crazy repair people and sexism
So my kitchen sink pipes were leaking...into the wall...and by leaking, I mean pouring water into the wall...
when the plumber, fantastic man by the way, stuck his pick into the wall to see how bad the damage was, the wall came away on the end of it...the whole wall was mold.
So the plumber hacked and picked at it and cleaned out the space under the sink between two joists, put in new pipes, and even tightened our faucet...
but this of course means that the wall has a giant hole in it from my cabinet to the outside...the owner said he would send a repair guy out to fix it and to see if the area to the left of the sink, behind the drawers would need repair...
The plumber said it was water damaged and needed someone to look at it closely...
so this morning the guy shows up, and you can imagine how upset i was to find out it was a guy I'd had over once before who did not listen to a word I said, discounted everything, and tried to suggest that the problem that predated my tenantship was somehow my fault...even going to the extreme of telling me that it wasn't water condensation on my walls causing my paint to bleed down the wall due to their lack of ventilation in the bathroom, but was in fact, due to me painting the wall with "a dripping paintbrush" as if I don't know how to paint a wall...as if every other wall in my house was not expertly painted including the mural...as if the paintings on the wall didn't express that I am an excellent painter...as if I even used a brush at all on that wall, which I did not
anyway, when I realized it was him, I was just like "ok let him do his job and just ignore him" which I did...for about 45 minutes...
so then I went in and said "hey how's it going" with a smile on my face, determined not to be annoyed...
he says "it's good, I'm almost done!"
I looked in and saw that he had built wooden patches for the wall, which he was going to plaster over, which was great, but then I asked, "what about the water damaged piece behind the drawers?"
he goes "what?"
I explained to him what the plumber had said and pointed out the mold and water damage to him, while he did that annoying talk-over-you-till-you-stop-talking business, the "no no no no no no no see, it's like this" without listening to a word I said...
He taps the wall and says "See it's fabric is hard, it's a hard material"
"I said yes, but can't you see the mold?"
"What mold"
"The black stuff right there, that's mold"
"I'm not supposed to clean mold"
"You do realize mold is a biohazard right?"
"I can't fix that without ripping out the whole cabinet"
"You could just cut out that piece and patch it too, no big deal."
"I don't have to do that."
"Well, when the owner asked you to come out, don't you think he meant for you to fix the problem properly and not do a half-job?"
Now keep in mind, every time I speak, he's still talking over me...
He says "I'm done" or something like that, I turned away and said, "well do whatever you're going to do, but I'm pretty sure the owner is going to have something to say about you not finishing the job..."
Now I have to admit, at this point, my memory is a bit hazy, because what follows put me into such a state of shock that I honestly deleted my short term memory...I don't know how it happened, but he said something about me getting an attitude with him or something...
I said "I don't have an attitude, I'm just telling you what I think the owner is liable to say when I call him and tell him..."
He keeps talking over me so finally I finished by saying...
"Please do NOT talk over me while I am speaking...just stop it and listen..."
He starts to cut me off talking over the top of me saying that he doesn't talk over the top of people...
So I cut him off and said, "Look, I've dealt with you before, and I know how you act...you hear only what you want to hear and do not listen...so shut up and hear me when I say that this is not a complete job...I've rented properties and made repairs my whole life, so don't think I don't know what the hell I'm talking about..."
He starts talking over me again and I just keep on talking even louder, cuz fuck him...
and then he said the phrase that sent me into fight or flight syndrome and caused me to want to hack off his head....
"I want to talk to your husband right now."
.............................................
For a moment I just stood there like....oh no he didn't......and the strong black women in me came out and I put my hands on my hips, glared down at him and said...
"My husband doesn't run this houshold, I do. My husband wouldn't know how to plug a wall if I put the tools in his hands. My husband wasn't here when the plumber came, I was. I'm the one you deal with, and if you're going to disrespect me in my own house, you can get the fuck out."
Of course, he tried talking over me again and I just lost my mind....I said, "fine, you know what, how about I go upstairs and get the manager to sort this out, how about that?"
He says "I'm calling cedar properties and we'll see..."
"Go ahead and do that, but i will be calling them too, because you're a liar and I've no interest in letting them only hear your side of this discussion"
so I went outside, called his boss and had a conversation with him about it...
he was nice...it was fine...but while I was on the phone with him, the guy comes out carrying his stuff, slams it down next to me...makes AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE while packing everything RIGHT NEXT TO ME....and then storms out...
I'm so angry I'm shaking...and I really don't think he got why I was so pissed off...
anyway, I go in to see what state the work was left in and what do I see?......
he had taken every single piece he'd put in...even the braces to screw the plugs into....out....out....as in...undid everything he had done....completely...
so I took the stuff he forgot set it outside my door and locked him out...
called the owner back and explained to him the problem and apologized, he said "you have nothing to apologize for"...
but anyway, how dare he????
how dare he demand to see my husband, like I'm some crazy hysterical broad and he need to tame me or something....how fucking dare he.....insulting my intelligence...fuck him...
there were other things at play too...he's a new asian immigrant, which says nothing except that there might be cultural underpinnings...and I was standing while he was seated on the floor...and maybe he has issues with an angry mother or some shit...
whatever...all I know is...you don't talk down to me in my fucking house...
and you don't flip me off by undoing all the work you had done and storming out...
fuck you....If he'd been standing up I would have punched him in the face....
so the owner is coming tomorrow to view the damage...whatever...
