Random Irritations

[PJ87]

Around 4pm today.
My, idiot, but well intentioned, friend, and his wife, called, unnanounced, to check on my wife after her recent knee op. No problem.
They brought flowers and we spent half an hour on conversational drivel during which I proudly showed my, just finished, Christmas pud ready for steaming.
Then, as we showed them to the door he casually asked " So how are you coping having to do all the domestic chores?"

Idiot!
There are two possible man answers to that:
"I think I'm doing quite well" to which my wife will reply "Yes, and now I know we can see a lot more of it".
Or, patronisingly, "To be honest mate, I didnt appreciate how much she does" to which my wife will reply "So now you know you need to help out a lot more, love".
I'm definitely gonna man shame him in the clubhouse after the next game!!
Idiot!

When my wife got COVID couple years ago I stupidly ran the house by myself and kept everything going so well that she declared she trusts me with Jobs

Rookie mistake

 

[GreiginFife]

Simple rule in my house, she doesn’t ask me to do much housework as long as I don’t ask her to build, fix or replace anything. Seems to work quite well.

Except that I feel the impending extension build is going to see me with the raw end of the deal.

 

[PJ87]

Simple rule in my house, she doesn’t ask me to do much housework as long as I don’t ask her to build, fix or replace anything. Seems to work quite well.

Except that I feel the impending extension build is going to see me with the raw end of the deal.

Do you struggle to let others do building work? My mate does all his. He fell off a ladder recently and begrudges paying someone to do his kitchen as he was supposed to do it and he will do it better (in his eyes) also the guy won't do wiring and such where as he will

 

[GreiginFife]

Do you struggle to let others do building work? My mate does all his. He fell off a ladder recently and begrudges paying someone to do his kitchen as he was supposed to do it and he will do it better (in his eyes) also the guy won't do wiring and such where as he will

Not struggle per se, I just don’t see the point in overpaying thousands for a job I can do myself.

Extension will take me about 6 months to build and will come in at around £15k.

Averaged builders quote was 5 months and £39k.

I’m fit and possess the skills and knowledge so why get fleeced? Not paying for some builder’s Range Rover.

 

[PJ87]

Not struggle per se, I just don’t see the point in overpaying thousands for a job I can do myself.

Extension will take me about 6 months to build and will come in at around £15k.

Averaged builders quote was 5 months and £39k.

I’m fit and possess the skills and knowledge so why get fleeced? Not paying for some builder’s Range Rover.

Yeah I think that's his view aswell. He can do it cheaper and take his time so why not?

Shame he is out of action ATM I had to do my living room myself lol he normally does all my work at mates rates. Such a useful guy to know

 

[GreiginFife]

Yeah I think that's his view aswell. He can do it cheaper and take his time so why not?

Shame he is out of action ATM I had to do my living room myself lol he normally does all my work at mates rates. Such a useful guy to know

I’m quite fortunate that I have a couple of mates (brothers) that both have building trades background and we all help each other out when we can.
One will do the electrical termination for me and the other will organise the glazing and bi-folds.

Time isn’t really a factor as a one man crew (for the most part) is only estimating a month more than a 5 man crew charging a fortune. North of £2k per m2 is taking the proverbial.

 

[rulie]

Simple rule in my house, she doesn’t ask me to do much housework as long as I don’t ask her to build, fix or replace anything. Seems to work quite well.

Except that I feel the impending extension build is going to see me with the raw end of the deal.

I have a friend that had a large ocean-going boat that he and his wife would spend a couple months cruising the coastline. They had defined the chores on the boat as either pink or blue.

 

[GreiginFife]

I have a friend that had a large ocean-going boat that he and his wife would spend a couple months cruising the coastline. They had defined the chores on the boat as either pink or blue.

Don’t think it matters how they are defined as long as the system works for the participants.

 

[Sid Rixon IV]

I have a standard reply.
"So, if a tile slipped off the roof would I expect you to climb up a ladder and replace it?".
It's nowhere near as effective as when I tell her she needs to change gear and she offers to teach me how to iron

 

[PJ87]

I have a standard reply.
"So, if a tile slipped off the roof would I expect you to climb up a ladder and replace it?".
It's nowhere near as effective as when I tell her she needs to change gear and she offers to teach me how to iron

When I did the living room the wife didn't say thanks so I was like your welcome btw

I got back "where's my thanks for the washing etc"

Didn't appreciate my reply that even by her own words I do 40% of the house work and 100% of the DIY so I think we are more than even

 

[Orikoru]

I thought airplanes had wifi.

