Throughout my four dozen years of employment in an office setting, I became accustomed to people making appointments and keeping them. Appointments were on time or the opportunity for the meeting was lost.
The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make in my first four months of retirement is to realize that is NOT how the so-called service world works.
Plumbers, painters, electricians, landscapers, appliance repair persons — whatever the expertise needed — do not operate their working world as I operated mine. They do not establish a specific agreed upon time for their arrival; they provide a two to four-hour window of time when they MIGHT arrive. And half the time they miss the window by hours or miss the appointment altogether.
I have been critical of some doctors who routinely keep their patients waiting for 30 to 60 minutes, but physicians are prompt in comparison to the random scheduling of repair professionals.
I guess, now, the shoe is on the other foot. I have more need for the time and talents of the service industry than they have for my projects and payments.
In my postings on this site I often write about the benefits of travel…..that’s a principal purpose of this site. Well, I’ve discovered another benefit: that planning and executing travel is the best antidote I know for forgetting the frustrations of home maintenance.
JER
ALL OVER THE MAP 