TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO FILE:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT:

THERAPIST: Hey.

CLIENT: Hey. So, it's been like two weeks since I've been here, I guess.

THERAPIST: It's been like two weeks since you've been here.

CLIENT: The trip home was good but not as eventful as it could be and actually, it was probably good that way. Right around Christmas day my parents came down with some sort of really, really terrible virus. We don't know if it really was flu but it was very flu-like in terms of just, like, yeah. So dad gets it first and then, like, late that night my mom started getting sick. It was like, yeah, don't really want to talk about too many pressing things. Plus I was freaking miserable. I had worked really hard up until that point.

THERAPIST: Like, physically miserable?

CLIENT: Physically, yeah. And back down south we got hit with snow on Christmas, quite a bit of it. So literally Mike and I were driving Christmas eve, all night. So we were going through snow to get there. So it was just it wasn't bad, bad it just was, you know. [00:01:12]

THERAPIST: Were the roads real slippery?

CLIENT: They were little bit. Actually, the people at the rental agency gave an SUV without an extra charge, just because they wanted to get it off the lot. So that made it a lot better.

THERAPIST: Good.

CLIENT: Yeah. Especially due to just little things that would have made it more complicated without it. So I went and visited with them. Mostly that's pretty much all I did. We ended up having to go back early just because they were talking doom and gloom for snow up here and having to up through, like, upstate New York through it they'd get hit pretty bad, so.

THERAPIST: So how long did you spend?

CLIENT: About three days. But I am getting a little concerned that, especially my dad, his mental acuity is slipping on certain things. Yeah, I had been concerned probably since I was a teenager a little bit on certain things.

THERAPIST: How old is he? [00:02:15]

CLIENT: He is 68. The big thing is that both of us have pernicious anemia, which is more or less when your body steals from your nervous system to get B12. It's part of what did, like, serious damage to my nerve system. He has that too. He is not good about getting his shots, primarily because of the fact that he gets it from a friend, who has been very, very ill. And so the doctor (sp?) has been dealing with so much crud in his life right now that my dad feels like he's imposing on him. And I have explained to him that maybe, just maybe, he's been himself and he would just love that. I mean, it's not like it's a hard shot to give in any way. He would just like to have a visit, so.

We did sort of reach some very angry territory with my mother because I criticized the doctor's (sp?) children for not being around for him and that apparently got her very stirred up. I don't really know why but my mom is very protective of one of his kids and her husband, who gives me the creeps. Creeps, creeps, creeps.

THERAPIST: The husband? [00:03:24]

CLIENT: He went in he works for the government. The reason why he got involved in that kind of security related thing is because he likes guns. I don't have a problem with people having guns and things like that he's just one of those terribly aggressive creepy people, you know. Like, as in, like, I am sure that he I understand hunting for meat. Even if you don't need it or anything like that, you can be, like, the kind of person who just gets a kick out of killing stuff.

THERAPIST: Food.

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: Yeah, that sounds creepy.

CLIENT: Yeah. And they were in I made the mistake of a passive criticizing the fact that, like, when she was having a baby he took a position abroad (inaudible at 04:08). One of the places where we decided to leave the embassy and [they had to be] (ph) evacuated out.

THERAPIST: Wow.

CLIENT: Yeah. Amongst many other things. [They're this] (ph) kind of thing. He likes to go places that have a lot of conflict. So I kind of criticized that and [said that] (ph) she doesn't really give a damn about her dad and he's on his last legs really. And my mom got very, very upset and I really wish that there's not much we can I don't know why she's so protective, but she's not telling and that's OK. I do know that and what I was trying to say is Mike actually communicated better, which was, "If I ever said (ph) a situation where you guys were sick, I would not be, like, leaving. I wouldn't matter if I was having another kid. If I lived in D.C. and you lived in Brooklyn, I would be up there taking care of you on Christmas, if you had just had another broken bone or whatever."

