Things I Don't Want To Do
Out of respect for a co-worker, I had to do something yesterday that I didn’t want to do. No one does. Because of the nature of the event, going was the right thing to do and the only option and I’m proud that I participated. When I got home from the event, I found a summons for jury duty in my mailbox – something else I don’t have a choice about. To be honest I don’t mind the jury duty, but the summons is for the week of pre-planning and the first few days of school. There is nothing worse than missing the first few days of school in terms of establishing a routine for students. If the notice had come for another time, then I wouldn’t mind.
Both of these events made me think of all the things that I have to do that I don’t really want to do. For example, I have to clean out the chest of drawers in both of my sons’ rooms. It’s got to be done this week -maybe. I’d almost rather have all the hair hot waxed off my body instead of clean out those drawers. However, they grow so fast and the drawers are to the point that you have to struggle to close them. I also hate to take my car in to get serviced or the tires checked. Many times I’m the only female around and I’m totally out of my element. When they tell me something about the car, it’s completely Greek to me and I have to call my husband, which makes me feel dependent. I hate that for some reason. The last thing I’ll mention that I hate to do is wash my car. I could pay to have it done, but then I feel like I’m wasting money because there’s no reason I can’t do it. The one good thing that comes out of the occasional water-ban is that I don’t have to wash it. During those times, I can drive around with my dusty car and feel proud that I so consciously following the water ban.
Now it your turn to share if you’d like. What are the things that you hate to do and how do you try to get out of doing them?
–AAR Heather
Add another to the clothes-shopping-hater. I love LOOKING at them. But shopping is a pain. I recently went on a mini-expedition because I need an evening gown, and holy hell is it a pain. I’m like you Ellen (short), and I also have curves in weird places, so many petite clothes don’t fit me horizontally. And some of the dresses I tried on were just … wrong. I think I’ll get one at the Salvation Army and have it altered – far easier.
I do not like to shop for clothes at all. Well, at least certain kinds of clothes. I am right on the verge of being petite, not really but I do have short legs, so buying pants is a chore. I so love capris – I can wear those with no problem. My arms are short too, so I have to have almost all my sleeves altered which runs into $$$.
I don’t mind getting my car serviced, thank heavens the place where I go is reasonable and honest, but I hate the waiting room. For some reason, I always get there just when The View is on and I loathe that show with a passion. So I sit out in the hall.
Wow – I was afraid I might be the only woman in the country who hated shopping for clothes! I absolutely despise the mall, and when I must have a particular clothing item, it’s pure torture to hunt it down. My wardrobe is always hopelessly out of date because I only wear what’s comfortable, clean, and not falling apart.
I’m with you on the car thing. What I do with regards to washing it, though, is use a nearby gas station that offers a 10 cent per gallon discount if you buy a car wash, and then sit in my car for the five minutes it takes to run through the automated car wash. I do like a clean car.
What I hate to do is cook. And it’s not even the cooking so much as the figuring out what to make. Around 4:00 I start thinking about what I should fix for dinner and it’s the worst time of my day. I also hate grocery shopping, so double the pain when I usually have to run to the store for this ingredient or that. Sadly, I do love to eat.
I’m with you on the car maintenance, Heather! I hate dealing with it, hate being without my car while they work on it and I also really don’t enjoy that feeling of having to be extra-vigilant. I know very little about cars, so I always feel like I have to scrutinize things very carefully to keep from getting ripped off.
Wow, Tee. You reminded me that I hate shopping for clothes and I can’t believe I left that off my list. I thought I was the only one. When we were young, my mom would take us on these day long shopping excersions that just never seemed to end and it killed my desire to shop. As an adult, if I need clothing, I go into the store (usually one) and get it and leave. I hate shopping for clothes.
As my children have grown, and it literally is down to my husband and me (although my son lives with us, he’s usually on his own), I hate to cook anymore. I’ve lost the knack, since I rarely do it. We usually go out to eat, but that can get expensive depending where you go. Oh, well, I can’t take it with me, can I?
Shopping–I hate shopping–for clothes, food, whatever. I’d rather have teeth pulled than go shopping.
As far as a clean car, I let the rain take care of that. I live in my house, not my car, so I don’t see the problem.
I liked this column. It’s good to see the different things that people dislike, but may end up doing just because there’s no other way around it.
I’m really lazy about washing my car, and it’s even worse because it’s a black car so it shows every minute speck of dirt. I don’t have a garage and have to park it on the street under trees, so you can imagine what it looks like. Like you I hate paying for a service I could do myself, plus the cost of a car wash means that’s one less book I’m buying. I’d rather have the book than the clean car, so I’ve decided I’m willing to live with the embarrassment.