Hump Day

As a house manager I've dealt with my fair share of home improvement projects--I've jump-started cars, replaced leaky sink cartridges and water filtration systems, fixed broken lamps and garage door openers, installed widow treatments, configured home wireless networks, repaired storm doors and shower doors, and re-lit gas-powered water heaters--so I know each project has unique challenges. Knowing this doesn't make it any easier for me to stay calm about what needs to be done around the house, though--until I remember "around the house" means "at work" for me.

I recently took a step back to remind myself that at the end of the day, my work is just work, not my life, and that helps me to let a lot of little things go. (Is the dirty laundry piling up and the clean laundry not put away? C'est la vie.) I can't stress out about someone else's problems. It's not my place, or my responsibility, to do anyone else's worrying.

Still...it will make me feel a little bit better if I can share some of the annoying things that happened today.

• When I called Kohler customer service for help removing a stuck toilet seat bolt and anchor and the customer service representative read to me word-for-word from the anchor removal kit manual.  I had the manual in front of me. I didn't call for story time, I called because the manual does not explain what to do in case of product operation failure.
• When the removal/repair part I bought didn't work for what it's advertised for, despite promises from the man who sold the parts to me that "this is the only thing that works, short of replacing the entire toilet," forcing me to call customer service. Also when the manual even admitted this might be a possibility, and here I quote step two (which was later read to me over the phone): "If that doesn't work, the bolt might need to be pried out of the anchor or drilled through."
• When the fence repair company I called two weeks ago was no-call/no-show for a price quote appointment, then told me they are "too far away to just do a repair" when I called to ask why they never came. Uh, you already set up the appointment. If we are out of your service area, why didn't you mention that before I made the appointment? Let me also add that this is a repair for something the company itself installed. We weren't too far away then, were we?
• When the fence repair company spokeswoman told me they don't do "just repairs" or are "too far away to just do a repair," but had no suggestion for other, closer, companies for me to try because they are "the only company who does these repairs." What?

These are only two of my current ongoing projects. I think it's safe to say they won't be resolved within the week, and possibly not even within the year if today's progress is anything to go by. I commend all homeowners who survive home improvement projects with their sanity intact. It's a mad world out there.