Don't you just love it when you spend your energy making specific plans, explaining the need for detail, and getting agreement all around for how a day will pan out ...
... and then within minutes it's all blown to hell because one party had no intention of honouring his commitment?
Let me explain.
Yesterday, the drywallers estimated that they would need "about two hours" to do what would need to be done today.
We explained that John would not be here (let's not talk about why he wouldn't be here, ok?) and I had to be out of here by no later than 10:15am in order to be in the big city for a medical appointment.
Drywaller guy #1 agreed to be here by 7:30am so that they could then be out of here by 10:00am.
Okey dokey smokey, all is right with the world.
When drywaller guy left here around 3:00pm yesterday, he told me he would be here between 7:00am and 7:15am today, "if that was OK" with me.
"Fine by me, " I assured him.
He had also taken the time, before he left, to explain what the process would be to finish the job (the various stages required, etc) and that he could not be here on Thursday because of other commitments.
Well, not two hours after he left here (having told me that he'd be here by 7:15am, remember) our phone rings and it's builder man letting John know that the drywallers didn't get as much done as they thought they would on day one, so they would need longer on day two (ie they couldn't be out of here today before 12:30pm). John indicated that that was OK by him (because builder man assured John that these guys were OK to be left in our home with nobody here since they were as honest as they day is long).
I quickly reiterated what I had made quite clear earlier in the day: I was not comfortable leaving them (sub-contractors) in my home if we were not here. I was speaking over the telephone conversation between John and builder guy, explaining that if builder guy was here, that would be OK with me. John passed the phone to me.
Builder guy told me that he could be here before 10:00am but he'd have to leave for a 2:00pm meeting. I told him again that I did not want the sub-contractors left alone in my home. (He was mumbling about how if they couldn't do what needed to be done, they would lose a full day of progress.) Again, I told him if he could be here, OK, but I had to leave by 10:15am at the latest.
Well, this morning arrives and John leaves (again, we won't talk about why he was leaving or where he was going -- let's just say he and his dog left before dawn).
Drywaller guy arrives at precisely 8:00am (remember he was going to be here between 7:00am and 7:15am? -- yeh, right; about as reliable as a car mechanic's estimate of when the car will be ready!).
Drywaller guy #2 arrives just before 8:30am.
Obviously these guys aren't going to be out of here on schedule if they didn't start on schedule!
At 9:30am, when there's still no sign of builder guy, I called and cancelled my 11:15am appointment -- there is no way I'll be able to leave here on time. That appointment has been rescheduled for December 1st. Call me crazy, but I don't take risks. (It also seems nonsensical to me for us to pay builder guy to be here "babysitting" the drywallers just because I'm being what John calls "unreasonable" about our house security.)
Builder guy arrives at 10:00am (remember, he thought I had to be out of here by 10:15am) and I told him that if there was nothing for him to be doing here, other than "babysitting," he may as well go about his other business -- my 11:15am appointment had already been cancelled and my next appointment is at 1:30pm so as long as I can get out of here by 12:30pm ...
He asks the drywallers what time they figure they'll be finished this stage of the job -- and their answer?
About 2:30pm-3:00pm! He has to leave at noon for a half hour .... Yet, yesterday, they only needed about two hours today. (Shades of car mechanic estimating, don't you think?)
So I tell builder guy not to stick around here, I will cancel my 1:30pm appointment as well and simply leave here whenever they are finished.
"Are you sure?" he asks. "That will be great because I have ..."
I didn't even bother listening to how much better that would be for him because my blood was boiling by then.
When I called to cancel my 1:30pm physiotherapy appointment (for which I would now have to pay because I didn't give the required 24-hour notice), she very nicely told me that they had an opening tomorrow at 1:00pm if I could make that one instead (I had called last week to ask about just such a switch and she had put me on that cancellation list anyway). I grabbed it! So at least there was one silver lining in this horrific cloud: I won't be without my physiotherapy session this week and I don't have to pay the cancellation fee.
So I guess I'll eventually get out of here today, I just don't know when that will happen -- some time about 3:30pm perhaps. The only thing I know for sure is that I will be leaving here today.
And I plan to have a very enjoyable evening visiting with my good friend, LC, at whose home I will spend the night tonight.
Tomorrow morning, I'm having breakfast with another good friend, RLR, and then I'll fill in my time shopping before going for my 1:00pm physio session. Then I'm picking up MBB at his daycare centre and we get to spend the evening together cuz grandma's babysitting him while his parents are off galavanting in Toronto.
Friday morning, MBB and I will partake of breakfast at our usual venue before I deliver him to his daycare centre and then I will head home, stopping off at the grocery store en route. Our Friday is going to be very busy because my Angel's son is coming over to make us his famous spaghetti dinner so we will spend a most enjoyable evening with her and her husband and her fabulous son (my hero -- I love him to death!).
I should be calmed down by then, don't you think? If nothing else, the visits with good friends, coupled with the quality time with MBB, and capped off with seeing my Angel and her wonderful family should certainly help bring my blood pressure down nicely.
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