radio up to earsplitting levels and claim it is the "only way they can hear the dispatcher".  They don't seem to be hearing impaired so I don't agree. 

Anyway, Ron balked at getting into the vehicle with the radio turned up that loud.  I didn't blame him.  It was really bad. 

She kept saying it "wasn't that loud" and "You're the only one complaining".  I quickly told her I, also, objected to the volume level.  It was tremendously loud, far in excess if anything I would consider normal. 

She had to know it would upset Ron, he doesn't even like music at a loud level these days.  I asked her to turn it down.  She said she would once Ron got into the vehicle.  Ron said he wouldn't until she turned the volume down. 

He reminded her he is blind and "very sensitive to sound".  The driver then said she had a blind client in the cab already who enjoyed the loud volume and "Wanted to hear what is going on".  Ron said that was too bad, but it had to be turned down. 

I will remind you it was at an earsplitting level the whole time.  They got into a shouting match - very unprofessional on her part.  She finally turned it down and Ron got in the cab. 

She said he had to stop yelling.  I tried to remind her he had a head injury, she didn't want to hear it.  I did manage to get her to hear: he will calm down in a minute or two if you leave him alone.  When Ron gets overwhelmed like that it IS the head injury, and if he is left alone in relative quiet he will calm down quickly. 

She angrily threw the wheelchair into the proper compartment, cursing under her breath and banging things as hard as she could.   Ron calmed down, as advertised, within a minute or two and began apologizing. 

It is important to note that Ron apologized for shouting at the driver; but she never apologized for shouting at him.  She made a big production out of giving him the silent treatment. 

He has his issues but he's not as bad as that.  That's not saying much. 

Ron even said he wanted to buy her dinner, she gritted her teeth.  I made a joke about that being it, he couldn't get her phone number as I was beginning to rethink "this open marriage thing".  Ron almost fell out of his seat laughing.  She really didn't like that.  The other client snorted. 

We got to our stop, more banging the wheelchair.  She practically threw it at us and watched as Ron carefully got out.  He usually gets out on the passenger side, so it was more difficult for him getting out behind the driver.  But he got out OK (boy, that would have been a mess if he fell!) and we went in to dinner. 

It was really busy.  I asked for a table on "that" side of the restaurant.  They generally put the families with babies and small children on one side, I asked for the other.  We got that.  Our server was pretty busy but we got our food.  Ron's was prepared the way he wanted it and I enjoyed my chicken strips. 

We had a pretty good meal but it was very loud, we decided to wait outside.  It was cool, I wished I had brought my jacket, and Ron found out unfortunately we would have the same driver going home. 

I saw her come early, talking on her cell phone.  She is not allowed to talk on her cell phone when she has a client.  So she went in the back of the restaurant and continued her conversation for about 10 minutes as we froze in the cold.  I did not relate this to Ron. 

As far as Ron is concerned, she suddenly pulled up.  No loud dispatch radio, just some quiet music.  Still giving Ron the silent treatment.  I talked back and forth with Ron about our trips for tomorrow.  She gritted her teeth with every exchange, I made sure to be bright and impermeable.  It drove her nuts. 

The only thing that would have been worse is if we'd talked about the cats.  She got us home as quickly as possible. 

I believe her cab has a serious transmission issue.  At one point, it died completely.  She managed to get it restarted. 

I really didn't want to get stuck with such a sour, bitter, woman for any longer than necessary.  We got home and I put the leftovers in the fridge. 

I have to go to work in about 12 hours.  Less, actually.  The cats greeted us at the door and Baby Girl went off with Ron to the back bedroom. 

I'll be going to bed pretty soon, but I will probably watch some Christmas love stories on TV first.  I don't do Lifetime, ever.  But my other channel has some good stuff. 

It's been a long day.  I'm glad I slept in.