Trust your instincts

Years ago when I started this blog I went on a bit of a rant. It was about softball and the terrible experience Claire was having with the coach who promoted his lazy daughters; those daughters who bullied and harassed my daughter on MSN to the point where her account was taken away for her own safety; a manager who wanted a team of ten year old girls to use their "assets" to fund raise, actually requesting that in November they show up scantily dressed to the liquor store to raise money for the team; and, one surprisingly thoughtful pitching coach who seemed to be the only one there for the girls. (I would show the rant, but I removed it. Now I wish I hadn't - but I wasn't as confident as I am now.)

Anyway ...

At that time we owned a baseball and softball training centre. Claire's softball coach thought because the owner's daughter was on his team that he had some kind of special privilege or ownership of the facility. As a result he spent a great deal of time posturing and bossing our staff around - only when Louis wasn't looking and even after he was asked not to. Even silly things like parking in Louis' spot when Louis was out of town just because he wanted to "send a message." He was a mean-spirited bully with an easy smile dripping with insincerity; he gave me an uneasy feeling every time I was around him. You know the type of person, the one who makes you want to bathe right after being around them? Louis and I erred on the side of polite and never challenged him as we are fully aware of children being blackballed because of the actions of their parents. Eventually we just left the team as the behaviour of the adults, those we entrusted with our child, became intolerable.

As it turns out, we were not the only family who left the team before the start of the 2007 season. Many did, but we weren't in communication so really did not know who stayed and who left, but we've heard over the last couple of years that we lead a huge exodus.

Anyway ...

Every morning while waiting for the coffee to drip, I make breakfast, organize lunch and turn on the news. I am a news junkie. I'm always anxious to see what happened in the world in the seven hours between showings. Well, this morning I almost got whiplash as someone we knew was on the news.

Pat Foran is our local Consumer Reporter and I've always enjoyed his spots. He's very thorough, very fair and not afraid to stick up for the "little guy" as he did this morning. As the story goes, a woman spent $38,000 for a hole in the ground. The hole was supposed to be a pool. It doesn't look like a pool. It looks like a very expensive hole in the ground. As the piece ran, Pat Foran took himself over to the contractor's house to find out what was going on.

Here is the whiplash, the man who stole $38,000 from this poor woman is the arrogant and posturing buffoon who was to be Claire's coach in 2007. I new he was a scuzzball, but now there is proof: CTV NEWS link.

Louis sat in his chair at the kitchen table in stunned amazement, then it came, the slow smile. Then he looked at me and said my most favourite words to hear from my husband: "you were right". Sadly for that poor woman. If you watch the clip linked above you get only a hint of his arrogance. His lack of understanding that what he has done is a big deal.

Just one more story, just one more reason to trust my instincts. Not so happy I was right.