Rant

Everyone feels the need to go on a rant every once in a while, and I'm definitely there now. My rant is about the contractor we hired to construct a new bathroom out of a large entranceway in our house this summer. The estimated three week job is now nearing the end of week eight, and while it's nearly complete, there's still a good amount yet to be done. To make matters worse, the past three days has seen the contractor and the people he's got working for him hurrying and doing a half-assed job in order to finish the project. Some astonishingly stupid things have been done to the house in the past couple of days, things that I could do better, even with my complete lack of basic carpentry skills. Now that school has started, no one is home during the days when the workers are there, so I can't stop them from doing things I know are wrong. Of course, had the job been completed anywhere close to the time frame they gave us, this would not have been an issue.

Things were so poorly done today and our frustration level was so high, that we came very close to firing the contractor. The only reason we didn't is because the job is about 90% complete, and at this point we just want it done. We've edited the list of things left to do, however, leaving only those things we can't do ourselves. All of the minor paint touch ups, some caulking, etc. we're going to do ourselves, and were telling the contractor to finish just what's on the list and nothing else.

Meanwhile, I'm exhausted. The beginning of the school year is always very tiring, and now the stress from the home remodeling nightmare has made that much worse. My sleep schedule is out of whack-I'm a natural night owl, but I'm having to get up early when the contractor shows up. Unfortunately, he's been showing up anywhere between 7:15 and 9:30 in the morning, so I have no idea on any day what time I need to be up. There's been several days over the past couple of weeks where I'm up two or more hours earlier than I need to be, only to sit around waiting for the contractor to show, and still having to go teach a full day of afternoon and evening classes.

OK, end of rant. I feel a little better now. The photo, by the way, is part of a restaurant sign taken in Chicago's Chinatown.