4 June 2013 Waiting for a ….

Cassi Creek:  The Jerry Garcia Band performed “waiting for a miracle.”  We’re not hoping for miracles here, just timely response and tradesmen who show up when they say they will. 

          I’ve experienced tradesmen and other service companies that run behind their schedule.  Some work orders and service calls take longer than expected.  Staffing problems can also delay repair visits.  But here, in the former Confederacy, from Virginia south and over to the Mississippi valley, the problem seems to be endemic to the culture. 

          To be fair, not everyone we contract with has functioned on some personal time frame that causes them to show up late, if at all.  Not everyone ignores phone messages and leaves us wondering if they are still in business at all, or if they have vanished from the face of the earth.  But sufficient numbers of such tradesmen and contractors operate in that manner to make us leery of hiring anyone for any purpose. 

          Currently we are waiting on gutter replacement.  We let the contract over a month ago.  The company has a 20 year  history locally.  Since then, we’ve heard nothing from them other than 2 promises to show up “in the next two or three days.”  We have been patient, polite in our calls requesting an update on the job.  We called them three days ago, asking them for a mailing address so that we can pay them the next installment we agreed to pay.  No response from them at all. 

          Friday, will be the cut-off.  I’m beginning to believe that we may find they are no longer in business.  That might almost be preferable to the inescapable delay that seems to come along with every project or repair that comes around. 

          While there are many instances of slow service and long delays in the Northern U.S., it does not seem to be ingrained into the culture and daily lifestyle as it is here. 

          I’ve grown up and worked in medical fields all of my life since age 14.  I was trained to be on time, which in most jobs meant report taking place 30 minutes prior the shift turnover.  Being on time is part of my make-up, just as deeply ingrained as is showing up when I say I’ll be at some location.  If something beyond my control interferes, I find some way to get a message and explanation for the delay and a new ETA to the people waiting on me to carry out some task.  Another instance of “If I ran the world.”