The film makers seem to think they have.

They did but they wanted to charge us to use it, so, nah.

 

[Bazz]

3 people have asked how I'm coping with the kids whilst the wife is away.
Do you think she gets asked when I'm off on my jollies?

 

[Mudball]

3 people have asked how I'm coping with the kids whilst the wife is away.
Do you think she gets asked when I'm off on my jollies?

no.. because she probably does not tell anyone that 'she is babysitting' or on 'parental duties'

 

[Lord Tyrion]

3 people have asked how I'm coping with the kids whilst the wife is away.
Do you think she gets asked when I'm off on my jollies?

Sexism at its finest. If it makes you feel better, I used to get the same. I perfected my Paddington hard stare as I looked at the person asking. A stare, a shake of the head and I would walk away.

 

[Bazz]

no.. because she probably does not tell anyone that 'she is babysitting' or on 'parental duties'

That's another irritation, blokes who call it babysitting. You don't baby sit your own kids.

 

[Mudball]

wanted to hack some Ikea furniture to create a built-in storage and bookshelves in the home office. I could design it but dont have the skills to build it. So I found a apprentice chippy, who agreed to do it over a weekend - he works on site for a construction co. He was going on a holiday and needed the money.

So he turned up at 8 on Sat and Sun and powered thru it. As I realised he was more keen than skilled. Towards Sunday evening, he was in a rush and made some mistakes. Anyways, I paid up in full. Then i took it apart to paint it and I could see plenty of examples where he could have made it 'great rather than good enough'. There are trailing glue stains which i had to sand a fair bit. There are alignments that are a bit off. It has taken me two weeks of evening sanding, painting etc. to get it to look right. Also had to refit a drawer (which was done on Sunday evening) and align it. The end product is pretty good (but i am biased).

I sent him some pics of the finished product and now it is on his Instagram. I would be less irritated if i had not paid him as much as I did. But my other gripe about a young tradesman is... why dont they want to get better at their craft. All it needs is a bit of thinking and a bit of effort.

 

[AmandaJR]

3 people have asked how I'm coping with the kids whilst the wife is away.
Do you think she gets asked when I'm off on my jollies?

Nope but if she had her head under the bonnet of a car...

So yes sexism, but a sign that we haven't moved on all that much as a society?

 

[Oddsocks]

Turning on the laptop to my first email of the day.

This is your 4 week notice that have 12 hours of online training modules to complete before year end.

Would have been great if this was covered in my induction 8 months ago.

 

[Bazz]

Nope but if she had her head under the bonnet of a car...

So yes sexism, but a sign that we haven't moved on all that much as a society?

Doesn't seem like it, if my two hadn't come a long yet I'd definitely be taking the main share of the parental leave. Would've loved to have taken a year off when they'd just been born.

 

[Bazz]

wanted to hack some Ikea furniture to create a built-in storage and bookshelves in the home office. I could design it but dont have the skills to build it. So I found a apprentice chippy, who agreed to do it over a weekend - he works on site for a construction co. He was going on a holiday and needed the money.

So he turned up at 8 on Sat and Sun and powered thru it. As I realised he was more keen than skilled. Towards Sunday evening, he was in a rush and made some mistakes. Anyways, I paid up in full. Then i took it apart to paint it and I could see plenty of examples where he could have made it 'great rather than good enough'. There are trailing glue stains which i had to sand a fair bit. There are alignments that are a bit off. It has taken me two weeks of evening sanding, painting etc. to get it to look right. Also had to refit a drawer (which was done on Sunday evening) and align it. The end product is pretty good (but i am biased).

I sent him some pics of the finished product and now it is on his Instagram. I would be less irritated if i had not paid him as much as I did. But my other gripe about a young tradesman is... why dont they want to get better at their craft. All it needs is a bit of thinking and a bit of effort.

The bit about him putting it on Instagram after you'd tidied it up made me laugh, he'll get a bit of work out of that and his new clients will be in for a shock.