Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Contractor, 0; Homeowner, 0

Lost another morning to the contractors. This is so common I now handle it with great aplomb. When the plumber was more than an hour late, I called the dispatcher.

"Hi, did we get cancelled? Our contractor is over an hour late."

"No, you are not cancelled, they are just running late."

"Oh, dear. Are they still coming.?" Dispatcher offers to call the plumber, and I graciously thank her. Short wait, some Muzak, and she's back.

"He had an emergency. When it's done, he will call."

"No. As I said yesterday, not only do I work nights, but I am chronically ill and must sleep in the middle of the day. We can try again tomorrow."

"I'll schedule you tomorrow then."

"Between 8:30 and 9:00? Thank you."

"I'm sorry about this."

"Bye, now."

Because I work nights, I will be available again tomorrow. Or Thursday, or whatever it takes. I do not believe for one minute that there was an emergency, because this is a large company and has many plumbers. But now they have lost the cost of one appointment. And I can go to bed, right after I finish this post.

Okay, so nobody won. But I didn't lose. A few years ago, I would have waited, getting angry, sick, and losing my rest. Now I just reschedule, and it's their loss, not mine. Much better for my health.

pb
Little Pond

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have learned to unplug my phones NO one knows NO

pb said...

We also turn off the ringers, but sometimes this backfires. We were waiting to hear from Sears, and the person hung up before the answer machine came on.

Miss Chris said...

Isn't it amazing how little regard some people have for your time. Good for you for not letting it get you frustrated.

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