Right after I moved here to the Midwest I noticed that things are slower, and that people react slower than in the Southwest.Last summer I needed to have the storm door installed to have a doggie door for Taylor. My storm door and doggie door were for a whole month in the garage till after many calls the handy man finally came to install it. Taylor was really happy!
In the fall I talked with a landscaper to come and continue the landscape from the front of my house to the side. The Winter came and went away, and then the Spring was here. Finally in late March the landscaper came (after many many phone calls).
First week of April kind of the same time when my landscaping was complete, a handy man completed the work on the air duct (from my dryer to the back side of the house - since the builder directed the air duct out into the garage!). The same handy man promised that the following week will come and complete the work on my gutters. The water from the sump-pump comes out to the side of my house, and since there is no slope on my property the stinky water makes a little pond and is also a mosquito nursery. It is July! I called since then almost every week to ask if he will come... My neighbor Frank needs to have the exact same work done, the handy man proposed to have both works done in the same time to not rent twice the digging machine. Frank and I agreed to split the rental price.
No one came and since then Frank called him and I called him taking turns.
Two weeks ago I got impatient (it was slowly end of June and three month since the work was promised to be done). I called the handy man and asked if he is still interested in doing the job. He said he will come to take measures that Saturday.
Frank promised he will call also, and the handy man said he will be at the house 9AM. Saturday came and 9Am passed. By 11AM I called Frank to ask him if he has any news from our handy man... Frank laughed and told me to be patient since people are laid back here in the Midwest. And sooner or later, perhaps more later than sooner, we will have the job done.
That Saturday the handy man got to see Frank's property and stopped by my house just to tell me he is late to little league tournaments with his kid and he will come next day.
You guessed, he never came back!
I think I just give up and start to search for a new handy man.
Frank still tells me that in the end he will come and that I have to be patient since people are not as fast as I think, it takes time, "people around here are laid back."
But it is three months since that work was supposed to be completed.
I wonder what are the limits that a person can be named "laid back" before it is named "lazy" or "bad worker"? Or is it me that I expect people be eager to do a job?
No, I think it is me being too patient and not searching for another service provider. It seems Midwest tempo is defintely not my tempo!
Having the responsibilities of owning a house is not easy task. But hey, I am learning :-)