the agony of the unsecured butcher block

[cimorene]

The fact that Wax and I are both afraid of talking on the phone really sucks!

Why isn't there some kind of class to teach you to be the kind of person who can call places and be firm and/or yell at them until they fix things?

Both of my parents hate phonecalls too, or hate making them at least, so I never had a childhood model to listen to of someone being calm and competent and assertive on the phone, let alone making consumer complaints or whatever. I've often thought I could do it if I'd had a good model to absorb like a couple hundred example interactions from, but Wax's mom wasn't afraid of the phone (although she wasn't exactly the calling and yelling type). And Wax still didn't learn it from her. So maybe that's wrong.

In the meantime, if anybody speaks Swedish and is good at that and wants to call our contractor and ask why it's been nine days since we told the carpenters we wanted them to install the counters and four days with no carpenters showing up and yell that we have to be moved in in September, that would be great.

Why did they SAY they would install the counters but not tell us there was some problem if there was a problem? Why did they not install the counters if there wasn't a problem? Why did he not mention that we were looking at a full week of nobody installing the counter when Wax called him last Friday and asked if we were supposed to put the backsplash in before it was installed and he told her that that can be dicey because the counter can't shift at all once the backsplash is in? Why did nobody mention that they weren't going to show up at all this week when we saw them and talked to them last week? WHY??????? If the counter has to go in before the backsplash and the backsplash has to go in before the electrician comes and the entire rest of the house is waiting on the electrician, why delay the counter installation for four workdays while doing things that can be done at any time?

Comments

[syderia]

I wanted to comment on a couple of things.

First, I'm in a profession where cold-calling is part of business, so if you'd like tips on how to be less afraid of talking on the phone, I can share. (It's OK if you don't want to)

Second, regarding contractors' planning, what happens in France is that they are usually overbooked (and it's been worse since the lockdown), so they end up prioritizing the people who are the most annoying. So when you saw them, they intended to come back this week, and then someone else called because they were late and they went to that person's instead (lather, rinse, repeat).

[cimorene]

Actually Wax's job is phone customer service so she's technically a pro... although it's not MOSTLY cold-calling, it's mostly answering. But anyway, she still has the anxiety and she is just paralyzed by doing it in her free time specifically. Unfortunately.