Pitfalls of a Covid relationship

Anyone else settled for a Covid relationship? I know how it happened in my case. I wasn’t out there, interacting, socialising, looking around.  So, after much painstaking online research I’d convinced myself that this was it. 

Initially the relationship almost met my needs. We seemed to work okay together. Admittedly, I was feeling a little cramped and constricted from the start. But better than being without, right?

 

I kept up the pretence and strode out in my new partnership, but at day’s end it hurt and I just wanted someone to rub my feet and tuck me into bed.

 

Then that day when it teemed with rain, we had a bust up. I was walking on eggshells trying not to get upset, literally struggling to just stay upright with my head held high. I’d had enough. What were they thinking with this match?

 

I called the company to complain.

 

“I didn’t expect this,” I said. “I should have been warned. I was promised something watertight that would see me through all kinds of weather, not trip me at the first hurdle. I didn’t pay all that money for a fair-weather relationship. I’ve been ripped off. I thought I was getting something else. Where were the signs warning me about this?”

 

Getting nowhere, I called an independent counsellor for advice.

 

“Just work through it,” she said. “Put it in writing. Be very firm. Demand your money back. Or threaten to go public. They don’t like a bad Google review. It should work out but here’s a case number if you need to get back to us. Believe me, I hear you. Things like this happen all the time.”

 

Well, I tried all that without success. However, the weather had fined up, so, as you do, I thought I’d give it another go. Perhaps time would rub off some of the friction; soften the edges. Things would get more comfortable between us. It didn’t really help, but we continued to stumble around together, hoping for a better outcome.

 

Then suddenly, like dawn on a new day, lockdown ended and I could go out again. Everything appeared brighter on the horizon. I even developed a spring in my step, despite the tightness I’d been enduring for so long. Like a veil had been lifted, I saw that what I’d been subjecting myself to was just crazy. It was over. Done. Mark it down to a Covid relationship, one that you put up with during a pandemic but one that could not endure under new-normal circumstances.

 

Consider it a lesson learned. Reframe it. See it as a gift. I’d lost nothing except a little money. and what else was I spending it on anyway?

 

The relationship simply wasn’t a good fit. I ended it.

 

Those overpriced, allegedly waterproof walking shoes, that ridiculously turned into skates in wet weather, have gone to the op shop.

(I may have bought dud shoes that weren't fit for purpose but I won't out the company here. After I did my due diligence - contacted ACCC and followed their advice - the company refunded 30 percent of the purchase price of the shoes. And hopefully, whoever buys the shoes from Savers won't break their neck if they wear them in wet weather.)