Day 4 - Disappointed

To quote Rabbie Burns, The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley. The bathroom project is no exception. Fixtures were supposed to arrive today. As instructed, I called the plumbing supply at 6:45 am. I was told the dispatcher would be in and would be able to tell me when we could see the truck. No answer and an automated queue hell. The contractor called and I told him I had to wait until the office workers arrived most likely around 8am. Called back and was connected to the dispatcher. He had no record of our order, but he would call me back. Called the contractor to update him. Without the materials, they couldn't begin working.

In the meantime, took the Young One to physical torture. On the way home, returned the medicine cabinet we decided not to keep. Back at home, Himself had not heard from the dispatcher. He went off to run some errands while I called the dispatcher. I was supposed to receive a call back from one of the office clerks. He apologized when I told him no one called. He was waiting for the truck to return and our delivery would be scheduled between 1pm and 4pm.

Good news. Bad news. Good news, we'd be getting the fixtures. Bad news, until the delivery arrived the contractor couldn't work. I called and gave him the update.

At 2pm, the truck arrived! I called the contractor and he said he would be on his way. The driver began removing large boxes from the truck. Himself and I began taking inventory. Only half of the fixtures were on the truck. The contractor wanted to see the sink so he could take accurate measurements as the water lines need to be moved. No sink! No work and another day lost. The contractor stored the fixtures in a large trailer parked in the driveway.

I called back to talk to the dispatcher with whom I am now on a first name basis. Another apology and another promise to call back. The call was returned. Sorry for the mixup. The order was written on another sheet of paper. Hopefully, we will see the truck with the rest of the fixtures except the vanity as that won't be in until the 12th by 10 am tomorrow.

Because I used to dispatch cement deliveries, I have a feeling our delivery was forgotten and never scheduled. The reason half the order was on another sheet, was the shower and toilet were ordered back in January by another plumber that was going to do the job, but could not as the Lambie's husband who was going to do the work got a full time job and had no time except on weekends and I didn't want to wait 6 mos. for the bathroom to be done. Anyway, I think they found the stuff J had ordered loaded it on the truck and hoped for the best.

It's the kind of thing I would have done when a truck was pulled from a bag load to ship a bulk load to a big customer. I'd call the small bag customer and give some sort of excuse. The truck broke down, the palletizer broke and I'd promise him a delivery first thing the next morning.

I always made good on my promise. Hope the plumbing supply does too.

The bathroom is still ugly.