Farmer H has been leaving home around 6:30-7:00 a.m., to pick up Old Buddy and drive to the middle-er of nowhere to work on Back-Creek Neighbor Bev's new old house. Most mornings, I hear him talking on his phone in the bathroom, while I'm sitting on the short couch, having not headed to bed yet.
Wednesday morning, Farmer H was sitting on the long couch, killing time so he wouldn't be too early for Old Buddy's pickup. His phone rang.
"That'll be Nick." Who is Bev's husband.
Farmer H, being deaf but not admitting it, put his phone on speaker. So I heard the one-sided conversation. Nick was quite complimentary of Farmer H, telling him what a fantastic job he's been doing, and how great the house looks. He said they'd be moving in Wednesday night to start living there full time rather than in their camper parked behind the house.
Furthermore, Nick asked Farmer H to remove a ceiling fan from the bedroom. Said it made clicking noises that drove them crazy. (Or in Bev's case, according to Farmer H, craziER.) Nick said he'd take it back to the store, and tell them it was faulty, and get another one.
"Okay. I can take it down. Bev said it was making a noise, but I didn't hear anything. I don't hear real good though."
When Farmer H got home Wednesday evening, he had more to say.
"I know I need to look at it like you do. That Bev is PAYING me. So I might as well do what she wants. Today she told me she wanted a new window in the front. To take out the old one. There ain't a thing wrong with that window! I tried to tell her, but she said, 'You can do it, or I'll hire someone else.' So I guess I'll take out her window."
"You never know. She might give you the 'faulty' window! She's given you so much other stuff from her other house."
"Yeah. I don't know what she'll do with the window. But I might as well take it out as have her pay someone else."
Farmer H is learning to do what he is told. As long as somebody pays him to do it.
So that's his secret! Perhaps you should offer payment to get him to properly empty and clean poolio, and other stuff that needs doing properly. Would he accept a nickel for the job, seeing as how you already pay him in other ways, like going to the stores for his special sodas and ice cream cups etc.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOSH! Today Farmer H compared me to BEV! Bringing up that window issue. My transgression was asking why, in over 2 years, he has not replaced the toilet seat I abhor for popping off the hold-down screw. It obviously doesn't fit right. Any slight movement will pop it off one of the two screws, making it skew sideways. Farmer H pops it off, but never fixes it by popping the fixture thingy back down.
Anyhoo... Farmer H had the nerve to say that I was never happy, since he DID replace the seat immediately. Which was with a cheap plastic slanted-seat hotel kind of toilet seat, very uncomfortable. So I made him put the popper-offer back on. At the time, he'd seen the right replacement, but said it cost more! NOW he says he can't find the right kind in the right color...
SO... he said, "You're just like Bev and her window. I TOLD her it was a perfectly good window, not affecting the livability of the house, and she said, 'But I just don't like it.' And now you want a new toilet seat because you just don't like it!"
Except I doubt that Bev's window pops out of the wall...
So, he's taking orders from a woman? How do I get my PITA to start doing that?
ReplyDeleteYou just can't win...
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI think you have to pay around $40 per hour...
***
River,
Nor get a working toilet seat!