"I don't know what is is that you do all day, but you spend a lot of time sitting at your computer and it doesn't seem constructive."

Okay, well, that frankly doesn't surprise me in the slightest, since it's not the first time you've said that to me. However, let's break that down and unpack it, why don't we?

Clearly not me! "Obedient", "spineless", "unquestioningly subservient" and "yes man" just aren't attributes of/in my character.

•  You don't bother to ask, perhaps because you know full well that I most likely won't tell you the truth. Why would I, when you'll find an opportunity to use it against me and start a fight when my guard's down?
• Regardless of whatever I tell you, truth or lie, you accuse me of lying, anyway. At least if I lie to you, we both agree that that's what I'm doing.
• You wouldn't recognise the work I do as such, since it's outside your experience and perception of what work constitutes. Freelancers/independent contractors don't have "real" jobs or do "real" work, do they? For that matter, anyone whom isn't a book-keeper, chartered accountant, doctor,  lawyer, microbiologist, nurse, optometrist, ophthalmologist or professor doesn't, either, because they're not jobs that you've done or to which you've aspired to do ...
• You've already convinced yourself that I don't do any work, anyway, since I'm not doing it for you and am not you. Therefore, my very existence itself is invalid and  wasteful. (More on that below.)
• That's the nature of work, though, isn't it? The object of it is not to do anything constructive, but to humble the worker's soul and bend that person to the will of the taskmaster. If it was constructive, you'd do everything in your power to stop me doing it, on the off chance that I might actually succeed at it and gain some benefit therefrom.
• What you really mean, judging by your tone, is that you're annoyed that I don't spend more of my time, which is in short supply, than I already do running around after you and doing your dirty work so  you don't have to, while you're sitting watching TV and eating, or doing one of your 500+ piece jigsaw puzzles or out with your friends. Yet, you accuse me of wafting aimlessly through life? The Flying Spaghetti Monster forbid that it doesn't take the entirety of my day/week to get both your and my shitty tasks sorted out and I actually find/make the time to pursue opportunities for earning crypto or fiat farming, all so I can bankroll you while you keep me down and stuck here!
• You don't know how to thank me for doing what I do for you, so instead you insult me because you can't rise above and resist that temptation. I don't even expect you to do the former, genuinely/honestly, since you seem incapable of it in the first place. Besides, I'm just doing what needs to be done, like a responsible adult (or at least as shoddy an approximation of one as I can manage, to the best of my clearly lacking ability, in the circumstances). However, if you've got nothing nice to say, then shut the fuck up! Didn't your mother ever teach you that, because mine certainly did. Don't you remember? You were her at the time.
• Even though I know full well that you intentionally pull this shit to get on my nerves and do my utmost to ignore the bad behaviour (which I learned to do from your example), let it go and not affect me, you still manage to succeed at getting your pointy little barbs under my skin, somehow.

"It doesn't matter to me how you dress in public; it's really up to you." — A woman whom then proceeds to relentlessly berate a grown ass man for six minutes until he changes his clothes, then another four while he's changing them.

OK, sure, Jan! I believe you. Thousands wouldn't, but I do!

"I think you should [do X] at/before [a certain time]."

Oh, you do, do you? Well, I think you should mind your own fucking business when it comes to what other grown ass adults do when those activities don't/shouldn't concern/impact you in any way whatso-fucking-ever. That's just me, though. I'm incredibly liberal like that.

Gaslighting 101? It seems likely to me.

Anyway, please go on being your bad self and tell me more about how I'm not measuring up to your high standards by not being you or doing things exactly the way you'd do them, when you'd do them and for the same amount of time as you'd do them (and, therefore, cannot possibly be considered to do anything constructive, helpful, meaningful, valuable or that makes a contribution in any way). Thanks awfully, bitch! I didn't ask to be born, certainly not to an abusive parent and certainly not into debt bondage and wage slavery, yet here we are and you can't seem to let go of trying to control my life and manipulate me.

Work is never over!

And still, I find it so hard to say what I need to say, but, I'm quite sure that you'll tell me just how I should feel today!

Given how I've been repeatedly back-stabbed, betrayed, defeated, disappointed, disowned, falsely accused, ostracised and generally let down and/or mistreated by my own damn family for not being enough like them (never mind other people) in certain ways, is it any wonder I've got general anxiety and fear, trust issues, anarchistic political views and issues with authority figures, particularly autocratic ones? I think not!

"Don’t you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can’t think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all who claim it?" — David Fincher; Fight Club

"Someone once told me that explaining is an admission of failure.  I'm sure you remember; I was on the phone with you, sweetheart." — Richard Siken; Poet; "Little Beast"; Crush

Thumbnail image: Photo by the RDNE Stock Project on Pexels