Patience and Contractors

Dear World,

 

I want you all to know that I have THE most amazing friends. Maybe it's luck or that I'm simply blessed but I am thankful. I do not see or speak to them all as often as I would like but when we get together or have the opportunity to communicate it is as if we have never skipped a beat. These individuals are my heartbeat and they encourage me, challenge me and inspire me.

 

From time to time I will share with you the latest of a series of conversations I have with those closest to me. With their permission of course. This is a snippet of an experience one of my friends told me I could share. As with all lessons,especially those of others I always try to learn something from them. I hope this proves to be as interesting for you as it is for me. Maybe someone out there cam relate.

 

"Patience and Contractors"

I've had many dealings with contractors and if you learn one thing it's that you need to have an abundance, let me say that again, an abundance of patience - and lots of prayers to not go insane. 

 

I'm well beyond my breaking point but turned to God's Wheel, some deep "calming" breaths and God's word upon my laptop, OH PLEASE GOD HELP ME GET THROUGH ANOTHER DAY OF DEALING WITH CONTRACTORS. 

 

The so called "Call' we made, has us wishing we had never made it.  From a whole job that was a max of 4 weeks is now past and no where near completion.  Although the monies requested has almost been depleted (per contract). Ha!

 

The first 3 days were fantastic; complete demo of the master bath and off to a good start. The 4th day everyone disappeared, then we get a different team from the company due to them having too many jobs going on and shortage of staff.  The next 4 weeks of were a torturous disaster with different people coming and going not doing the job properly, we had to get them to tear their menial tasks out and start again (even with a 'supervisor' on site).  There are too many stories to go into.  Let's just say God is answering my prayers for patience because I certainly don't know how I've held my tongue this long.  Instead I've put 'quill pen' to email with the mightiest of professionalism dealings. My mind in uproar but my 'quill pen' in professional mode. 

 

One simple task: taking wallpaper out the master bathroom (the only room left in the house that has wallpaper and time for it to go).  I'm still wondering as to why this wasn't one of the very first things they did with the rest of the demo - my head is numb from all the scratching.  So, back on point; the painter came in yesterday and said, "Whoever previously put the wallpaper on did a great job as it's hard to get off, so I want to mud over it."  What this guy didn't realize it that as a kid I used to do this with my Dad.  A steamer and a tool is all that's needed.  With a deep breath and a thought of, "Oh no, we've got another one". So last night I took it upon myself to get my shirt steamer and one of their little trowels,  put my steamer about 4 inches away from the wall and voila' it came off perfectly without a single scratch on the walls, quickly and easily!  I looked at the amount to take off and thought if I was being contracted to do this it would take me 3 hours to get this done. Something that they didn't want to take on and will probably take them more than a day. This morning I showed them how easy it was and the 'supervisor' said he will get his painter to take it off.  Now, why am I having to go through these motions I ask myself, why oh why - who is the professional here? I mean seriously.  This is just one simple story of many. 

 

Moral of the story, if you ever hire contractors pray to God! :-)

 

My friend's story is about his experience with the contractor but we all know the underlying moral of the story. Let's hope whether we are dealing with contractors or some other obstacle that we can recognize that it may be just a test of patience.

 

Until next time,

Curly Girl