Anyone else feel like every task they undertake is thankless?

[XemaSab]

Two weeks ago I cut down 3/4 of the privet in the back yard. I wanted to cut it ALL down and plant something nice back there. My mom, however, made an 11th hour appeal to save the last quarter of it on the grounds that it screens the building behind our house. :banghead:

Last year I decided for her birthday to take down a stupid trellis on the porch and plant her a little garden by where she hangs out. I got most of it done and she threw a hissy-fit because I dug up and moved her favorite rosebush. The rosebush is doing great in its new location, and the garden I planted is rockin'.

The year before I trimmed the daisies back about a foot, and took out some of the dead stems and stems that weren't going anywhere. At first she was really pissed, then later she said "wow, it looks better now." :eyes:

Today I am cutting down the jasmine and the rosebush on the arbor, because they are threatening to collapse the arbor. I made a test-cut on a cane last month, and it's grown about 4 feet since then, so I think it will be mostly grown in by the end of the summer. The rose is sick, too, with mildew, and the arbor is falling apart under the weight of decades of growth.

Why do I have the dire feeling that I'm going to be yelled at for doing this? :shrug:

[BurtWorm]

1. Thank you for posting that.

:yourock:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Grumpy old people don't like anything you do for them.

It's a fact. No good deed goes unpunished. You try to help them, they think you're meddling and want to get all their money. :shrug: :wtf:

[Yavin4]

3. My Last Job

I would support this user on 15 straight items, but if No. 16 didn't go 100% correct, she'd complain to my bosses.

[Elidor]

4. Your mother doesn't like change

My stepfather is similar. You can either present them with a fait accompli and listen to the complaints or you can prepare them ahead of time, maybe even make them think it's their idea. Maybe your mom just wants to have a chance to offer her thoughts.