But the doctor (sp?) has been a very, very close member of the family for a long time and he really understands what's going on with me because he has the same thing of it's not the disease he has that's killing him it's the stuff that he takes to treat the disease. He now, when he falls out of bed, he [does things like] (ph) breaking his neck. [00:05:16]

THERAPIST: Oh my god.

CLIENT: Yeah, he takes so many steroids now that he has had...

THERAPIST: What disease does he have?

CLIENT: He has a very, very, very powerful type of asthma. It's the type that basically if he doesn't get a dose he just stops breathing. It's a very specific type of asthma. And it has a lot of like, his body does not want to breathe at all. And he's had it for years and years. There's always been problems but it's just gotten a whole lot worse lately. He used to live two doors down from my parents' house. He just sold that house and he had lived there for years so that he could...

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 05:54) right now?

CLIENT: Yeah. But he just moved, like, across their whole (ph) community. The (inaudible at 06:02) holds the other. Not like that part of it but so a place where he could more or less be kind of on the same, you know, same floor. Because he's had [all of these] (ph) accidents where he's fallen and no one's found him. And I feel very protective because he's a very like, I have said some terrible things about his kids, but they're true, you know. Nobody gives a damn about him. They just see him as, like, a convenient source of money, you know. And so that was kind of an interesting thing.

Mom and I in general just discussed a bunch of stuff and she feels as if my sense that and it is true that I have not the sense of charity that they instilled in me, I do not currently exercise enough, you know.

THERAPIST: Like you should be giving more away?

CLIENT: Doing more with other people or at least being more understanding of other people's circumstances. At least my rigidity of thought, along with the fact that she really feels like I think she really feels that I will not feel so nearly as bad about my own problems if I spend some time with people who have some problems. [00:07:14]

THERAPIST: Well, you have some real problems.

CLIENT: I know. It's part of that whole noblesse oblige, that thing, that I not only hit the intellectual and, you know, background jackpot but that I really should be spending more time trying to help other people. And she's a little bit right, you know.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 07:46) really doesn't at all (inaudible at 07:48)

CLIENT: She's at least seen that I didn't really get out of bed very much the entire time I was there. I was in bed. I didn't spend much time doing much moving at all, so she knows I'm in pain. She has triumphed through some pretty horrible things in her life by keeping focused, going forward and whenever your problems look really bad, look at other people's problems. I mean, she's been through, like, you know, ethnic cleansing. She has been through, like, you know, things basically people have been family members have been killed [to their] (ph) party beliefs. She's been through so much that, you know, this is a really tried and true survival tactic for her, you know. You take care of other people. Like, you know, these people who don't have legs kind of thing? Yeah.

THERAPIST: Was it hard to have got her stirred up? I mean, I'm sure that's not at all what you were intending to do. Was it upsetting for you when it happened? [00:08:53]

CLIENT: A little bit, yeah. Mostly because of the fact that (sighs) (pause) mostly because of what she said was a little bit true and a little bit not true. It is true that, you know, I have gotten very rigid. I have been rigid, like, most of my life in certain things but and terms of other people, you know. (pause) Part of it's, like, what she had to say was very, very true, you know. I did become very myopic on some level about the world, you know. But the thing is, is that...

THERAPIST: How did you become myopic?

CLIENT: Because I judge pl sometimes based upon things or judge situations without necessarily giving the benefit or the doubt or I shouldn't be judging or it's none of my business or whatever, you know.

THERAPIST: Well, I could be wrong but I assume that your criticism of his kids is less motivated by bitterness towards them and more motivated by feeling bad for protecting him.

CLIENT: I have unpleasant feelings towards his daughter mostly due things related to her mom, but it's more of I'm a very protective type of person. And she [has belief] (ph) that I'm running in without any information about the situation at all, which is none of my business, and saying some terrible things about people that maybe, you know, is none of my, you know, this and that. And like, well, maybe. Maybe I'm just trying to express that if this happened to you I'd be right there, you know. But...

THERAPIST: But she doesn't think of that like that.

