Way to Handle It Like a Man

This is a whiny post today.

I was so excited when we got our electrical completed in the bathroom that I was feeling motivated to get this baby moving.  So I decided to call some other contractors.  I had a plumbing company come the week prior to evaluate the work and give me a quote.  They came and evaluated it (after rescheduling 23 times in one day) and told me I would get my estimate the following day.  It never came.  I honestly didn't follow-up with the guy because he told me that I needed to have a heat run moved to move the toilet.  That is fine but I figured I might as well call a plumbing and HVAC company.  Therefore I never followed-up.

When the day came for me to be motivated I decided to call a dual plumbing/HVAC company, that which I will call Dionysus (know your Greek mythology? I don't, I googled it to be funny but I think it will end up only being funny to me).  I talked to a man who refused to listen to me.  He kpet telling me that they could do the plumbing but couldn't move the heat run because they would have to rip out all the dry wall.  I repeatedly told him it was in a gutted bathroom and an unfinished basement so the entire run was exposed.  He kept telling me they couldn't do it.  Finally, I stopped him and said so you're telling me that a completely exposed run cannot be moved?  There is no dry wall anywhere near it.  He said, oh it's exposed? We can do that.  You ever see a comic when a character has a fizzle above his head?  That was me.  He then proceeded to tell me that it would cost me $80 for a plumbing estimate and another $80 for the HVAC. I am not spending $160 on estimates so I hung up in annoyance.

I had not lost faith yet though and thought well if a plumbing/HVAC company is going to charge me separate estimates I might as well try to get the original estimate from the guy who had looked at the work previously.  I called him and left a message.  He called me back a few minutes later and said, "Oh, I remember you.  I hadn't forgotten.  We've just been really busy."  I basically told him no problem.  He then proceeded to continue telling me how busy they were and then followed-up with something condescending like, you know, because we're really busy we really won't be able to get there for a while. And I mean it really looked like you needed a plumber two weeks ago so I'm sure you don't want to wait.  He then proceeded to tell me how busy they were again.  And then told me he would get the estimate next week.  I didn't say anything until I just said "Ok, bye." He could tell I was angry.

Here's the thing, I get it that companies get busy.  I really am a very understanding person.  However, if they were so busy he never should have wasted my time coming to evaluate my work (but I'm sure he determined once he did that the job was too piddly for him).  The other thing is that he didn't need to talk to me like I was an idiot.  I know that I really need a plumber in there, but thanks for telling me in case I had forgotten.  I was so angry I couldn't help but wonder if he was being so condescending because I am female.  I am not a person who questions that with men very often.  I have worked on many house projects with many men who were nothing but professional.  When this guy was at my house looking at my bathroom he kept calling me on of those pet names like honey or sweetie.  It originally didn't really bother me because I feel like he didn't mean anything by it, you know it's just what old men say (even though he wasn't THAT old).  But after this phone call it infuriated me.  Dont' refer to me as someone less than you and don't ever talk to me that way.  He totally ruined my motivation buzz.

I began crying totally irrationally.  Way to handle it like a man, Annie. I'm not sure if I'm being overdramatic about it which is part of what drives me crazy about the situation.  Do I have a right to feel angry and upset?  Maybe this guy would have said the same thing to my husband.  I'll never know.  What I do know is that I'm finished dealing with contractors.  I immediately called my husband and told him he was handling the rest of them on this project.