Still waiting for Godot's tradie.
I’m kind of curious about what other people—by which I mean normal people—do when they’re stuck at home waiting for tradies.
I’ve just chewed through the better part of four workdays doing exactly that. And while I do work from home, which should mean I can just get on with things while I wait, I find it almost impossible.
Part of the problem is that my office is down the back of the house, and of course, the tradies always need to come to the front. So I end up constantly listening out for them because I’ve had more than one occasion where they turned up, waited maybe a minute, then disappeared to the next job because I didn’t hear them arrive.
It’s that split focus that kills me. I can sit down in my office, fire up the ol’ word machine, fully intending to write—but as long as I’ve got one ear cocked for the sound of the gate or the dogs barking, nothing really gets done. My brain just doesn’t settle. In fact, by the end of the day it’s usually throbbing with a headache.
I know most people aren’t like me. Or at least, they weren’t—not until recently, when a lot more people started working from home. Maybe now it’s an issue for them too?
So I circle back to my original question: What do people do when they’re stuck at home waiting for a tradie or a delivery or whatever and they can’t seem to focus on what they’re meant to be doing?
I genuinely don’t know.
i quietly fume at the lack of reliability of some people not turning up on time and the inconsiderate nature of some humans. But then totally nod in understanding when said person eventually turns up for a five minute job that philosophically i could do myself if i watched enough youtube videos, but in reality would likely inadvertently open a hole to another dimension where some creature emerges to, if not eat my soul, then at the very least cause enough damage to require some other tradie that i'll have to wait for again the next day.
I've always been close enough to the front door, or had an office upstairs at the front of the house. At the moment we have a doorbell. However, we lived in a regional area of NSW for a long time, and now in Victoria, and the biggest advantage appears to be that things happen quickly, tradies organise a time and let you know when they're on their way or will be late. Maybe your problems are part of the big city attitude.
Same with having to see a specialist. You can get an appointment in good time in most cases.