If you can't tell me what you want, I can't help you.

Whoops. I totally forgot to post yesterday.
It's been one of those weeks.
Or at least the beginning of one.

Anyway.

Ever have a woman ask you for help but refuse to elaborate on what it is she needs help with? I had one in the store not too long ago and it damn near burned my entire allotment of patience for today. It makes it extremely difficult to put her and what she's looking for together.

Even if that type of thing was not a major pet-peeve of mine.

But it is. It infuriates me. However, most of the time I experience that type of behavior in relationships rather than at work. It's a bloody cliché! The well-worn, out-of-nowhere "What's wrong?" "You should know." Coming from a customer to me as a clerk, it's not a particularly dire occurrence. I can sit behind a bland demeanor until they can cough up the needed information or it solves itself when they either leave or find what they're looking for on their own.

In a relationship, it's a declaration of war. Sort of on par with releasing a nerve agent in a major city as the first hostile act. It's underhanded and malicious, designed to create a lot of "free" damage.

Expecting someone to read your mind is setting them up to fail. You've not only stacked the deck against them, you've added mah jong tiles and a couple checkers. I don't care how well someone knows you, there are always going to be moments where you will react in an unanticipated direction. If by some twist of chance, they manage to do just the right thing, then it just reinforces the perception that it is not unreasonable. However, that does not take into consideration the sheer, gibbering terror-stricken moment that person "reading your mind" is caught in clutching at straws to find that "correct" response. And that is assuming that they even knew that such an event had transpired. Some people can be incredibly low-key about the threshold, until you actually fail to do the "correct" thing and they erupt. Holy grape-flavored napalm! You've just noticed a minefield as far as the eye can see by the simple expedient of "Private Whatsizname" splattered all over your face.

It's also controlling. What's a better leash upon someone than to keep them constantly second-guessing their every thought, word, and action since conception? And if you ever need to give yourself an extra leg up in a fight or to justify getting something your own way, just trot out an unspecified sin. Human nature being what it is, there's guaranteed to be at least a few things they will come up with themselves for you to be angry about. They get to wonder which infraction you are calling them on. You get them to hand you ammunition to cut them down with. Implied guilt is great for interrogation, but it's not something that should be part of a relationship.