"I don't wanna pump the gas." Such simple words, spoken clearly by my daughter as I step behind the wheel of the car to drive her to yet another place. She does not want to pump the gas. She does not want to get out of the car and pump the gas I am paying for, which I will use to take her somewhere she wants to go. I am instantly triggered. Words like ungrateful, rude and worse (a few of them in French) are elbowing each other as if on a wild race towards the upper layers of my consciousness. I am so mad about being disrespected, undervalued, used. I am so hurt. I had asked so kindly, too: "Honey, do you want to pump the gas?" I turn to her and start to let a few words spill out of my mouth. She looks at me and calmly says: "Mom, I did not tell you that I would not pump the gas. I only said I did not want to." Oh. Oh, I see. She told me about HER and I made it all about ME. In other words, I screwed up. How many times do we do this? Take a piece of information a client or an employee is sharing about themselves and make it be about us? How many times do we jump to conclusions before asking for clarification? And how often do we pretend to ask someone a question when what we are really doing is making a demand, and therefore become offended when we don't get "the answer" we want? (and in my case... how embarrassing is it to have your kids bust you for it).