CLIENT: Well, she thinks that I should say that instead of (inaudible at 10:54). That's the other thing, is saying, "Hey, you know, if this happened to you" instead of saying, you know, "This is horrible that they're doing this. They're so self-centered. (inaudible at 11:01) bought them a house" Instead of saying all that, saying, "If that were you, I'd be there." And she's probably right. I am just I think that as certain things, especially because lately I've been working with the actual retail public lately, I have gotten extremely judgmental. I've gotten, like, I'm very, very low threshold of bullshit. And I think that (pause) they're in a position, especially right now but, you know, in general though, that she's always going to not financially always, but in a position to be able to be possibly a bit more open-hearted about things, you know.

I also kind of got her mad because I had said that we've talked about this before. This gets her really upset. They're both attorneys. Mom hasn't really practiced except for friends since, like, the ‘70s. But I said something along the lines of, "All these people with these mortgage modifications that, like, you know, in certain ways that you bought a house you couldn't" we knew that. Years ago we could have bought one. We knew it was bad news. And then you never read the mortgage. You never even, like, had a clue that this could go up. (inaudible at 12:22) shame on them. I don't feel like this is, like, my position to be bailing anybody out like that.

And she immediately, like, flipped. I mean, of course she has more insider knowledge than I do, having worked in the real estate industry to know that there really are (ph) mortgages now have 70 pages and this and that. I mean, it's true but I wouldn't sign a mortgage unless I'd read it all. I would have sat there with a dictionary if I needed to. But she got very upset that I was basically taking other people's circumstances and judging them on my own personal intellectual ruler and is expecting them to be able to handle as much as I am. And she's right. She's right that I, you know, I have been given a lot and I can't necessarily stand [for what] (ph) everybody else does. And so, I still don't feel like anyone's tricked into a mortgage. But yeah, this kind of stuff she gets very upset when I get like this. She thinks I don't have enough compassion. Maybe it's because she's had a life where she's had to see more people who need compassion. I do have compassion trust me, I do, you know. [00:13:34]

THERAPIST: I'm aware of that actually because...

CLIENT: I just (pause) I guess I'm just feeling like I'm been playing by the rules all the time and when other people don't (inaudible at 13:49) then I'm being told that I'm not being compassionate enough, you know. So that kind of (inaudible at 13:55) a little bit unpleasant.

THERAPIST: Yeah (inaudible at 13:57)

CLIENT: Yeah. I got that I mean, it wasn't, like, the whole time or anything like that. It was just, you know. (sighs) But for the most part it was pretty low key, so. I'm just worried about both of their healths. Mostly my dad because my dad due to the industry there's some major, major tax changes that happened over the new year. And I grew up (inaudible at 14:24) my dad, in general, almost always had some sort of business deal anyway that went down on new year's eve anyway. And I've always asked, like, "Why can't you get a flunky to do this?" "Well, if the flunky does it wrong I can't go back in time and fix it. I can't trust a flunky to have anything done on new year's eve right." I'm like OK. (inaudible at 14:42) but, you know.

But even was he was sick, sick, sick he was working up until midnight getting stuff registered because he had so many people that had so many things they needed to fix because of some (inaudible at 14:53). And he was booked, like literally he was apparently out the door at 5:00 am.

THERAPIST: Oh my god.

CLIENT: Yeah.

(crosstalk)

THERAPIST: Wow (inaudible at 15:03)

CLIENT: Yeah. And even...

(crosstalk)

THERAPIST: When you're sick, yeah.

CLIENT: And everything else. Yeah, he's a workaholic in general but that's definitely yeah. But that's something that, you know, I grew up knowing that there are certain deeds (ph) that are necessary evils. And that's just, like, you have to make the decision the best one (ph) you can accept as, you know. So (inaudible at 15:31) Christmas, no new year's eve.

But it was really nice to be home though. It was nice just seeing things, seeing familiar sites, that kind of stuff. It sounds weird to say that but...

THERAPIST: You were home. Nostalgic (inaudible at 15:55)

CLIENT: Seeing my home, like, my parents' house was nice. It was more about how a couple times we had to drive through the area where I had been living. I don't think they were, like, my...

THERAPIST: Warrior stomping grounds.

