Return of the TP wars?

January 9, 2009

So about this time last year I was the instigator of a feud between our family service people and myself. They really started it but it was my response that fueled this petty power struggle. It started innocently enough. Everyone had to share one small very run down bathroom that happened to have literally the only sink in our entire building- a little tiny bathroom sink. We were all working and worshipping out of an old not even good enough for a thrift store building and tensions at times ran high. One of the first things I did upon our arrival to that awful place was attack the bathroom which had also been used as the janitor closet and it was seriously disgusting. I am talking BAD. So I scrubbed bodily fluids of every form off of every surface in the room. Cleaned out all of the junk and had it painted. I was determined to improve it for our church people and I am not going to lie- for myself. So I worked and worked and made it better.

Pretty soon junk started making its way into this one little clean and uncluttered space. (Our family service folks are pack rats to the max). I am talking about weird stuff, an empty plastic 3 drawer cart with only two wheels. It was all scratched up and dirty. So I took it out and put it in the storage room outside the bathroom door. The next time I went in it was back. So I took it out. This carried on except now things were being put in the drawers and on the toilet top and on the tiniest little ledge of the sink. Things like multiple broken soap dispensers, aerosol air fresheners that were missing the knob that made them function, giant rolls of TP- that were filthy dirty and had mold on them. A myriad of cleaning chemicals began appearing which was not allowed as unsupervised children had to use that bathroom. So as things accumulated I got rid of them. This continued to escalate it had somehow turned into a power struggle. So finally one day it came to a head- someone from family services had posted a sign above the toilet that was very tacky and inappropriate and there were like 8 of those giant rolls of toilet paper that looked like they had been stepped on and had mildew around the edges. So I took the sign off the wall and grabbed a roll of the TP and confronted the family service director. It did not go well. Not like hair being ripped out or anything like that, but unkind words were shared and it took awhile to get over it.

So now we are having an even more serious power struggle over space which I will get into at another time. But for today my issue is with the care; or lack of it they have for the building. They are careless about the way things are treated and leave things very dirty. We do not have a janitor we have to keep things up on our own in a shared space. They are not doing there part at all- I stayed 2 hours late today to clean They keep creeping into areas that are used for program and tensions are once again running high. Can’t we all just get along?

I will not let this grow into a silly power struggle. I love the ministry of family services and what they do and quite honestly I really like the director and her volunteers. We need to come together to be effective and this all is symptoms of a much larger issue. I would like to officially say this is one of the many reasons I am very glad I have never been called to officership. It falls on them to resolve some of these issues and I am praying about my attitude and trying to focus on what is important and not the petty issues. The problem is those petty issues build and build and they become a monster problem.

I feel like I have just let out a big belch. You know the ones that build and build but just will not come out. Then it comes bursting out and you try to restrain it and cover it up. This past year has been pretty trying and I think it gave me gas that this blogging is breaking free. Two days in a row of blabbin about old stuff. The thing is no matter how hard I try to move ahead- no looking back it is all connected. The old issues are connected to the new issues.

So all in all today was ok, it was Friday so I got up extra early to head to the Chamber meeting which went fine. My day did end great, Donald the boys and I went out to dinner together and had a great time. We then came home and watched “The Rescuers” together and just enjoyed being together. My boys are getting so grown up and really developing their individual personality and interests and it is fun spending time with them.

No more TP wars. I will not fight that fight!