So I spent the day emotionally traumatized, cleaning my house from top to bottom....
this week has totally sucked so far...
when the plumber, fantastic man by the way, stuck his pick into the wall to see how bad the damage was, the wall came away on the end of it...the whole wall was mold.
So the plumber hacked and picked at it and cleaned out the space under the sink between two joists, put in new pipes, and even tightened our faucet...
but this of course means that the wall has a giant hole in it from my cabinet to the outside...the owner said he would send a repair guy out to fix it and to see if the area to the left of the sink, behind the drawers would need repair...
The plumber said it was water damaged and needed someone to look at it closely...
so this morning the guy shows up, and you can imagine how upset i was to find out it was a guy I'd had over once before who did not listen to a word I said, discounted everything, and tried to suggest that the problem that predated my tenantship was somehow my fault...even going to the extreme of telling me that it wasn't water condensation on my walls causing my paint to bleed down the wall due to their lack of ventilation in the bathroom, but was in fact, due to me painting the wall with "a dripping paintbrush" as if I don't know how to paint a wall...as if every other wall in my house was not expertly painted including the mural...as if the paintings on the wall didn't express that I am an excellent painter...as if I even used a brush at all on that wall, which I did not
anyway, when I realized it was him, I was just like "ok let him do his job and just ignore him" which I did...for about 45 minutes...
so then I went in and said "hey how's it going" with a smile on my face, determined not to be annoyed...
he says "it's good, I'm almost done!"
I looked in and saw that he had built wooden patches for the wall, which he was going to plaster over, which was great, but then I asked, "what about the water damaged piece behind the drawers?"
he goes "what?"
I explained to him what the plumber had said and pointed out the mold and water damage to him, while he did that annoying talk-over-you-till-you-stop-talking business, the "no no no no no no no see, it's like this" without listening to a word I said...
He taps the wall and says "See it's fabric is hard, it's a hard material"
"I said yes, but can't you see the mold?"
"What mold"
"The black stuff right there, that's mold"
"I'm not supposed to clean mold"
"You do realize mold is a biohazard right?"
"I can't fix that without ripping out the whole cabinet"
"You could just cut out that piece and patch it too, no big deal."
"I don't have to do that."
"Well, when the owner asked you to come out, don't you think he meant for you to fix the problem properly and not do a half-job?"
Now keep in mind, every time I speak, he's still talking over me...
He says "I'm done" or something like that, I turned away and said, "well do whatever you're going to do, but I'm pretty sure the owner is going to have something to say about you not finishing the job..."
Now I have to admit, at this point, my memory is a bit hazy, because what follows put me into such a state of shock that I honestly deleted my short term memory...I don't know how it happened, but he said something about me getting an attitude with him or something...
I said "I don't have an attitude, I'm just telling you what I think the owner is liable to say when I call him and tell him..."
He keeps talking over me so finally I finished by saying...
"Please do NOT talk over me while I am speaking...just stop it and listen..."
He starts to cut me off talking over the top of me saying that he doesn't talk over the top of people...
So I cut him off and said, "Look, I've dealt with you before, and I know how you act...you hear only what you want to hear and do not listen...so shut up and hear me when I say that this is not a complete job...I've rented properties and made repairs my whole life, so don't think I don't know what the hell I'm talking about..."
He starts talking over me again and I just keep on talking even louder, cuz fuck him...
and then he said the phrase that sent me into fight or flight syndrome and caused me to want to hack off his head....
"I want to talk to your husband right now."
.............................................
For a moment I just stood there like....oh no he didn't......and the strong black women in me came out and I put my hands on my hips, glared down at him and said...
"My husband doesn't run this houshold, I do. My husband wouldn't know how to plug a wall if I put the tools in his hands. My husband wasn't here when the plumber came, I was. I'm the one you deal with, and if you're going to disrespect me in my own house, you can get the fuck out."
Of course, he tried talking over me again and I just lost my mind....I said, "fine, you know what, how about I go upstairs and get the manager to sort this out, how about that?"
He says "I'm calling cedar properties and we'll see..."
"Go ahead and do that, but i will be calling them too, because you're a liar and I've no interest in letting them only hear your side of this discussion"
so I went outside, called his boss and had a conversation with him about it...
he was nice...it was fine...but while I was on the phone with him, the guy comes out carrying his stuff, slams it down next to me...makes AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE while packing everything RIGHT NEXT TO ME....and then storms out...
I'm so angry I'm shaking...and I really don't think he got why I was so pissed off...
anyway, I go in to see what state the work was left in and what do I see?......
he had taken every single piece he'd put in...even the braces to screw the plugs into....out....out....as in...undid everything he had done....completely...
so I took the stuff he forgot set it outside my door and locked him out...
called the owner back and explained to him the problem and apologized, he said "you have nothing to apologize for"...
but anyway, how dare he????
how dare he demand to see my husband, like I'm some crazy hysterical broad and he need to tame me or something....how fucking dare he.....insulting my intelligence...fuck him...
there were other things at play too...he's a new asian immigrant, which says nothing except that there might be cultural underpinnings...and I was standing while he was seated on the floor...and maybe he has issues with an angry mother or some shit...
whatever...all I know is...you don't talk down to me in my fucking house...
and you don't flip me off by undoing all the work you had done and storming out...
fuck you....If he'd been standing up I would have punched him in the face....
so the owner is coming tomorrow to view the damage...whatever...
So I spent the day emotionally traumatized, cleaning my house from top to bottom....
this week has totally sucked so far...