CLIENT: ...stomping grounds, you know, my region. And it was nice, you know. Say, "Oh, look at this opening here. Look, they finally got the construction done on that." And, you know, this and that. And, "Oh my god. Look, I think that's Cher." (inaudible at 16:23) completely (inaudible at 16:27). Really sweet lady though. You know, various different things and just be like even, like, seeing somebody who, like, is always in Squirrel Hill (sp?) and, like, is just wandering around with her giant fur coat and ridiculous extensions and, you know. Just seeing her, it was like part of the I didn't talk to her. We were driving by her.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 16:49) the landscape.

CLIENT: I immediately had to, like, go text somebody else I know that, like, "Oh my god. I saw her," you know. But it just there are things that are just nice to see, you know. It was very it felt good. It's weird because, like, (sighs) certain things it's just so nice to be remembered. Like, I went to go get my prescription for my glasses redone and I waited till I went back home for lots of reasons but, like, everybody in the eyeglasses shop remembered me. I don't go in there but (ph) every couple years but they remembered me. It was nice, you know. But, yeah. It was nice to go home. It was really nice to go home.

I think it was really stressful on Mike, partially for the driving, but also just in general. And it's something that, to me, it stresses it me out too but as soon as I am no longer around it it doesn't drive me that batty. My parent's house is very noisy. They have two very large dogs. They have all this other stuff going on and, you know, I know at the time there was actually a period in my high school years where I sincerely thought I might have attention deficit disorder. I could have, like, pulled out the DSM-4 or whatever it was back then and looked at it and had the exact same problems but it was just because the house was so damn noisy (inaudible at 18:22). There's stuff going on all the time. While I'm there, I'm just completely irritated by it. As soon as I get out of it, I'm OK with it. For him it just, you know, it just grated on his nerves.

But, I mean, he likes being around them and everything like that. I wasn't (inaudible at 18:43) bad as much as it's just a very different lifestyle than the one we have, so it's always tricky to do that kind of thing because, you know. (sighs)

But yeah, it's been pretty much the big things. I didn't get a chance to visit with much other family, partially because of my parents being ill. We didn't want to necessarily get people sick. I'm actually just completely confused why I didn't get sick.

THERAPIST: I was wondering about that.

CLIENT: The only thing we can think of is because I'm so many antibiotics and/or because I'm right now off of my immunosuppressants and my immune system is extremely high. I catch everything. I mean, I catch everything. I'm confused.

THERAPIST: Yeah, you mean when [you're being] (ph) immuno-suppressed.

CLIENT: In general, I tend to catch things though. I don't know what's that about. Today Mike was supposed to go back to work he didn't, but he had to get some work done at home.

THERAPIST: Why didn't he go back?

CLIENT: I'm sorry?

THERAPIST: He had to get things done at home?

CLIENT: He had to get some stuff done at home first. So he seems to and I totally understand it. Whenever he's doing (inaudible at 20:04) he rather not have people wandering about behind him in the lab. It's hard for him to focus. I mean, there's stuff bustling all around and trying to focus on doing some kind of (inaudible at 20:14) is hard. I'm looking forward to him going back to work tomorrow because I mean, it's not getting under (ph) my hair. I just think that he will feel a lot better if he just gets some, you know, feels like he's gotten a sense of accomplishment.

But pretty much then I've been back to work and I've mostly been working and sleeping. Like, quite literally. Like, I went to bed at 8:00 pm on new year's eve.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 20:39)

CLIENT: Yeah. But I found that that really does help a lot in the winter time. If I just let myself I try this I try to make myself thing. It doesn't get better. You never get past, like, this hill of, you know, of activation energy. I didn't know that if I just let myself sleep it almost always works. But that's been pretty much that. Working and sleeping, driving to Brooklyn and back, that kind of thing has been pretty much, like, you know.

THERAPIST: Your parents being sick, the stuff with your mom.

CLIENT: Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be (inaudible at 21:15). That's something where honestly it is nowhere near the kind of arguments I used to have with my mom as a teenager about things?

