Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

In reply to Duke :

After a good bit of back and forth, we decided on sending a somewhat watered-down version of what she originally wanted to send- basically trying to get across that with the constant delays that we're starting to feel taken advantage of and that we want a written commitment to completing the cabin in 60 days (the original time quoted to build it was 90 days, so we don't think that 2/3 of the original time when it's already well along is unreasonable) with a 'standard' daily penalty for missing the deadline (the 'standard' thing was something I argued was stupid and unnecessary- she insisted saying, "It shows that we know what we're talking about since that's the language that would usually be used for this,"- which might be more helpful if I had any remote belief that the builder speaks the same 'builder/contract' language that her parents up in WI do....).

The fact that the bank inspection problem caused a delay is something that we've taken into account up until now in being lenient with things, but even before that things were moving solidly slower than the would have needed to have moved to be done on time and since then they've moved even more slowly. Further- there shouldn't have been a delay... if the builder had gotten either an engineering sign-off on the plans (or, quite flatly from what I can tell, had actual berking plans....) from the get-go or had one from an equivalent project, the delay would have been a day or so vs. the weeks that it was when he basically said, "Uh, nobody has ever asked me to prove this is safe before."

We very definitely should have been cracking the whip more from the get-go and had a lot more concrete of a timeline agreed upon, but at this point we have to deal with where we are. A lot of the problems I think come from the disconnect of what the Dancer expects from her family's work in construction in a much more closely regulated environment vs. the VERY loose and by-the-seat-of-the-pants approach that appears standard out in bumfark-nowhere Kentucky.

We'll see what happens. She's convinced that there's no way he'll walk away due to us requiring a signed commitment to a completion date because 'He doesn't really get paid until the final disbursement,' while I'm a lot more concerned that he'll decide that he's even or up a bit (depending on how much of what the existing disbursements has been spent on materials) and bail. Hopefully by at least softening the demand a bit it will not result in him walking away... but I'm braced for it and not looking forward to his reply to the email...

Getting a stove delivered. When we bought it they gave us the option of delivery or store pickup. I said delivery was cool but I'm not home after 3:30 every day. They said fine that I'd be able to talk to the delivery people and get it worked out. Except they sent a text last night that said 2-6:00. I called right away and they said to call back this morning. So I called and they said it's on the truck so I'll just have to wait and see lol. They CAN NOT do anything about the drivers. I mentioned that it didn't do anyone any good to send them to my house if I already told them that I won't be home. They said I can't reschedule until they miss me. What. The. Berk. 

Appliance delivery people are “special.” Do yourself a favor and have them drop it outside your front door. If they bring it inside at all I can almost guarantee they’ll damage something in the house. Also inspect it thoroughly to make sure it didn’t get damaged before signing for it. 

My shiny happy person old lady neighbor called animal control yesterday when the damned dog escaped again.  So I went over to her house intending to explain that I was trying but that calling animal control wasn’t helpful or constructive.   Instead she came out screaming at me that I was harassing her and that my dog was a menace.  She then called the police who came and witnessed her irrational and delusional behavior.  I politely suggested they call the public social services and have her evaluated for competency.  Maybe with some effort she can get locked away somewhere.

NickD said:

Duke said:

NickD said:

Duke said:

In reply to NickD :

"Measure three times, cut twice" is my usual motto.

I'm thinking that was intended to be a reply to mad_machine. Or you're advocating that I chop my family up into small concealable bits.

Hahahah, indeed, your first theory is correct, but not the second one.

Sadly that's probably still the best solution to my issue as well, because I believe it;s my family that really ruins holidays. My mother turns into a raging lunatic, who gets mad because no one helps and then gets even angrier if you do help. My father is a pretty nice, easygoing guy but becomes downright miserable because of her. The only other people who come are my two sisters and their respective partners and children, and I already see them on a near-weekly basis to begin with. My grandparents are dead on both sides. My father's siblings don't live locally and don't get along with my mother. My mother doesn't get along with pretty much any of her siblings. So it's not like it's a chance to see relatives I don't see often, despite all the chaos. Also, my two sisters don't get along and haven't so in the 30+ years they have existed, so its pretty passive-aggressive. My parent's house sucks for hosting because it's too small, so everyone jams together and you can't get away from people or attempt to hold a conversation, but we can't hold it at either of the sisters' house because then the other wouldn't show up. There's no alcohol present, because my mother is the second coming of Carrie Nation. And honestly, I don't give a berkeley about turkey dinner. I'd rather have pizza. Just give me a pecan pie to go with it.

