There are few things I hate worse than waiting for a phone call. Lately I’ve been doing that a lot.
Some of it is because a couple of people emailed me that they needed help doing something computer related. A couple of weeks ago a woman didn’t know how to sign up for an email list and I offered to help her if she called me. She emailed back, “Thank you very much!” but never called. I could have called her back, but she’s the one who needs something, I shouldn’t be begging for the opportunity to help her. The same kind of thing happened nearly a year ago — someone wanted help, said they’d call but never did. It happened again last week. A friend is directing a play and asked for help getting publicity. I offered to help set up a blog and he wrote back he’d love that and that he’d get in touch. I gave him my cell number and have not heard back — although I saw him on Sunday and he thought we could talk Sunday but we didn’t get a chance. He said he’d call, but didn’t call today. The thing is — I’d be glad to help these people, but waiting for the phone to ring is a pain in the ass.
Another call I’m waiting for is from the plumber. Actually from two plumbers. I called my regular plumber on Thursday evening about a clogged up kitchen sink, but I think he’s broken-up with us because Dean thought he caused a problem with the bathroom sink and when he came back wanted us to pay for a second call. I thought Dean was being unreasonable. Dean thought Mr. Monk was. When our regular plumber didn’t call back by Friday afternoon, I called a plumber recommended by a neighbor. This plumber should have called this morning, but didn’t. I’ve had to take my cell phone into the bathroom with me when I shower, just in case it rings. Tomorrow I’m calling Roto-rooter. Forget these personable plumbers recommended by friends and neighbors. They obviously have enough to do and don’t need my money.
We’re also waiting to hear from a tutor. Andrew finally agreed to getting some help with parts of the SAT. Dean talked to a tutor (recommended by a friend) who suggested he start on Tuesday (that’s tomorrow) and we’ve not heard anything back.
On top of waiting for the phone to ring, we’ve had problems with the land-line phones. If you talk on them for more than a few minutes the line gets crackly. Verizon says we need to troubleshoot so we’ve unplugged all but one phone — to see if we hear crackly sounds on it. We don’t get enough calls to figure out if it is crackly or not. (And if you’re thinking we’ve not heard from people because of the phone problems — we’ve given out our cell number, not the land-line).
In addition to a clogged up kitchen sink, crackly phone lines, and people not getting back to us we’ve got ants. Not just one kind of ant, but at least two different kinds of ants crawling around our kitchen. We tried baiting them, but they seem to not be the kind of ant that likes the sweet bait.
Oh, and we also have grain eating moths that have an uncanny ability to get into bags of rice that have been put into a second bag of rice. I guess they have sharp teeth.
I wish we could just knock down the house and start fresh.
Clutch Cargo Lips 
Poor Dona. So many frustrations! Don’t you hate when they pile up like this?
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Yes Tina – I do hate it, but it is my fault. The phones have been messed up for months.
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Oh dear, I feel for you…
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Thanks, Helen.
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This sounds a lot like me (and my house). There have been times when that “I’ll call you” business was the bane of my existence. I would wait and wait for someone to call and then, when they did, it would be at the last possible minute and I’d have to scramble to get it done. Grrr.
We haven’t actively used our land line for a couple years. At this point, I don’t think we have a working phone to attach to it. Nevertheless, it took *forever* for some of our more clueless family members to stop calling it and leaving long voice mail messages.
We haven’t had ants in a while (knock on wood) but we used to be plagued with those annoying little moths in the rice. Finally I put the rice in glass containers with screw-on tops and moved it to a different location and that seemed to solve the problem. Not sure why.
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I hate making phone calls to begin with — then to have to wait on someone else to return my call just pisses me off. But perhaps the people I called hate making phone calls too. Maybe that’s it.
We do use our landline, so not having phones on each floor is a pain.
I’ve finally gotten wise to those grain eating moths and am putting all of our grain in airtight containers.
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Sooooo frustrating. What is the tutor for (math or language)? Just curious –I worked as a math tutor for many moons.
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Bridgett — Andrew is fine in math, but needs help with the language part of the SAT. He might get a few math pointers, but did really well on the math portion. He’s the opposite if my daughter who did really well in language and not so well in math.
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I am sort of waiting for someone to call right now—a friend of a friend who recently moved to Portland. Her computer isn’t up to snuff, but last night she said, “I’ll call you tonight, ” but nothing. She’s someone I’ve never met. I wonder how hard I should try to track down her number, but actually, I’m pretty busy, and so if she calls great, if not, maybe next time…and yet I feel I want resolution or something! Hey look, I’m commenting on your blog! It went right to it…we’ll see what happens when I hit submit!
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Hope your FOAF got in touch with you — if not, next time…
Glad you were able to comment. I went back to the old commenting system, but also the theme is much lighter than the old one. Hope it continues to work.
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I met up with her! She sent her phone number and I called her and we had a lovely walk! And look, maybe I am commenting again.
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You have my sympathies. Sometimes, it all gets on top of you!
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