THERAPIST: Oh really?

CLIENT: Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. You know, they were never really important. It was never anything actually controversial or anything like that. It just was me being contrary to her.

THERAPIST: (laughter) You mean being a teenager (inaudible at 21:36)?

CLIENT: Yeah, but it was more of a it was a different it was not your usual pechuet (ph) snarky teenagers. It was a little bit different than that, you know, in that I would do things like, "Ok mom, so you said statement A. And you said A implies B but then where are we getting (ph) to C here?" That kind of thing (ph). [It disrupted me] (ph) more. Yeah, so that's it's not that big. I'm just mentioning it because it's like (pause) it bothered me a little bit because I think she's right, at least a little bit, I guess. If I'd focus on other people maybe I wouldn't think about myself so much. You know, it's harder, you know. It's (pause), you know, [by helping] (ph) that is sort of (pause) something that can be done, you know. [00:22:44]

THERAPIST: How has it been the last few days?

CLIENT: Up and down. It was a lot worse before I left. I don't know why but I was getting aches and pains in places I don't usually have it. Like, for example, my knees were bothering me. Normally it's my hip, that kind of thing. And so I was kind of panicking about it, like, "Oh my god, I've got new pain. This is not good." But I think that just the sleeping has been helping. I've been having a lot of aches and pains in general but nothing that as long as I sleep that I can't handle, you know. Mostly I've just been a little paranoid about falling in the ice. Nothing bad.

One of my coworkers fell outside of where we, like, normally go into the mall. And what really paranoid (ph) me is the fact that if he hadn't eventually been able to get to his iPhone, nobody would have found him for hours. He had laid there for 45 minutes before he was able to get to the iPhone. The mall is one of the green malls, therefore they don't use salt. I understand but, like, the entrance where the employees go had extremely, extremely thick ice. [00:23:56]

THERAPIST: Why couldn't he move? What happened [to him] (ph)?

CLIENT: Oh, he slipped and fell. His humerus, which is a really big bone in your arm, was broken underneath him. So it went underneath him and it was broken. And amongst many other things that were like, he smacked his head really hard on the ice. So he was dazed and other various things. And so it sort of, like, took him a while to, like, get his sort of wits together enough to call the store to say, "I was outside of the employee..."

(crosstalk)

THERAPIST: ...nobody came over. I mean, it was (inaudible at 24:32) an hour.

CLIENT: Yeah, it was 7:00 in the morning, you know. But, like, it's actually something that a bunch of us at work are really ticked off at the mall about because this is not the first time. But yeah, they had to take him on a stretcher. Like, he had bruised all the other things are temporary. Well, broken bones are temporary too but, like, he had bruised vertebrae, he smacked his head pretty bad, you know. He just laid there. Nobody would have noticed him. And so now I've gotten that's the second really bad fall we've had at Apple. So I'm just getting a little bit more, like, worried about that kind of stuff now. I have more fragile bones than these people so it's like yeah.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 25:14)

CLIENT: Yeah.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 25:18)

CLIENT: Yeah. Well, we'll see. Like I said, it's very worrisome. We don't really know what to do about it. We've tried to do everything we can. The mall seems to just not seem to care. They also make us park but if you work there. They like to call it Rapesville (ph). It's a place that's unlit and, like, a quarter mile away from the mall. Yeah, because they don't want you to I mean, there's mall parking [problem solved] (ph) to them. They don't want you to interfere with the parking problem. I haven't been out there though. I've heard stories about what it looks like, what the unlit, like, icy, (inaudible at 25:58), you know, parking lot half a mile away from the mall, that kind of stuff.

And they go and they actually (ph) police. The reason why it's interesting, they have people full time to go wander around the parking lot seeing if there's a car that's been there for long periods time and they sticker you with a sticker in your front windshield as a warning to tell you that you're not supposed to be doing that. Or a couple of customers do come in for lessons (ph) and spend all day just (inaudible at 26:26) and then gotten stickered. So that was kind of annoying.

