You just can't get good help these days. I finally got the tall two-legged to start putting some serious effort into finishing my bathroom. He calls it his bedroom, but that's secondary to the fact that my catbox is in there right now. I was sick and tired of doing my 'business' and staring at studs and half-insulated walls. I don't even have any reading material in there.

At any rate, I was forced to employ him for the job because, well, I don't have any thumbs. I should have tried to get one of the day laborers from downtown. I think they would listen better. I started out trying to talk to him while pacing the floor. "That screw head is sticking out too far." "You are going to fall on your butt if you try to put that drywall up that high with the ladder like that." It was like talking to a post. Finally, I climbed up on the stool so I would be closer to his thick head. It still didn't work. "You don't have enough mud under the tape on that seam. It's going to bubble." Did he listen? No way. I just shook my head as he spent an extra couple of hours trying to make it right. "You should get a mask to wear when you are sanding all that." Nothing. I left the room while he sounded like he was going to cough up a lung.

You can tell he doesn't know what he is doing by how little he got on himself. I mean, I was just supervising, and I got more drywall mud, dust, and paint on me than he got on him. Idiot. Sometimes I just get so frustrated that I'm forced to stare outside, or sprawl out on the floor for a much needed nap. Too bad I can't fire him. Well, I guess he made some progress, anyway. He'd better get that second coat of plaster on the walls today, or I'm going to dock his pay.


Lilo the Cat Contractor