Today, for the first time that I know of, the barn owner at Hill Farm was upset with me. I have been having one of those weeks to begin with. At least Genny is doing fine! I has asked her to do a favor for me, which she did, but apparently she did it grudgingly. Now why put this on the blog? Well, I have to tell you what happened first. The Wife at Hill Farm works for a major tacks store. I made an order from there, and instead of driving the 45 minutes out of my way to go get it I asked if she could pick it up for me next time she was at work. No big deal right? Well, apparently it is because they have a policy against doing that. I didn’t know, so imagine my surprise when she comes at me all angry today. Not yelling and screaming, just mad.
I am a pretty level headed person, so while in my head I am screaming back at her I just apologized for putting her in a bad place and left it at that. I really am sorry she had to break policy for me. I never would have asked her to do it had I known. I went to get Gen from the field and by the time I came back she nicely told me what the issue was and then told me that if I wanted to do it again I should order through her. Now I don’t get any discounts or anything so it really isn’t in my best interest to do things that way. She seemed happier with me after I let her vent on me. Whatever though, I just wont get anything from that tack store for a while. Now I know. I crossed the line between barn owner and friend…and all it did was have the barn owner get mad at me for the first time ever. Now I know. I have plenty of friends. No more favors.
Issue solved right? Well the GMO’s awards banquet is tomorrow. I chose not to go because, as I mentioned before, I thought I would have a hard time with it all. A while back the barn owner told me she was going so I asked her if she wouldn’t mind just grabbing X’s ribbon. She told me of course, no problem, etc.
After today’s little run in though I am worried. I am not joking when I tell you these are the only 2 favors I have asked of her. Countless times I have had her call me as I am half way home asking if I can bring the horses in. I don’t mind AT ALL. I like taking care of my boy and his friends so I happily turn around and do her a favor. I am hoping she remembers all of those times tomorrow when it comes time to grab the green.
I hadn’t really thought of a back up plan for getting the ribbon. And today has been so crazy (I got Genny’s head painting and it looks AMAZING!!!) ran all my errands and rode (more on that tomorrow) that I didn’t get to call around and see if anyone else can get it. Of all the times for her to get mad at bringing something to me why today!!!! You all know I LOVE my ribbons so I am on pins and needles hoping I get it. I know it is not the end of the world if I don’t, and the barn takes such good care of Gen it is not like I am going to do anything about it if she chooses not to get it. I think all it would do is hurt my feelings. I can see the commenter “Michelle” reading this right now and telling me to knock off having personal relationships with people at the barn. That is just so not me though. I don’t really have a lot of people problems ever so I don’t know what has been going on with everything these past few weeks. I hope this streak of horse people issues ends soon! The Wife at Hill Farm wants me to use her farrier…I told her no thanks. I don’t need any more issues with her or a farrier thank you very much!
What happened to my quiet barn life?
It seems like the barn owner should have just told you the policy and then you would have picked up the item yourself. No big deal. I would hope that she would pick up the ribbon for you. I don’t see how that could possibly be a hassle for her. I hope you get your Green tomorrow.
Sue- That’s totally it! I would NEVER have wanted her to go out of her way for me. I just thought it would be an easy thing to do. She seemed better before she left so I really hope she gets it for me! I love my ribbons!
Well since you mentioned my name….!!! Actually, I wouldn’t have said quit with the personal relationships in this case – you already have one and your barn owner is different than your farrier to a certain degree. Its good to have a friendly, open relationship with your BO – just not TOO friendly. Picking up something you paid for isn’t “too” friendly nor is asking her to get your ribbon. Asking her to bring you something you haven’t paid for AND to use her employee discount would be different!!
I can’t see how picking up your ribbon would cause her the least little bit of inconvenience so I hope she comes through for you. If not, you ought to think twice when you need to turn around to go back to bring in horses! I’m telling you from experience, establishing that one-sided pattern of favors is going to bite you every time! What starts out as feeling good will become a huge thorn.
It seems she over reacted a tad. It costs nothing to just explain policy and decline. Hope you get your ribbon.
What Sue said makes perfect sense. Maybe your barn owner was having other issues totally unconnected to you and what seems (and WAS) an innocent request put her over the edge.
I think you need Genny to give you some hugs and scratches!