Julep: Not again.

I just got a phone call from Mr. J: his Judgy Grandma is planning a family gathering to celebrate his dad's (non-milestone) birthday at their country club, for dinner. We were given date and time -- a full five days before the man's actual birthday -- and told to attend. On one week's notice!

 Judgy Grandma has never held a job, and her husband has been retired for eons. But some of us do work for a living. In fact, I had a business development cocktail function scheduled that evening: I was supposed to be mingling with my partners' clients and (the hope is) convincing them that I would do a great job of handling work we don't currently do for those clients.

It pisses me off that this woman is constantly arranging command performances. Never, not once, has she ever called to ask about our schedule before she plans something we must attend at the peril of incurring a whole round of We're Offended -- a favorite game among the Mr.-family womenfolk in which Judgy Grandma the Queen Bee, her daughters the Drama Queens, and their daughters Trashy BabyMama and Tits McGee get themselves all frothed up about how they aren't being paid enough attention. (Most recently, TBM got her knickers in a twist because Mr. J did not call her personally to extend an invitation to our daughter's baptism. Mind you, when he spoke to her mother TBM was on her way over there, and he asked that she be filled in. But that was not good enough. The whole branch of the family skipped the after-party to show how offended they were. What a shame.)

Have some respect! If I need to attend, check my availability before scheduling, or at least give me reasonable notice. Sometimes I have work things to do! Hell, some times I have fun things to do! -- and trust me, "fun things" does not extend to a family function with the extended Mr. clan. I'd a hundred times rather stand around drinking cocktails and talking business with strangers.