Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Christian, a Hungarian, and an atheist walk into a house.

I'm not happy today. And not in my usual jovial sarcastic way. I did wind up getting sick from Vegas. It sucks, but it wasn't unexpected I guess. My back also got tweaked in Vegas to pre surgery levels. So last night I spent sleepless and spasm-ey.

And - my contractors are driving me nuts.

This is the thing. I decided early on to delegate jobs at the crap shack to those who were best qualified. So, instead of having one guy do all the work - we'd have a kitchen guy do the kitchen, roof guy do the roof. You get the idea.

When I was in computers I learned very quickly the differences between generalists, and specialists. Generalists know a little about a lot of stuff. Specialists know a lot about one thing. I'd say I'm more of a generalist. And this is how I treat my contractors.

Hiring a generalist to do all your stuff gets you into trouble. Plus - I don't really like having to depend on one person. That also gets you into trouble. So now I'm at the point of pulling in new contractors. Or ones I haven't worked with as much - and its stretching my communication abilities pretty hard in ways I hadn't anticipated.

For instance my kitchen guy - who we've worked with before has become a more dedicated born again Christian. This presents all sorts of tiptoeing around for me. Reveal my beliefs, and things quickly start to suck for me.

I've got a new tile guy who is Hungarian, apparently. He doesn't speak much English. I don't really have any Hungarian skills. And the guy who normally does my fence work is out of town, and has referred me to his dad who speaks quite a bit less English than my guy. Which sucks all around, because I haven't worked with him - and the weather is conspiring to make my life miserable. The fences at my place are propped up on both sides, and I am forced to deal with these neighbors. Plus a new worker.

I have like 10 minutes before I get my back worked on. Maybe I'll have a somewhat better attitude after that.. but for now. Not happy.

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