THERAPIST: Yeah, I don't remember seeing any signs up that say you're only supposed to park for (inaudible at 26:35) hours.

CLIENT: No, as a customer you can do whatever you want. That's how they're supposedly catching employees from parking.

THERAPIST: Right, except that they're not.

CLIENT: Yeah. It just that they're coming there like they're an employee, you know. Two days in a row for five or six hours (inaudible at 26:52)

THERAPIST: More like employee, yeah.

CLIENT: But that's been it's made me very grateful for not having to do any driving or anything like that. But I'm looking forward to this slow time for work. I could really use not having to I mean, I teach the people I'm working and sitting down with for a decent period of time. That's fine. But I've been having to deal with, like, very sort interactions with some really, really, like, world-class jerks.

THERAPIST: Oh no. Well, what's happened?

CLIENT: People who well, I got burned by battery acid this week. And somebody who bought their new iPhone and I was supposed to be doing the they bought them over to me to get what was explained to the salesperson and to me was they just needed to have their contacts transferred from their old phone to the new phone.

THERAPIST: That's (ph) pretty straightforward so far. [00:27:51]

CLIENT: Pretty straightforward so far. It's actually not bad at all but a different story with that, OK. So old phone. Guy's actually kind of proud of the fact that it's so old. I pull it off because I have to get the battery off out of the back to be able to find out what model this phone is because there's no way this thing's been wiped like, there's no Verizon on the outside. This thing's been used literally six, seven, eight years.

THERAPIST: Wow.

CLIENT: Yeah, battery won't come out. OK, I've got a bad feeling about what that means. I couldn't get the back off either. And, like, I ended up prying the battery out and finding out that there's battery acid everywhere. And meanwhile, while I'm trying to explain to him there's a very, very poor chance that I'm [ever going to get] (ph) these phone numbers out. First of all, he's kind of laughing about the fact that he's had it so long that the battery acid's pouring out. And I'm like, "This isn't funny. It's, like, all over my hands here."

THERAPIST: Oh my god.

CLIENT: Yeah, because it's not like I don't work with gloves or anything.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 28:45)

CLIENT: I'm, like, weirded out by that.

THERAPIST: Do (ph) you have, like, burns all over your hands?

CLIENT: Oh, no. You don't get burns. Like, battery acid, it will just peel off layers of skin. It doesn't feel good though.

THERAPIST: No, I would think that something that peels off layer of skin usually would feel pretty awful.

CLIENT: Luckily, they haven't batteries with (inaudible at 29:03) acid in years, which is really bad. But the thing is that you have long after the battery acid is gone, the nerves feel they're tingling like you have battery acid. This is not my first ordeal, trust me. I've done more than a few things. [I'm at] (ph) Microsoft just because I'm using (ph) electronics but as some point, like I'd try cutting him off. He's like, "Please let me finish my thought." I'm like, "I can't. I have to go. I have battery acid all over my hands," you know.

THERAPIST: Right. "I just need to wash my hands."

CLIENT: Yes, you know. And maybe go look for some (inaudible at 29:36) gloves. And then while telling this, he's sort of OK with me not getting the contacts transferred, then his wife comes behind, who knows nothing about the situation. She's like, "Well, we'll just return it right now. We'll go somewhere else." And, you know, after they got to the activation and all that stuff and they already had the contract, it's actually a giant pain in the neck.

THERAPIST: Yeah, to do a return.

CLIENT: Yeah. But, you know, she knows (inaudible at 29:58). She knows (inaudible at 29:58) a bunch of other things too. I'm like, you know what, fine. I'm going to go diving after the SIM to see if I can maybe, because this phone is old enough that it probably has phone numbers still in the SIM. I might be able I'm like, I want to try, so I put my hands back in there, get battery acid all over myself again, just so I can get this person's freaking contacts. And then she flips out because I'm not teaching him how to use the phone. And I explained to him that, "I understand but if you look around, I am working with six other customers simultaneously, you know. I'm just trying to get them to get their e-mails set up. I mean, we would love to teach you how to do this but this is not the time." The reason why they have me in this position doing this job is because I can juggle six people at once. I [can be like] (ph), "OK, right now, this is the [hurry up and wait] (ph). I'll be right back," and, you know. I've already burned myself a couple times. Honestly, it's not like this are dangerous things or bad things they just don't feel great, you know. And, you know, just that kind of customer, you know. Just that whole "you're not doing enough for me." And a lot of people...

