I'm always the lucky one.

Picture used without permission

Well, after a great day of hiking in a trail, watching a Vintage baseball game (quickbaseball is dead now in case anyone cared, my baseball knowledge is lacking and so are my fantasy teams) and watched World War Z. When I got home from the theatre, I cleaned up a little and adjusted the thermostat due to the warm weather and the upcoming warm night. For the next three days, we will be seeing 90 degree highs and 70 degree lows in Southeastern Michigan. I'll be breathing in manufactured air for a while and keeping it cool here, even while I'm at work.

So, at around 10:30pm today, I was going to settle in and get started on research of the Prism project so I could write an article. My phone rings and I'm expecting it to be my work to call me in for a few hours (work till 2am for the third shift), instead it's my ex-girl.

My ex-girlfriend has three kids and two are with her ex-husband who has custody of them. She tells me that she needs a ride to court to have her say in the case, and she needs the ride in the early morning hours (not easy for a second-shift guy like myself). I refuse and tell her how I've been put into the dilemma of people calling me for help on a serious matter for the next day or a few hours coming up... hell, even at a moments notice. And, every time, the person asking for help will attempt to make me feel guilty in that tone: "Well, I'll lose custody of my kids." And/or (getting cliched here) they get aggressive, "Fuck you, help me out here."

My ex went with the guilty tone but I refused, I said I won't help. She did agree that it was fucked-up that she is calling her ex-boyfriend for help and said I was the last resort (gee, thanks...). In the end, although her begs and trying to play the guilty card, I still refused and the call ended. It took all the energy out of my research of the prism project for an upcoming article on Hubpages or Helium  (likely Hubpages) to going over here to complain.

If I could get a dollar for each time I've been called at a weird time to assist somebody in some kind of delinquent situation that needs me up and early in the morning, I would be a fucking millionaire. I suppose it could be worse, like an immediate family member with a broken-down car needing a ride at 3am with a major snowstorm brewing (had that happen to me before, no grudge there), but it's not that, it's some friend or a distant family member who calls me when I'm sitting down to relax or looking to get a project going, and they need me to get the ball rolling in the morning for a ride to the probation office (or they will go to jail) for example.

Back in 04-06, I had a family member who would put me in that situation a few times. He needed a ride to the drug test center when he was on probation, I would drive him there after making him pay some good gas money (in which he was trying to get away with paying me $2 for a 12-mile trip, I jumped it up to $15 or said, call a Taxi). He also needed me to pick-up his underage girlfriend who was 20 miles away ($30 or no go), that ended with a big argument and he finally called another friend who agreed to pick her up for $5, later telling me that I was an asshole for charging $30. And I do recall a time where I got out of work and wanted to relax, but he wanted to go to a party that was a little far away and he'd give $5 in gas money. I refused and the world was going to end according to him.

The family member I have mentioned as sincerely apologized for what he has done, and I have forgiven him. We are cool now.

However, in my whole life that I can remember, there is two types of people that always come walking in or intruding in my life: the person who thinks I'm trying to screw him or her over, or the friend or somebody who thinks I'm a high power that can fix all their woes (regardless of the idea that I tell them that they are wrong and need to see a psychiatrist).

Currently, the person who believes I'm screwing him over is my father. My mom and dad had divorced when I was around 4, but I kept my fathers last name until I was 20, sometime I left the Army. To make a long story short, my father (as he says) is collecting SSI money and he owes my mother for back child support. Recently, the folks who take care of that (don't know the proper name and don't care really, I don't wish to get into my mom and dads divorce woes starting in 1986) have garnished his SSI and blames me and my family for that. He has sent me Facebook rants about how I'm screwing him over, my mom is screwing him over and everybody in the fucking world is screwing him over. Including the CIA! Why would the CIA be after my father? God only knows...

And the weird fuck this time around is a African-American co-worker. He goes by the name Trinier but I call him Stalker. Each and everyday, Stalker approached me with a smile on his face and wants me to give him a high five. I've publicly humiliated him a few times, notably with the Happy Gilmore prank when he uses the nightstick as his wiener and shoves it in the sleeping guard mouth. Only I did it with a broomstick while he wasn't paying attention. And the next day, "Hey Robbee, want to go to the Red Wings game? I'll buy tickets." It seems that Stalker forgets what happens the previous day, or perhaps denial?

In addition to that, he once said, "If me and you are not friends, THEY will get us." I asked who and he didn't reply. When I asked him the question the second time, I said that the plant manager himself will kill us all (WTF?). He also claims that he molests his newborn child, which is uncomfortable to hear to say the least.

Also, he has stated that he hates it when I call him Stalker and he has accused me of telepathicly insulting him at night. Right now, it's 11:43pm as I type this and he is sitting in his house/apartment or whatever and hears me speak to him (as he thinks). And to go back to him trying to be my friend, when he is temporarily convinced of my denial of friendship (emphasis on the word temporarily), he sometimes plays the race card. "You don't like me because I'm black, isn't it? You fucking racist!"

I'm not going to do this 'I'm not a racist disclaimer' so I'll say this, it doesn't matter if your rich or poor or any color, if your the person who is filling the void of me being the 'savior' and gets pissy when I say no, it's not due to your race or status. I'm not the second incarnation of Jesus Christ and believe it or not the Zombies are not going to come due to me saying no.

One thing Stalker isn't, is a compulsive liar. Usually the person who fills the void of seeing me as the savior is a serious compulsive lair, I have stories from a guy saying he killed two people in Europe, and to get away, he swam across the Atlantic Ocean which took him a few days and even an encounter with Jaws himself in which he over-powered the killer Great White Shark.  Yet, just like the compulsive liars, they will call at strange times or even come by quite a lot. And at times, they need me to save them from a shit situation or the following will happen:

Even when they call me past midnight and say they are being chased by an angry black man in a ghetto neighborhood and they need me to pick them up. I ask, "Why don't you call the cops?" he says, "I got coke on me, I can't leave without it." (True story)

Or maybe it's just the weather?



The savior,

Robbee T.