The blandness and horror of closed conversation.

After this conversation, i felt betrayed, belittled and like i should crawl under a rock and die. Took me a week to recover.

The problem was, i thought we could stick to fact. They "wanted" work done, i was doing the work... but really, they just wanted to show they know more than me, and to put me in my place.

I have a difficult question rolling around in my mind.
That, these people may not actually want the cabinets done.
Or, that the narcissistic supply may be more important than the cabinets.
Which is really hard for me to compute or imagine.

I am glad that you are having good conversations and positive interactions with people. It is good for the soul.