Getting Screwed

I dont know if it is a bad karma thing or what this week, but it truly seems like the world is out to get me. I am normally the antithesis of an alarmist, but this week I feel like I have had to be far more assertive than I am normally just to keep from getting bulldozed.

There's the bank thing, where I have not one, but two transactions that I have to contest as fraudulent. First a check that I canceled, from an account that I canceled has posted on my new account for about $80. The bank cant find the check to verify it or check it out, and somehow this is my responsibility. I went over a little bit of contract law and Banking and Securities regulations, and it looks like they are going to be a bit more helpful. But I shouldnt have had to even do that. Yuck.

Then there is the charge for a DVD I rented, never received, and am now being charged $40 for not returning. I have contacted the company three times by email and three times by phone to try to get ahold of them and mediate the situation. No response. Geez. No wonder the world is so full of lawyers: because assholes like this make it necessary to keep from getting ripped off.

Part of me says to let both things go. I make enough to cover both things and not sweat too much. Is it really worth me getting all bejiddered about? But its a lot of money if you think about it, and there is the whole merit of the thing.

I am also in a tiff with one of my better friends. Long story short, she told me she was going to go with me (and therefore drive me) to this job fair for public interest law. This event happens once a year, and is truly a unique opportunity to meet people in the very niche in which I want to practice law. I got all dressed up, shaved even, and then she ditched me in a very rude manner.

Part of it is that I would have had many opportunities to find another ride if I had been told ahead of time. Part of it is that I hate feeling like a burden to others, and am ESPECIALLY sensitive to others making me feel like a burden. That is exactly how I ended up feeling. So then I dared to get upset with this friend, and now she doesnt seem to have any interest in talking to me. I didnt get an invite out for our normal Tuesday night outing, and things are getting progressively chillier...

Perhaps it is juvenile of me, but I see this as her wrong to be righted. She should approach me and apologize now, not just for ditching me rudely and leaving me high-n-dry for an important event, but for not recognizing that I had a right to be upset about that. But it sucks, because as much as I am good IN a conflict, I hate being in the MIDST of a conflict that has no foreseeable end, it throws me way out of wack. And the longer we wait to resolve this, the bigger an issue it becomes.

Again, do I let this go and forgive even though she hasnt asked forgiveness and dont recognize that I got screwed by this friend, or do I maintain the emotional energy to stand up for myself? Yuck... It has just been one of those weeks. Im getting screwed everyway except the way I would prefer to be.