Friends With No Boundaries

We've all had one of 'those' family members or friends.

Do you ever have a family member who seems to have no boundaries? Not just the kind who feel comfortable farting with you in the room, although, that seems to be more of a 'manners' issue. I am talking about those who are oblivious that anything else is going on except for what THEY want, right there, in that moment. Call it selfishness. Call it rude. But just call it out for what it is.

My girl, Jessica, was at work when her cousin showed up ... with a vaccuum cleaner. At first, she wasn't sure if she was going to just show her a new appliance she bought for herself, or what. But after the coridial hellos and introductions to co-workers and bosses, her cousin began talking about this new company she is working for. Yep. You guessed it. She began sales-pitching at her job! It gets better.
Her cousin began cleaning the office without even asking! She mistook Jessica's kindness for an open door to basically do whatever she wanted to do ... at her job! Jessica was mortified. She tried to tell her nicely (in front of everyone, mind you) that she was really busy and had to get back to her desk. But her cousin just kept telling her that it would only take another minute for the results of the best-vaccuum-in-the-whole-entire-world. Jessica began to panic.

Her bosses were watching and the continued pressure to get crazy out of the office increased. She finally had to UNPLUG the vaccuum cleaner, pull her aside and tell her she had to leave and could never come back to the office again! Her cousin left quietly but with hurt feelings. And oh the phone calls that Jessica got later that night from other family members!

Work, somedays, is hard enough wihout having to deal with the unexpected drama. How embarrassing! I felt horrible for Jessica and told her I was really proud of her. Afterall, she managed to keep her sanity, her job and get crazy out of her office! That was worth celebrating! Most importantly, she learned the value of saying, "no." (Listen to the song about family, It's so true!)

How about you? You ever have one of 'those' people in your life? How did you deal with them?