So I'm supposed to be upset about this?

[SeaCat]

At 1700 I received a call from my friend that she had a job for me. A client of hers needed their Garbage Disposal replaced, they had the new one. As I was talking to her work called and informed me that they didn't need me to show up tomorrow. They already had two Aides coming in with only 28 patients.

Okay so work doesn't want me to come in tomorrow. In a 12 hour shift I would make $132.06. The other job, putting in the Disposal is going to pay me $300.00. Somehow I'm not crying over this.

Replacing the disposal might take me an hour. My friend already has the replacement part.

If this handy man work was a bit steadier I would quite work. I have had days where I have made more than I make in a week in work. Kind of sad actually.

In work I take care of people. I help them heal or I help them die with dignity. I make shit. On the outside I make a hell of a lot more doing the work people aren't willing to do themselves. (Kind of like the work I do in the hospital.)

The big dfference is in work I take care of people and help them keep their dignity while outside of work I just keep them from getting their hands dirty.

Something is wrong with this picture.

Cat

 

[rgraham666]

Been aware of that for a while, Cat.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Yeah. Plus, no one knows how to do these things, and they are afraid to try. A friend of mine asked me to help her with her leaky faucet. I said; "I'll show you how," and she said; "But what if I get it wrong?"

I said; "What do you mean, get it wrong?" and she said; "I don't even know what that might mean!"

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Yeah. Plus, no one knows how to do these things, and they are afraid to try. A friend of mine asked me to help her with her leaky faucet. I said; "I'll show you how," and she said; "But what if I get it wrong?"

I said; "What do you mean, get it wrong?" and she said; "I don't even know what that might mean!"

Dead right. Somehow people have forgotten the power of inspired messing around. I won't work on auto engines and electricity scares me a bit but otherwise, what's the worse thing that could happen? The faucet leaks? It's leaking now. Try again.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

There are only two things that I really refuse to do. Well, three, but I'm not counting buying food for other people at the super market right now

I refuse to clean toilets.

I refuse to play around with computer hardware. I have screwed that up before, and I don't like trying and getting it wrong and having to pay $1000 to fix the problem that I just created trying to get it right by myself.

 

[SeaCat]

There are only two things that I really refuse to do. Well, three, but I'm not counting buying food for other people at the super market right now

I refuse to clean toilets.

I refuse to play around with computer hardware. I have screwed that up before, and I don't like trying and getting it wrong and having to pay $1000 to fix the problem that I just created trying to get it right by myself.

Nor do I like playing with computer hardware, if it's my main computer. I can break a computer just by opening the case and peeking inside. This might be why I dislike working on new cars so much.

Older non computerised engines on the other hand? I'll play with them.

I love playing with electricity. (I do respect it by the way.) It's amazing what you can do with it. The same with other nasties like gunpowder, gasoline and all kinds of fun chemicles you can find in stores.

Toilets don't bother me. I have cleaned them, unplugged them, replaced them and repaired them. On the other hand I don't like cleaning the drains for showers. (Yuck) It's disgusting what you find in them.

Cat

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'd hire you to clean my gutters! Not comfortable on rooftops., or extra-high ladders.

Which brings up another thing: Most people don't have the equipment at hand. Add the worry of figuring out what to buy combined with the worry of how to do it, plus the notion of having to store these things that cost money but almost never get needed-- better to pay the guy who is already prepared.

 

[jomar]

But if you don't try things, how do you justify buying cool tools?

I don't do cars anymore either. But most small stuff I'll give a shot, including messing around in computers some. No gutters anymore though - roof's too high and the pitch is steep in this house.

But $300 to install a disposal? I'll take a few of those!

 

[SeaCat]

But if you don't try things, how do you justify buying cool tools?

I don't do cars anymore either. But most small stuff I'll give a shot, including messing around in computers some. No gutters anymore though - roof's too high and the pitch is steep in this house.

But $300 to install a disposal? I'll take a few of those!

I've done gutters on a three story house once. Steep pitch roof and all. Then again I tied off to the roof and wore my old climbing harness while working from the top.

I have some cool toys, most are antiques.

Cat

 

[jomar]

I've done gutters on a three story house once. Steep pitch roof and all. Then again I tied off to the roof and wore my old climbing harness while working from the top.

I have some cool toys, most are antiques.

Cat

lol

I don't know how to rappel! I paid a guy to do it and it didn't look as bad as I'd thought, but I still don't want to take the chance on this one.

Antique toys are cool. But so are the new clever ones.

 

[SlickTony]

See, it's not given to everybody to be good at the same things, which is why the world's such a diverse place.

I'm uneasy around heights, and the pitch of my roof is considerably higher than that of the house I came up in. When Hurricane Carla came along and denuded our house of shingles, my dad decided to put re-roof the house himself, so he did and we all pitched in. If the house I'm living in now had a roof like that one, I might have considered doing the same thing, but I didn't, and my husband pointed out that my dad was less than 40 years old when he undertook this project.

So we had it done, a crazy episode in my life that I discussed on another thread.

What's the worst that could happen if you get it wrong? A worsening of the leak that could result in having to turn the water off for the whole house and then wait for someone to come in who knows what he's doing--and that will be Monday, because most people who do this stuff as a regular living are taking the weekend off to be with their families, while you, who spend the week doing something completely different, are beginning this project on the weekend.

At best you'll get it done and it will be OK. Our experience is in between, which usually involves skinned knuckles and at least one trip back to Home Depot exchange something that turned out to be the wrong thing.

We did replace our Insinkerator, as well as our bathroom faucet and sink, all by ourselves with no mishap, except that the sink needs to be recaulked.

We quit changing our own oil in our cars because of the difficulty in getting rid of the waste oil. When I was coming up, it was still permissible to dribble your old oil along your fence to kill the weeds. Now--horrors! Polluting the land! Aaagh!

So you take it to an oil-changing place. At least you used to. A few years back the place we used to take our waste oil to stopped accepting people's waste oil, so that we ended up having to put the oil pan in the trunk of the car, and drive to a part of town where you'd never go unless you lived there in the first place, which closes a half hour earlier than you even get off from work, and is only open half a day on Saturday.