Family. Extended Family.

Well, my return to work really wasn’t much to talk about, truthfully.  My boss barely said anything to me – I’m either guessing that he just doesn’t give a shit or is giving me the silent treatment (yes – he is that petty).  I didn’t get much in the way of assignments (just what’s rightfully mine), so I’m not exactly busting my ass today.  Bad?  Yes.  Needed?  Yes.  Guilt-inducing?  Hell no.

But things have been a bit more active on the family side, including a cousin who bought plane tickets from Zacatecas to Mexico City for my little brother and herself without clearing it with my mother first.  The trip they wanted to take (to Chiapas) is a whopping $2,000 USD – she would’ve bought the entire package if her credit wasn’t already maxed out, so my parents are saved momentarily from having to pay $2,000.  My mother is, understandably, pissed.  "Se les parece que alli esta el dinero," she grumbled.  "They think that the money is available."  My poor little brother of course knows that the money isn’t growing on trees, so he’s not exactly thrilled at this costly development.  He’d rather take a family vacation than spend $2,000 on just himself and this cousin (the above amount obviously doesn’t include his plane ticket from Detroit to Guadalajara).  Point?  Cousin should’ve consulted with Aunt WordNerd’s Mother before following through with any purchase.

And to add insult to injury, another cousin (sister to the purchaser) called last night at 11:30pm.  Never you mind that I’m still on Mountain Time and therefore struggling somewhat to get to sleep, but the woman has the audacity to call and make sure we know how much money the trip is so we can pay them promptly.  Like we ever fail to send them money when needed (for taxes and my grandmother’s care)!  You know what my cousins could’ve done?  Remembered the goddamn time difference and waited until this morning to call.  Oh, and waited before making any purchases that were going to be on my family’s dime.  Grrr.

All this doesn’t affect me, really, except for the lack of sleep that came courtesy my cousin calling half an hour before midnight.  I am slightly miffed that my cousins think my parents are loaded and seem to happily abuse that misconception whenever possible, but nothing’s coming out of my pocket unless it’s absolutely necessary (I’ll help if I have to, but the point is, I shouldn’t have to).  It’s just, ugh, family.  Extended family.  It doesn’t get any worse than that.