One year later, and my gripes with Thanksgiving are still relevant. berkeley, I hate this holiday

Ashyukun (Robert) said:

In reply to Duke :

After a good bit of back and forth, we decided on sending a somewhat watered-down version of what she originally wanted to send- basically trying to get across that with the constant delays that we're starting to feel taken advantage of and that we want a written commitment to completing the cabin in 60 days (the original time quoted to build it was 90 days, so we don't think that 2/3 of the original time when it's already well along is unreasonable) with a 'standard' daily penalty for missing the deadline (the 'standard' thing was something I argued was stupid and unnecessary- she insisted saying, "It shows that we know what we're talking about since that's the language that would usually be used for this,"- which might be more helpful if I had any remote belief that the builder speaks the same 'builder/contract' language that her parents up in WI do....).

The fact that the bank inspection problem caused a delay is something that we've taken into account up until now in being lenient with things, but even before that things were moving solidly slower than the would have needed to have moved to be done on time and since then they've moved even more slowly. Further- there shouldn't have been a delay... if the builder had gotten either an engineering sign-off on the plans (or, quite flatly from what I can tell, had actual berking plans....) from the get-go or had one from an equivalent project, the delay would have been a day or so vs. the weeks that it was when he basically said, "Uh, nobody has ever asked me to prove this is safe before."

We very definitely should have been cracking the whip more from the get-go and had a lot more concrete of a timeline agreed upon, but at this point we have to deal with where we are. A lot of the problems I think come from the disconnect of what the Dancer expects from her family's work in construction in a much more closely regulated environment vs. the VERY loose and by-the-seat-of-the-pants approach that appears standard out in bumfark-nowhere Kentucky.

We'll see what happens. She's convinced that there's no way he'll walk away due to us requiring a signed commitment to a completion date because 'He doesn't really get paid until the final disbursement,' while I'm a lot more concerned that he'll decide that he's even or up a bit (depending on how much of what the existing disbursements has been spent on materials) and bail. Hopefully by at least softening the demand a bit it will not result in him walking away... but I'm braced for it and not looking forward to his reply to the email...

Actually if anything it says the exact opposite and makes it sound like you are just waiting for him to fail, relishing that he will fail if anything.

Also, ive ran a concrete company for years and can say that if given a date to complete by with penalties if being late and in winter.....i wouldnt do the job. In fact ive been offered jobs with that in the past and havent taken them on. Its always been at the very start before i started the job but i cant control the weather, and neither can he. Asking him to put his wallet directly in the hands of the weather? Theres no reason for him to sign it or continue with the job.

And yeah its his fault but if he truly sucks as a contractor do you really think hes suddenly gonna have an epiphany buckle down and do the project? More than likely hes offended and wont finish. A lot of working with people is realizing what they will do rather than what they should do and its doubly right when dealing with crap contractors

I wish you the best of luck i really do but im sure hes gonna walk

In reply to Antihero :

I don't wholly disagree with you... but she was determined that we put our foot down and stop getting taken advantage of in this even with my repeatedly pointing out that if he bailed that there was absolutely no way we were getting it finished in under a year. She's convinced she knows that he'll have no choice but to agree and buckle down and turn up the effort to finish... normally she's the better one at reading people, but unfortunately I think this may be the rare case where she's wrong at that.

I don't look forward to the fight with my wife if he simply says that he won't agree to any penalties if he misses the completion date but still wants to finish the build.

Ashyukun (Robert) said:

In reply to Antihero :

I don't wholly disagree with you... but she was determined that we put our foot down and stop getting taken advantage of in this even with my repeatedly pointing out that if he bailed that there was absolutely no way we were getting it finished in under a year. She's convinced she knows that he'll have no choice but to agree and buckle down and turn up the effort to finish... normally she's the better one at reading people, but unfortunately I think this may be the rare case where she's wrong at that.

I don't look forward to the fight with my wife if he simply says that he won't agree to any penalties if he misses the completion date but still wants to finish the build.

I understand your wifes opinion and not wanting to be taken advantage of, its perfectly valid. Weather is out of his hands, theres no "buckling down" if it isnt doable at all.

I think i would be worried if he did agree to the penalties because theres no rational reason for him to agree to it, but theres an egotistical one. Egotistical bad contractors are even worse

Really insignificantly minor rant:

I CANNOT take a picture that shows the dramatic changes my efforts in paint corretion are making on the duster. Its plain as the nose on my face in person, and unable to be noticed by the camera. 

In reply to Antihero :

Yeah, there's just not a truly 'ideal' outcome for all of this.

We sent the email off fairly late last night and haven't heard any response yet. I kind of want to call and talk this out with him and try and work everything out, but if I do so and make any concessions (like agreeing that the date can slip because of weather) the wife is going to be furious with me. *sigh*

Ashyukun (Robert) said:

In reply to Antihero :

Yeah, there's just not a truly 'ideal' outcome for all of this.

We sent the email off fairly late last night and haven't heard any response yet. I kind of want to call and talk this out with him and try and work everything out, but if I do so and make any concessions (like agreeing that the date can slip because of weather) the wife is going to be furious with me. *sigh*

Yeah i hear you, its a tough spot. Calling him originally might have worked out but im not sure of the effectiveness after the email.Your wife sounds like she is done working with him anyway.

