If "G" Means Good, Then "I" Must Mean Incompetent

So as this whole house hunting process moves forward, there are things that we have to do and check and double check before actually buying a place.

One of those things is a trip to the various government agencies involved in our property; zoning, flood plain development, sanitation, permits and the beloved tax assessor.

I pulled teeth dealing with the guy in flood plain, had an argument with the lady in zoning, asked the permit woman to walk "to the back" one more time to make sure she checked correctly (since our information was conflicting) and got utterly exasperated with the girl in the tax assessor's office; who I'm sure wasn't too happy to see me either since she let out a big, annoyed sigh when she had to get up from her desk and greet me at the counter.

The reason I was at the tax assessor's office was to determine whether the addition on the house was being taxed incorrectly. Was it really living space or just a closed in garage that was put on the books in error? I asked her to pull the document with this information and she begrudgingly did so.

When I asked her to explain the notations on the document, she faltered and asked me to hold on a second. She walked to her desk, came back with the same puzzled look and proceeded to tell me what the coding in each column meant. I was listening, but not sold that she knew what she was talking about. When she said, about the column referring to the wall construction, that "G" meant good, I asked her if there was someone who knew what all the codes meant.

She said, "Well, I'd have to get someone from the back."

I tried not to strangle her over the counter and instead said in a calm voice, "Do you think you can do that, please?" I actually said please. Little did she know she was seriously trying my patience, of which I don't have much.

As she started to walk away, she said to me, "Well, she's really busy."

"Well, too bad. That's her job." I had lost my patience right there and I think the realtor skulked under the counter for a minute. Ed knew enough not to interfere so he stood by resolutely and thankfully, silent.

Too busy?? Too busy to do the job you are PAID to do? Paid by me, most likely, and my tax dollars. After all, we were in the tax assessor's office.

After Miss Too Busy To Do Her Job came out, we were fortunate enough to have the tax assessor who has been with the office for over 23 years come to her aid, taking over for her and her minions. I'm happy to report he was forthcoming with the information we needed, explained everything in full and sent us off with information that we never even knew existed.

As for Miss "G" Is For Good; that has become my new code word for incompetence. And as you might expect, I was able to use it several more times that day and even more in the following days. Now when I turn to Ed and say G is for good, he knows exactly what I mean.

See how often you can fit this little phrase into your work day. I know for sure that Greggie will be using it frequently. It's sort of like "The B & The C"....right, Greg?