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 31:01)

CLIENT: Yeah, I get a lot of pushy, entitled 40-somethings pissed that I was not able to spend the time with their older parents that they wanted me to. And I try to explain, like, "You do see that all around you it's not that we don't want to teach you. Just today is not the day." Not only is it too loud but I am sensing, you know I'm an instructor. I'm sensing that the person's already getting information overload based upon the number of people around and the noise and I can tell that they're not going to retain this stuff anyways. Plus, quite frankly, having them just mess around for a couple of days is going to help them make, you know, form intelligent questions. The person's in shell shock. And in certain ways that kind of pissed me off because I feel like I'm understand the body language the parents are giving off more than they are, you know. And just other things like that. Just, you know, "How dare you sell me something that could hurt my child again." A lot of that. Kids put iPhone in back pocket, slip on ice, fall on back pocket, you know, that kind of thing.

THERAPIST: Right (inaudible at 32:04)

CLIENT: Yeah. Because it's obviously my decision this. You know, that kind of thing.

THERAPIST: You mean you were the one who decided it was OK for him to hurt himself that way (inaudible at 32:17).

CLIENT: I don't even think kids belong having those things at all, but that's just me. Like, are they busy, like, checking their stock portfolio? Like, what exactly does a kid need an iPhone for? Especially the ones that can't read yet. (laughter) I'm sorry. Maybe I am being judgmental but I would think that if these strange letters and numbers don't make any sense to you yet, you don't belong having one, you know. But yeah, I got a lot of these "I slipped on the ice and therefore, like, something's broken and now it's all somehow." Because I'm the person they found, it's all my fault. That kind of stuff.

So I'm going to be so glad because when I get back and have my regulars, they're pain in the necks but they're pains in the neck that I understand.

THERAPIST: Right (inaudible at 32:59)

CLIENT: Yeah. Help somebody shop for a trip to Vegas, you know, and other things that are so sad but that's just, you know, like I'm just looking forward to not having to deal with people who seem to think that and I'm not trying to be ungrateful. I am in no way one of these snotty people that you deal with in electronics. None of us are at work at Microsoft. We're really, really nice. In no way are we there's a lot of people [who I think] (ph) have these entitlement issues [on their own] (ph). Like, if I were to hold information from you because I feel (inaudible at 33:34). We're not like that, you know. And so it's frustrating. It's really frustrating but I really, really just need to, like I said, just have some downtime from that. I didn't mind answering the phones. They let me answer the phones for two weeks, which was great. I dealt with some really, really kooky (ph) people, but at least I didn't get any battery acid on me.

THERAPIST: Yeah and I imagine you don't have to juggle quite as many people on the phone (ph).

CLIENT: Yes. Well, no, no. You still (inaudible at 34:06). The thing is though is that when you're talking on the phone you can tell them that you have to go when they start spouting conspiracy theories.

THERAPIST: [It's easier to deal with that on the phone] (ph).

CLIENT: Yes, so much easier doing that on the phone, yeah. So certain customers, you just can't get rid of them. But I'm just glad that it's mostly over, so. At least until back to school, which starts in May for us. (inaudible at 34:38) back to school before we're out of school, yeah. It's not us. It's not their decision. It's just our planning for it (ph).

THERAPIST: There are some good things but there are some things that really suck about work.