Also, as a contractor i dont take jobs where the couple isnt united on what needs done, it always ends in drama and problems. If he knows/senses that its another reason for him to walk

There's a Group of neighborhood kids who keep trying to start fights with my twins, apparently on the way home from the bus today 2 of them decided to shove my smaller boy down. There parents don't care and I'm not allowed to hit someone's kids so I'm running out of polite ways too solve it. Next time I think I just file a police report.

In reply to Antihero :

I'll just have to see. I'm going to hold off on calling for now and wait until tomorrow... it's been a kind of lousy day for the wife already and I starting a fight over this would just do nobody any good.

We're pretty united in what needs done- we just differ on what the best approach going forward is. Frankly we just want the cabin DONE, and if he can get it done then I think she won't have a problem with him being the one who finishes it (and despite all of this, she does realize that him finishing the build will be fastest pretty much regardless).

Ashyukun (Robert) said:

In reply to Antihero :

I'll just have to see. I'm going to hold off on calling for now and wait until tomorrow... it's been a kind of lousy day for the wife already and I starting a fight over this would just do nobody any good.

We're pretty united in what needs done- we just differ on what the best approach going forward is. Frankly we just want the cabin DONE, and if he can get it done then I think she won't have a problem with him being the one who finishes it (and despite all of this, she does realize that him finishing the build will be fastest pretty much regardless).

I agree with waiting and wish you the best of luck.

Renovating a house sucks. It seems like at every turn there is something else we missed, or something that I have to pay someone $500 to do. And not a single nail has been touched, this is all just the planning stage.

Power's been out for the last 4 hours.  

The weather this year has been terrible for rallycross. Our last event was supposed to be last weekend but we had to postpone till this weekend. Now it is rainy and icy and the field is way too wet to run this weekend. 

Today is shaping up to be a complete disaster.

I have a LOT of work to get done with short weeks this week (tomorrow is our off Friday) and Thanksgiving next week, and my computer is being even slower than usual.

I was REALLY hoping to be able to have lunch with my lawyer friend who works in the same building as I do as he's one of the few people I can really vent to in person and I want his input on the whole builder situation, but he's not feeling well and isn't up for getting lunch today.

Both the Dancer and I didn't sleep the best last night (she apparently barely slept at all) in part because of a power outage messing with our alarm, and it seems like all of the little annoying health issues I have all decided today was a good day to team up and assault me.

We've still not heard anything back from the builder after the email we sent, meaning I will probably at some point today have to call and see what is up... and with the fact that we just essentially got an ice storm overnight I'm sure that means that this week as a whole is pretty much shot in them being able to work on the cabin even if things work out.

My family will be flying in for Thanksgiving in less than a week, and since we won't be seeing them for Christmas we will, presumably, be doing our usual of having Christmas early with them when we see them... and we have got essentially nothing done in the way of shopping for them (in no small part because we generally have NO idea what to get for any of them...).

I have an increasing number of automotive things that need to be done- I need to figure out what's up with the Rampage's front suspension, replace the QX4's rear shocks and probably should at least do the timing chain guides if not a full timing set on it, on the Mariner.... OK, we really just need to get rid of that thing... but we CAN'T really seriously consider either dumping a good bit of our liquid funds into replacing it or get financing on something until things are more resolved with the cabin. But it's A) quite cold out and B) I still need to clean up/organize the garage before doing anything more car-wise in it.... but the weather has made it very unappealing to spend much time out in the un-heated and un-insulated garage.

Customers bringing there cars in with a coating of ice everywhere. It melts because yay overhead heat and boom I'm taking a cold shower 

EvanB said:

The weather this year has been terrible for rallycross. Our last event was supposed to be last weekend but we had to postpone till this weekend. Now it is rainy and icy and the field is way too wet to run this weekend. 

Boo!  Stupid weather!

Although I guess that since John, Matthew, and I would have only had 4 results for the season with this last event, there wouldn't have been any end-of-year hardware for MF anyway.

EvanB said:

The weather this year has been terrible. 

No further explanation required.

Just walked into the diner. They're playing Christmas music. Already.

Duke said:

EvanB said:

This year has been terrible. 

No further explanation required.

FTFY

Dusterbd13 said:

Just walked into the diner. They're playing Christmas music. Already.

I want to double up on this one.  What the hell?  On the bright side, my four year old is still singing Spooky Spooky, which is hilarious, and more seasonally appropriate.

Why can’t I find one single competent mechanic shop around here to do the very very limited number of things I can’t do myself. Seriously, all I’m asking for are inspections, alignments on only 2 of my cars, and tire mounting balancing.  Nobody can seem to get any of it right the first time.  Somehow, when I do it on the other cars, it all works out.