The Bathroom Remodel -- Part two of ... ?

The contractor was supposed to come on Saturday.

Guess the key word in that sentence.

I asked, on Friday, if they work on Saturdays and, if so, when I could expect them.  Somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00, he said.

I was disappointed.  I'd actually hoped they'd take Saturday off because I really needed to sleep.  It wasn't so much jet lag as stupidity -- but I'd been getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep each night, and I had really wanted to sleep in on Saturday.  Drat.  But still, I'm all about getting the remodel done quickly, so I went with it.

Got home Friday night to find some progress had been made.  New lights and a new fan had been installed.  Also, something had been done to the base of the shower, 'cause it was filled with a couple inches of water.  I guess they were water-testing whatever surface they'd put in.  Good.  I questioned, though, whether they were really going to come at 8:30 the next morning, since I'd thought a water test traditionally went 24 hours.  And the thought also skipped through my mind that this might be the time they needed the inspector from the city to come out -- because I always get a permit for these things (yeah, I'm all law-abiding and stuff) and since the rough plumbing and electric was done, I thought this might be the time for that.

Still, he'd said 8:30, so I set the alarm for 7:30.  I was not happy when it went off the next morning (although I think I'd managed six whole hours of sleep that night).  I got up, showered, locked the cat in the bedroom, and waited.

And waited.  And waited.  Called his office around 9:30 to see what was up.  (I had left his cell phone number at work.  Where it was doing me a lot of good.)  She said she'd page him. 

No return call for an hour.  I paged him again.  Finally, around 11, I got a return call.  It began with, "I owe you an apology."  A good start.  "Do you know what I need to apologize for?" he asked.  I took a stab at it, "Because no one is here working on my bathroom?"

Got it in one.  Seems Iwas right about the inspector thing -- and he had totally forgotten about it when giving me time estimates on Friday.  So he'd need to go down to City Hall on Monday and make an appointment, and then I'd get an inspector out on Tuesday, at which time he could continue construction.  

(Wow, we're gonna have one serious four-day water-test.)

"No problem," I said (as I let the cat out of the bedroom).  "I don't mind that it'll take you longer; I just need to know in advance whether you're coming or not."  And my contractor, who clearly has a sense of humor about this sort of thing, says (not entirely incorrectly), "I believe I've run out of excuses on this job." 

On the bright side, I realized this meant he wasn't coming on Sunday either.  I got to sleep in with no alarm at all.  Got about 15 hours of sleep.  Man, I needed that.