my inner elizabeth

Moving is stressful. I think that you would all agree with me on that. And, nine times out of ten, things go wrong. Take it from someone who has moved EVERY year since 2006. (Seriously, my advice to people in college is to move into an APT and STAY THERE for the rest of your time there.) 

Just about everything went wrong this time. I mean, EVERYTHING. You all know about the loan drama from last week - we were able to close on time, but we still had issues with that. So what did I do with all of this? I thought to myself, self - what would Elizabeth do? And I did it. How did I apply these lessons? Let's explore.

I think I'll make this an ongoing series. She has some good advice. Today's advice is to be a bitch to get what you want. That sounds rude - but I think you'll understand after I elaborate. I guess a nicer way to say this would be to be forceful and not stop until you get what you want. And, of course, if you do this in everyday life, you probably are just a rude person. If you use this skill in specific situations, it can be a good thing. 
ETA: Elizabeth is my older sister! 

You see, I'm a pushover. As in, someone tells me no and I just give up and walk away. This comes from my insane need to ALWAYS be a people pleaser. Sometimes that's a good thing, most times it's not. I need to stand up for myself more often...hence where the lesson from Elizabeth comes in. 

I first used this skill for the move when we were at Conn's to buy the fridge. As I mentioned previously (and here's where I would link to an old post if I were a real blogger who wasn't so lazy), we were at Conn's for 5 hours before they finally let us buy the fridge. After they told us "sorry, we can't approve you, this offer letter with A's salary could have been made up," I put my foot down and said something like this: "Look Keeon, we have been here for five hours. We even drove home and got the papers you said we needed - the papers that you said we would FOR SURE be approved with. We are not leaving and waiting two months for him to get more paychecks in and then coming back for the fridge. I know that this is not your fault, you are not the one who chooses to approve people or not, but we are not leaving without a fridge today."

And what do ya know? We got the fridge. The key, I believe, was the I know it's not your fault line. While being the bitch to get what you want, you still have to be nice while doing it. That makes zero sense while writing it out, but I think you get it. I first learned this skill from Elizabeth in high school when every single phone (for about 5 years) she got for free. She could talk Sprint into giving her anything, I swear.

I should have used this skill the other day when Conn's decided, at the LAST MINUTE, that they couldn't deliver our fridge to our new house because they didn't have proof that we owned it. Let that sink in. WHY THE HELL DOES IT EVEN MATTER?! They also needed to know how long we lived at our previous address and why we left. All of this information to deliver a fridge that we had already been approved for. By this point, I was tired. I just let A deal with it and we waited an extra day to get the fridge. Had I used the Life Lesson from Elizabeth, I probably would have received it on the original day, but c'est la vie. 

Lucky ol' me also got to use this life lesson at the U-Haul place...although it didn't work because the owner is an ex-marine and he still takes that VERY seriously to this day. A' picked up the U-haul at 5pm on Monday and the lady working there told him he could access our unit at any time throughout the night. We took one load (things in my parent's garage) to the house and then headed to the unit around 9pm. Guess what? It's not 24 hours. Access closes at 6:25. YOU KNOW - BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T WORK ALL DAY OR ANYTHING. (Can you tell I'm still mad about this?) There was the cell number for the GM should you need anything after hours. Guess what? It was disconnected. GREAT. We went back the next day and I was told that the lady A talked to was new and didn't know anything. (Ok, how is that our fault?) When I told them: "Are you aware that the number is disconnected? This is terrible customer service. What happens if something was really wrong?" : I was told that they knew it was wrong and they had ordered a new sign. It would arrive in two weeks. UHHHH. I tried to follow my Elizabeth Lessons, but this guy was NOT having it. It was his way or the highway. In the end, we had to pay for an extra day on the truck because of all of this - and there was NO talking him out of it. 

All in all - I can't really complain too much. We have a very nice house, we are in said house, and we have nice things in the house. (Like the 70" TV we HAD to get...) It may take us an extra week to unpack all of our things, but we can live without a toaster for a while. (Says the one who doesn't even use the toaster.)

thanks for making it through! this was really just an excuse for me to vent it seems. but, more life lessons to follow. she's the best and she taught me a lot.