Waiting
I’m sitting by the breakfast table,
waiting for the inspector people, mmmm mmm, mmmm mmm. Ki-itchen bound, I am Ki-itchen bound. Kitchen where I can’t play guitar, Kitchen
where the TV is small, Kitchen where I’m forced to be waiting, silently away,
silently away.
Apologies to
Simon and Garfunkel.
The township
inspectors are coming to check out our recent HVAC installations. The permits and inspection cost $311, seems
high to me, but what do I know?
I know that
the job was done 15 days ago. For $311
it is a good thing nothing bad has happened during those 15 days if the
installation was done wrong. Oh well, I
get it, without permits and inspection there would be cases of shoddy work, and
that inspection process, especially when run as it must be by local government,
is going to be expensive.
My beef?
“We will be around from
9 am to 4 pm to do the inspection.”
Really?
You will
come somewhere between the start of the working day and the end of the working
day? Why thank you so much! I guess they don’t schedule their inspections;
they just spin a wheel in the morning and inspect in the order of where the
pointy thing ends up. Also, they haven’t
yet moved to mobile phone technology where they can call when they are on their
way?
So I
wait.
Mrs. C has
her morning nap, then dancing lessons, then work, so it is up to me to wait.
Our door
bell is not loud enough for my old ears to hear from the bedroom or the
basement so I am forced to wait in the kitchen where we have no comfortable
chairs, a small TV and I can’t practice guitar in peace (trust me, it’s a whole thing).
To the credit
of cable TV, and other private concerns that make deliveries or visits, I have
become accustomed to a narrow waiting window, and a curtesy call as they are on
the way. I even had a car breakdown last
year and AAA allowed me to track the service truck and made several calls to
let me know their status.
Our township
has not yet found a need for this kind of service.
They will
arrive between 9 am and 4 pm.
I’m sitting by the breakfast table,
waiting for the inspector people mmmm mmm, mmmm mmm.
Can’t get that
ear worm out of my head!*
*The man came at 12:30, took maybe 45
seconds to determine the job was done correctly. Too cold to check the air-conditioner
installation,
“They did the heat and
air at the same time, I’m sure they knew what they were doing.”
Not complaining about that, I’m sure
he is right. These inspectors can probably spot red flags or a good job pretty
quickly.
Anyway, it is 12:32 and I am no
longer Ki-itchen bound.
I hate that waiting game! Here if we need any sort of maintenance done, we call Housing and they put you on their list according to priority. A blocked toilet gets someone there the same day, ditto broken window, although if the fault is your own, not accidental, we will have to pay for repairs. Most other things gets you a " we'll be there between 2 and 9 working days" so weekends are out, and there is no definite time slot, not even morning or afternoon. So if all you have is a dripping tap, most of us wait until all the taps are dripping and in danger of flooding the sinks. Or we call in a family member who knows something about plumbing or whatever we need.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, there's nothing more annoying than waiting hours for something that eventually takes just minutes.
That sounds like a real professional check of the work. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteI suppose that earworm is gone by now. But in case it lingered, maybe you can replace it with something else. Tom Petty always said, "The waiting is the hardest part."
ReplyDeletei so liked this cute image you used Joe!
ReplyDeletei am sorry you had wait in kitchen for the inspectors who kept you waiting for long and time they choose was weird (so irritating when cable man comes to check the cable when it is prime time to watch the t.v)
i can relate as i was kitchen bound either some days ago though i said i am sorry still inside i am feeling the thrilling joy that you experienced the same thing lol
Like you, I hate, hate, HATE waiting but, like you, I was impressed by the constant notification of the whereabouts of an AA guy. I presume our AA is the same as your AAA.
ReplyDeleteAt least it didn't take a year, like ours! And yes, how hard is it to give a time within a few hours? With my luck, he would have shown up at 3:55.
ReplyDeleteI hate a vague time window like that, it sure slows down the clock...as for your doorbell you might look at those where you can plug a box into outlets in a couple different rooms like the bedroom and basement and replace the doorbell doorbell button, they are wireless and very easy to install, you can adjust the sounds and volume too. We have one here for a different issue and it works great...Amazon has them.
ReplyDeleteBummer. What if we said we will pay them sometime between January and June? Jimmy has a cool idea. At least it would free you from your kitchen prison though being imprisoned where the food is isn't too awful.
ReplyDeleteI don't care for playing the waiting game either. It can take up your whole day.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
Yes...very annoying. Now......we have a handy dandy little gadget (because the hubs is pretty deaf)....it's a sound extender. We have one part plugged in downstairs and the other piece sits upstairs beside the front door...when the front bell rings the 'chime extender' as well call it sends a signal to the dowstairs unit and it rings (really loud downstairs. Words a charm. We have a second one by the back door as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, government jobs are pretty cushy. And as they have a monopoly, they don't care if you like their schedule. They'll do their 25 years or whatever, then coast through the next 30 on public servant's retirement.
ReplyDeleteI would like an itemized list on why it cost so much for a 45 second look. How much paperwork and how many hands does the paper go through. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAt least it is over. That's how i always feel about such appointments.
ReplyDeleteI had to do that AAA thingy recently and got a link to a map that showed me exactly where the car that would jump my battery was. The only complaint I had was that he must have been driving VERRRRY slowly and hit EVERRRRY red light there was.
ReplyDeleteIf your city had something like that, the permit would have cost twice as much.