Long after Monday’s flood waters have receded, I’m still droopy.
Maybe it’s because my home-sweet-home is saturated with musty smells coming from a drying basement. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked with a few contractors who don’t seem to realize that my service calls are NOT everyday usual. Or maybe my droopiness is just part of who I am, the sort of person that goes a little crazy when encountering waste and ineffectiveness.
After we unexpectedly hosted 4 to 5 inches of sewer water Monday morning, we engaged a remediation company to come dry and sterilize our basement. Had my husband and I not been in attendance, the company technician would have left before the job was done. As it was, the young man was forced to snake his hose down the basement stairwell three times — once of his own accord, another when my husband told him to try again, and a third when I sent him back down to the bowels of the house. Our ‘worker’ reminded me of a young child doing something he didn’t wish to do; and though I can’t say that I blame him, we needed someone who took pride in his work, someone who cared about the finished result rather than one simply going through the motions of fulfilling a checklist.
Ironically, our heating and air contractor told my husband that he was not too impressed with our remediation technician, that he would have expected a more thorough result. As it was, Mr. Heat and Air opened up the blower, removed the saturated filter, slapped in a new one and turned on the system. This time it was me telling my husband that I expected more — I imagined Mr. Heat and Air would have contacted the manufacturer to assess impact of sewage waters on the system — or advise us on unit sterilization. But instead, he left us with a new filter and a horrible musty smell coming out of our duct work.
I confess to expecting too much from others; I expect my contractors to care for my home as I do. And while I’m in the confessional, I admit that I expect too much from myself as well.
I wish I could be more like my rock ‘n roll husband, who is steady as a rock in a crisis and rolls with the punches of everyday life. Or I wish I could be more like my garden that bounced back quick from Monday’s destructive rainstorm. But instead I am who I am — more than a little wilted after the storm.
an everyday life 
I’ve read this three times or so on three different days, but didn’t leave a comment? Obviously I haven’t learned Rule #68 of blogging – if you think a response, write a response, darn it!
In any event, I hope by now your basement has dried out a bit and you’re feeling a little less wilted.
You know, you really don’t expect too much of people like your AC serviceman. It’s just that standards around this country have been heading down like the Dow on bad employment numbers. We’re told in so many ways not to expect anything from anyone, and for gosh sakes, not to demand anything of anyone. Remember when they used to call convenience stores “service stations”? I rest my case.
As for your “remediation expert” acting like a petulant child being forced to do something he really didn’t want to do…. it’s a perfect description of an attitude that’s showing up on the nightly news pretty regularly these days.
Well, best wishes to you and your basement. Aren’t we getting close to the time when you’re heading off on your writing adventure?
Linda,
I have begun to think of Iowa. Three weeks away.
In the meantime, I spent Thursday morning in the basement, with a bottle of Clorox and gallons of water, wiping down every surface. I felt better restoring order there, though the musty smell continues – a sign of mold growth, according to FEMA, which is probably in the A/C ducts.
When you speak of the nightly news — which I confess to not watching — I’m guessing you speak of BP and others. It’s a crying shame that people fear admitting to being human (i.e., making mistakes) and instead pretend to be gods, above the fray.
Well enough of that. I see a soapbox coming on.
Thanks always for your good wishes. And I hope, that with this morning’s post, I’ve worked out my whine on lackadaisical contractors!