Two people who pretend to get along, but secretly despise one another

Nothing harder to look at then two people who pretend to get along, but secretly despise one another.We see this daily as we go about our lives.

There is a couple down the street who fight almost nightly. We know, because when the weather is good and our windows are open, we hear the bitterness of their voices as they hurl insults back and forth at each other. Yet, on a Sunday, if we happen to meet them entering or exiting church, we see his arm circled around her waist and smiles on their faces both as they look at one another or other parishioners.

How nice it would be if the smiles were real and tenderness of his arm around her was an act of love.

Recently we switched doctors, due to conflicts going on with staff. Although, they were pleasant toward us, the patients and properly pleasant toward each other while in our presence, this was not the case when they thought no one was around or within hearing distance. The nurse would snip at the receptionist and vs versus. The implication that each felt as if they were doing more than their share of the workload hung in the air, often unspoken but again at times expressed quite nastily to the other person.

Most of the time, the doctor was pleasant and professional within our hearing. There were occasions though when she would be short with either the nurse or receptionist.Perhaps in this case, she was feeling overwhelmed and overworked but sometimes, we got the feeling that there was conflict there as well.