CLIENT: Yeah. There's certain things that I just really the thing is that I can tell wonderful stories about (inaudible at 34:58) and make it totally worth it, but some days you just have to shrug it off and be like, "OK, so after work we're all going to go get a drink because we need it." Because there's just people that have no idea whatsoever that what they're asking for is highly irrational, you know. But they feel as if they and I understand. It's a lot of money for some things they're spending. But there's a certain sense of personal responsibility with that. Don't buy things you can't afford to repair. Don't do you know, all the don't do this if you can't do that, you know. Don't give your child an iPhone, you know. But just because it is expensive does not necessarily mean that we are responsible for everything, you know, and that is hard. [00:35:53]

But it's also really important to be respectful, because it is, you know. I mean, a lot of these people are spending all the money they've got to get something like that. You want to make it a special experience. You don't want to be, like, making it a downer to go to the store either (ph), right, you know. And that's just sort of the way of things. But, you know, we've mostly lately, like, we've also been sort of ramping up our security.

THERAPIST: (inaudible at 36:34)

CLIENT: Yeah. Because it was over (inaudible at 36:35) watching all the fireworks. Some people with guns and all kinds of stuff which and stole, like, several million euro worth of stuff. So now we are starting to have more security. Not that we didn't already have security but we're having, like, more. It's scary to hear about it because if it had happened to a flagship store it can happen anywhere. I mean, you can't imagine anything (inaudible at 37:09) but right in the middle of everything. They figured it out. They figured if everyone's staring up looking at fireworks, no one's going to notice a break-in.

THERAPIST: Right. Apparently they were right.

CLIENT: Absolutely worked. So that's, you know, that's pretty much my life right now, is work.

THERAPIST: Work and sleep.

CLIENT: Yeah, pretty much. I try to find, you know, ways to make things work, you know, in terms of my life. But I feel less I mean, as much as I'm whining about all of this stuff right now, I do feel at least healthier and more emotionally, like, able to go in and handle things than I did, like, maybe a month ago.

THERAPIST: Good. Yeah, you were really...

CLIENT: I was really afraid...

(crosstalk)

CLIENT: Partially because I have the ability to get now all the sleep that I need, which is good. Partially because of the fact that I am I mean, although I'm most likely still infected, I am winning the fight right now. [00:38:14]

THERAPIST: Yeah, it doesn't sound like you're as inflicted (ph).

CLIENT: Which is good. (pause) I just need to, I don't know, sort of figure things out now for the rest of the year. Help Mike figure things out. This is the year he probably should start looking for jobs though, in theory.

THERAPIST: I see. (inaudible at 38:49) for the fall?

CLIENT: Yeah. In theory, I mean, he could stay on another year if he wanted to, I think. But I'll (ph) figure it out. For fall or 2014 or something, you know, spring of 2014, something like that. I really (pause) wanted to make sure that, you know, we end up in place where it's going to be better for us, whether it be weather or supported or whatever, you know. There were some places that one or the other wasn't (ph) there but at least something, you know.

THERAPIST: Yeah, you (inaudible at 39:34) both, not having either.

CLIENT: Yeah. And, you know, so (inaudible at 39:48) weather. I don't think I can handle not just the lack of support but the negative support of being around their family. Well, his mom's in (inaudible at 39:57) I think now, but his dad's down there and his sister's down there and all that stuff. And (pause), you know, all of his brothers (inaudible at 40:11). I know how the cousin is having dramas like this too but I feel like my cousin who's having problems like this is different. The youngest out of my aunt that passed away about a year ago has had more than some trouble with the law in the past year.

THERAPIST: You've mentioned those kids in general have had a tough time.

CLIENT: They've had a tough time but he's, like, you know. Because of the fact that he has never really been a kid in trouble, like, he's not completely (inaudible at 40:39). Of course he gets nailed all the time for all kinds of things, because he doesn't know any better. Not that I would say that I know anything about, like, the act of distribution of pharmaceutical not pharmaceuticals, but you know what I mean. Drugs. But, like, he knows nothing about it, therefore he gets caught every time. But, you know...

THERAPIST: [We need to finish up for now] (ph).

CLIENT: OK, I will see you next week then.

THERAPIST: I'll see you next week. Hoping (ph) you're feeling a little better.

CLIENT: Yeah, oh yeah. It's (ph) good.

THERAPIST: Yeah. At a bad time.

CLIENT: Yeah, tell me about it.

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