My dad has a different expectation of me than himself. As a youngster I remember him getting furious at us if we ever called him at work unless it was an emergency. There was no way in hell any of us, including mom could disturb him once he was at work. And that work ritual started right in the morning when he got ready and left to work. Until he left it was a pressure cooker situation at home lest we got his wrath. And once he was at work, there would be absolutely no communication until he was back. If we made a mistake of calling him at work for anything at all, and he didnt think it was an emergency we would get a hearing. To his credit(?), once he was back home he would set aside his work completely and not talk about it till following morning.

And now? His constant lament is how we are so busy that we don’t even have time to talk on the phone. What can we be doing so important in our lives that we can’t take a call from him or bro? Why is there so much drama about kid heading to school each morning? Everyone needs to chill and relax according to him, and there is nothing more important than attending to family first. So I get lectures on how I should be cool as a cucumber in morning, and how work is just work, and nothing will break if I dont pay attention to work for a while. Yeah dad, I agree with all of that, and I practice all of that as best as I can, but maybe consider the fact that its all learned behavior from childhood lol. Ah, the irony!

When confronted with above argument, he will first deny him ever being like that and then follow up with so what if I was like that! that was necessary! But its not necessary for you to be like that!. I guess I agree with the latter half of that.