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Confrontation
Jul. 14th, 2009 11:51 amI hate confrontation. I'm terrified of getting to a place with anyone where there is a danger they won't like me anymore. Maybe I'm scared they'll tell all the kids on the playground I'm bad or something.
We have two guys who are the main contractors on our job. One has a lot of history with my family, though I wouldn't exactly call us friends. Let's name him Squirrel. The other is his friend whom we shall call Badger. I started talking to Squirrel about the renovation back in October and we firmed up the timeline in February. He was working 20 hours a week at Home Depot but assured me he would be tapering it back to 10 during the reno.
The first signs of trouble came in March when he said he would have to maintain a certain number of hours at Home Depot to keep his benefits, but no matter how often I asked him, he would not confirm that number. Finally, on the day we started the reno, he said, "Yeah, it's 20, but I will just work extra hard for you, don't worry."
Since then, he has consistently refused to give me a schedule for upcoming weeks, has not shown up when he said he would, has always arrived saying he's exhausted and overworked, and has taken on other clients. When he is present, he is slow, inefficient, uncommunicative and rude to Snake. He interrupts Badger constantly and slows down his work.
Badger, in contrast, is quiet, thorough, organized and easy to communicate with. As time has gone by, I've come to rely more and more on Badger and dread Squirrels increasingly infrequent work days. Snake and I spent a week deciding how to fire him without firing him. Finally, on Sunday morning I phoned him and got voicemail. I said:
"Hi, Squirrel, it looks like we won't be needing you this week. We're running out of budget, there's not much left to do, and Snake is around all week to help Badger. I'll call you next weekend."
Frankly, I thought he'd be relieved, considering how he complains about having too much work and not enough sleep. Within 30 minutes, he was AT MY FRONT DOOR, KNOCKING. He came in and basically bullied me into letting him work Monday. One passive-aggressive exchange went like this:
Him: "I want to finish the trims on the door."
Me: "I told you I was going to do all the trim myself."
Him: "Well, I really, really want to finish the door, so you don't have to pay me for that time."
So, he came for five hours on Monday and only did half the work he said he would (a typical pattern). As he left, he called out to Snake, "See you tomorrow!!" Slam.
Furious, I called him when I got home and said as politely as I could:
Me: "Hi, I said I didn't want you in this week at all, and yet we agreed on Monday. I don't want you tomorrow."
Him: "Fine, I'll just come and take my tools. Hey, did you love the door?"
Me: "No, the corners look sloppy. Why didn't you do a proper miter cut?"
I think he wants to push me into a fight where I insult him and get aggressive so he can clear his conscience completely and say it was all my fault. I won't be pushed.
God, I fucking hate confrontation.
We have two guys who are the main contractors on our job. One has a lot of history with my family, though I wouldn't exactly call us friends. Let's name him Squirrel. The other is his friend whom we shall call Badger. I started talking to Squirrel about the renovation back in October and we firmed up the timeline in February. He was working 20 hours a week at Home Depot but assured me he would be tapering it back to 10 during the reno.
The first signs of trouble came in March when he said he would have to maintain a certain number of hours at Home Depot to keep his benefits, but no matter how often I asked him, he would not confirm that number. Finally, on the day we started the reno, he said, "Yeah, it's 20, but I will just work extra hard for you, don't worry."
Since then, he has consistently refused to give me a schedule for upcoming weeks, has not shown up when he said he would, has always arrived saying he's exhausted and overworked, and has taken on other clients. When he is present, he is slow, inefficient, uncommunicative and rude to Snake. He interrupts Badger constantly and slows down his work.
Badger, in contrast, is quiet, thorough, organized and easy to communicate with. As time has gone by, I've come to rely more and more on Badger and dread Squirrels increasingly infrequent work days. Snake and I spent a week deciding how to fire him without firing him. Finally, on Sunday morning I phoned him and got voicemail. I said:
"Hi, Squirrel, it looks like we won't be needing you this week. We're running out of budget, there's not much left to do, and Snake is around all week to help Badger. I'll call you next weekend."
Frankly, I thought he'd be relieved, considering how he complains about having too much work and not enough sleep. Within 30 minutes, he was AT MY FRONT DOOR, KNOCKING. He came in and basically bullied me into letting him work Monday. One passive-aggressive exchange went like this:
Him: "I want to finish the trims on the door."
Me: "I told you I was going to do all the trim myself."
Him: "Well, I really, really want to finish the door, so you don't have to pay me for that time."
So, he came for five hours on Monday and only did half the work he said he would (a typical pattern). As he left, he called out to Snake, "See you tomorrow!!" Slam.
Furious, I called him when I got home and said as politely as I could:
Me: "Hi, I said I didn't want you in this week at all, and yet we agreed on Monday. I don't want you tomorrow."
Him: "Fine, I'll just come and take my tools. Hey, did you love the door?"
Me: "No, the corners look sloppy. Why didn't you do a proper miter cut?"
I think he wants to push me into a fight where I insult him and get aggressive so he can clear his conscience completely and say it was all my fault. I won't be pushed.
God, I fucking hate confrontation.
