This past week, I found myself getting really annoyed with people. About three weeks ago, we purchased a shed to help move crap out of the garage and you know, de-clutter our lives. So John did the research, and set up the delivery. We had expected the shed to just be a pre-fab: you know, the truck would arrive and the crew would just unload and set the thing where we wanted on the driveway. Done in like 30 minutes. Nope. A two-person crew arrived and spent an entire day constructing the damn thing from boxes of materials!! WTF, really? Fine, whatever. J was working from home that day, so not a huge deal. Done in one day, right? Nope. Turns out, the sales dude didn’t include our shingle specs and paint colors in the order, so those materials weren’t part of the shipment. Ugh. So the guys had to return a second day with the roofing shit and paint to complete the job. They arrived early the next day, so J talked with them briefly and then he went off to work. The day after that, in the daylight, I came out to inspect this cute new shed, all specially sized to fit alongside our houseboat. J and I aren’t even picky when it comes to house/construction details. Half the time, we couldn’t give a shit about aesthetic imperfections as long as stuff works. I always give this example to illustrate how laid back we are about house shit. Years ago, I organized a group to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Our assignment for the day was to paint the bedrooms. Well, the leader assigned us to paint INSIDE the closets, and he kept saying, “Treat this house as if it were your own. Do a good job; take pride in your work.” Blah, blah. I mean, we were totally game with doing an awesome job on the walls that were visible, but inside a closet?? Does it really require THREE coats of paint in addition to the primer?? I mean, honestly speaking, J and I probably wouldn’t even paint inside the closet for our own house!!! Who the hell cares? No one sees that shit. I mean, yeah, maybe a coat to prevent moisture or whatever, but multiple coats? Total overkill.

Similarly, I had a handyman onsite last month. He cracked the lid to my toilet tank. It was white. He offered to replace it, but it required another trip from Los Gatos. I was like, “I really don’t care about the crack line. I put a box of tissues on top of the lid anyway. Just crazy glue it.” J was concerned the crazy glue wouldn’t really hold. In the end, I saw my neighbor disposing of his old toilet, and I just took his lid. Mind you, his toilet was brown, not white. Whatever. It’s just not something that bugs me or J. There’s a lid now. Done.

So back to the shed. When I looked at it, the front door wasn’t even aligned. It was so fricking crooked that the door rubbed all around the jamb and didn’t even shut securely. Inside, under the roof, there was one panel that was riddled with nails poking through. Like poking through to the point that the rough particle board was flaking underneath. Then, scattered all around the shed on the driveway were nails and chipped hardware bits. WTF?? On the outside, the shingles were misaligned with the roof line and unevenly laid. I mean, as untrained as my eyes are, this was a fucking hack job!! Not only that, they pulled out our hose to check for leaks in the roof, and they didn’t even wrap the hose back into its storage pot. They fucking left the hose in a half-ass jumbled pile AND the water was still on. Seriously, who works like this??? So yeah, overall, shit job. I was pissed, but I knew flipping out was not going to help. Plus, J had really put in a lot of effort and time researching the shed and coordinating the logistics. Maybe the guys were newbs, or they were having a bad day? Whatever. So I call the customer service dude. He sends out a warranty service guy to take a look the following week. Dude comes and fixes the door. He claims the nails are ok and just need to be snipped on the bottom (uh, then why aren’t they poking through EVERYwhere rather than just that one panel?), but he admits that the shingles need to be completely redone. He’ll tell the service rep, and they’ll schedule another repair trip. That was two and a half weeks ago. Since then, I have left 3 messages. I always get the goddamn answering machine, and on Friday, I got some lame auto message, “We are having technical difficulties.” Again, WTF. Finally, I dial into the sales line, and I actually talk to the guy who SOLD J the unit. Yeah dude. You sold us the unit. This has been a bad experience. I explain without getting nasty about it, and he promises action/follow up on Monday when the customer service guy returns. We’ll see what happens on Monday. But come on people!!! Do your fucking job. No, I don’t expect 100%, because your job is probably really shitty and pays crap, but Jesus Christ, give me more than 20%. I have definitely softened my stance since my younger years when I was always ready to rumble about bullshit customer service. Now? I just expect companies to be upfront and responsive. And show some damn effort with making things right!

What else. Oh. Also on Friday, I had a second meeting scheduled with the ergonomic specialist at work. I’d been reading a lot lately about how my work and the sedentary office environment are basically going to destroy me (blind, arthritic, deaf, remember?), so I started standing at work. Being the cheap bastard that I am, I pretty much just did my own makeshift standing desk using multiple reams of paper and a cardboard box. Long story short, the expert came a few weeks ago. She took pictures and told me flat out that my setup was “horrendous.” So she readjusted by adding more paper, etc. I showed her the desktop gadget/appliance I wanted to use to give me sit/stand capability. She went back to research and work on the quote. Two weeks later, still no quote. She emails saying the measurements might not work for my desk, so let’s meet to discuss. Really? How about just put in for a bigger table? Is another meeting really necessary? Meanwhile, I’d been feeling really tired all week long. Partly due to seasonal allergies. Partly due to shit sleep. But I have interns come in M-Th. Since they don’t come on Friday, I considered taking off just to rest. Well, ergo lady could only meet Friday. Fine. Let’s just do it. So our appointment time rolls around. Ten minutes late, and no sign of her. I email saying, “I have us scheduled to meet now. Are you ok?” No reply. One hour later, I call her mobile. She answers like it’s an ordinary day. “Uh, were we meeting today?” Totally clueless for like 15 seconds. “Oh, oh, yes. I’m sorry. I had an emergency this morning and forgot to call you.” Um yeah. Our meeting was 1:45p, so you had all morning to work out your situation and no fucking call? And my friends know: I’m already the most gullible person in the world!! She didn’t even SOUND convincing. Honestly, I imagined her lounging around somewhere on vacation. Fucking A. I mean really, should it take TWO weeks for me to get an email just to schedule another meeting? What a slack ass. Fucking annoying. I would probably have better luck just buying what I need, figuring out myself how to jerryrig it, and then putting in for reimbursement.

The thing is, I get that work sucks. I mean, I’m not exactly in my dream job in paradise. But do your damn job, or if not, get a different job where you will do work. For fuck’s sake, people.