On Being Ignored
In my last post, I mentioned briefly a carpenter who came to the house to estimate some work that we had here for him. That day, he ignored his promise to be there first thing in the morning. Then he promised us an estimate later that day (Thursday) or the next morning. Fast forward to the next Wednesday, and still no estimate. So I called him and asked for it. He called me back promptly and gave me the price which was about half what I expected, so I was anxious to give him the job. I don’t really know why, as he already had two strikes against him. During that call, he said that he would be by first thing in the morning with a work order for us to sign so that we can get on the schedule and said that he could start at the next of next (this) week.
If you are intuitive, you know where this is going. He was NOT there first thing in the morning on Thursday. Again, I gave up a run to wait for him. Finally, I had to leave and I did. He did not come by the next day either. I called him on Monday. No return call. I called on Wednesday and told him that if we didn’t hear from him by the end of the day, I was looking for someone else.
Matt and I seriously wondered if he died. Honestly. I mean … to not even call us back! Rude! And rude is not tolerated.
And the carpenter is not the only one who ignored me this week. I have been trying to reach my doctor to get an appointment. The phone never gets picked up. Again, unprofessional. I’m looking for a new doctor.
So while I am dealing with trying to get these supposedly simple things, I am also trying to train for a half marathon, plan a few trips. I was feeling stressed out. And then, last week, I went to the basement to put some stuff away and when I went to put the items on the table to keep them off the floor and therefore from getting wet, I noticed that the table and all the things on it were soaking wet! PUDDLES!
Arrgh. Thought it was the dishwasher. Since I was in the midst of 20,000 other things, I waited to investigate further until Matt came home, who very easily diagnosed the pipe under the sink leading to the dishwasher as the culprit and turned the knob off. A few winters ago, our pipes burst, and there was damage and repairs to the plumbing to the dishwasher made, so we assumed it was that. Then we did some clean up work. And went for a walk.
Fortunately, the plumber did not ignore us and came out within 3 hours of our call. It was not the dishwasher, but a pipe under the sink. Easy fix. The ironic thing is that I was hand washing dishes, thinking I was doing a good thing, when actually, I was making the problem worse. The bottom of the cabinet under the sink sustained damage and needs some kind of repair. Too bad the carpenter ignored me, or I’d have another job for him!
Oh, I made reference to a trip being stressful. That is because we sent an e-mail to an owner of a house in Kauai that we wanted to rent. And he totally ignored us! Matt found us a wonderful condo. I e-mailed the owners, and they did NOT ignore us. And now we have a beautiful place to stay, closer to the beach than the house was, still with views of turtles for a FRACTION of the price. I guess in this case … being ignored worked out.
I know this isn’t an exciting blog entry. But it does explain why I have been ignoring it. If I wrote more often, I know I could say this much more interestingly. And for this week, at least, I am ignoring house repairs until we get back from our trip.