Phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Mate… can we come do the window sill repair for your bathroom today?”
It was the builder. I’d wondered how long “we’ll fit you in soon” meant.
“Uh… sure,” I said, surprised but relieved.
“Good one! OK, be there in 5.”
“OK. See you soon.”
SOON!
Crrr-ap!
Our bathroom! … aah! … let’s just say it’s… well-used.
Off I raced to move the piles of junk from the inside bathroom window sill. And from the floor.
I’m sure he won’t want to deal with all the razors, shampoos and random flannels everywhere.
Next thing…
The builder turns up. And gets to work banging, sawing, and cursing — healthy builder noises… good!
Right next to my office, mind you… not good. 😕
Oh well… at least we’ll have a window soon.
It’s been a while. You see…
Our bathroom’s been without a window all through winter!
This happened because we discovered massive rotting in the window sill while having our new windows installed.
At the time I confidently piped up and said: “I can fix it. Easy!”. Well… let’s not tell THAT long story today!
So… a week or two back I reached out for help.
And that help just arrived today.
Back in my office now, and I’m plugging away again at my daily email.
Keystrokes strangely synchronizing with hammer bangs. (Watch for this event at an upcoming Olympics!).
But, before you know it…
Barely 5 minutes later…
Vicki appears in my doorway.
“Uh… I’ve just heard from Calvin.”
“Calvin?” I replied, confused. “Which one?”
“Auckland Calvin.”
“Yeah?”
“He’s coming through town and asking if he can pop in and say ‘hi’?”
“Really? Cool! Will be great to catch up.”
We go waaay back, Calvin, his wife, and us. All the way back to adventures like getting stuck up to our eyeballs in mud while tramping (hiking) around the forest in West Auckland. Well before our “responsible parent” days, for sure.
Vicki and I knowingly looked at each other. We’d done this dance once or twice before.
WOOP! WOOP! All hands on deck! To your battlestations!
“You take the dining room. I’ll do the lounge,” barked captain Vicki.
“On it!”
Off I dashed. You’ll rarely see this middle-aged couch-potato move faster.
5-minutes… not even that… and… DONE!
A fresh, sparkly shine to each room.
And…
Who knew the carpet was THAT color? 😛
You’ve probably picked up by now:
We’re reasonably OK living with a certain background level of mess. But it does eventually hit “tidy your stuff away kids, or mum’s head will explode” status.
But, when visitors come…
We wonder what it would be like to be the ones who just about break their neck after slipping on a child’s half-finished project.
So…
We like to make at least one room habitable for guests when they come over.
“How long until he gets here now?” I ask, panting.
“Not really sure. He hasn’t replied to my message.”
“Ahh… okay… I’ll just get back to work for now.” (There’s an email that won’t finish itself!)
I sit back down at my desk.
A few short minutes tick by… and then a knock on my door.
My beautiful wife’s face appears again.
“Guess what?”
“Whaaat?”
“He’s not coming after all.”
“What? Why? What happened? I was looking forward catching up!”
“Turns out he was just stopping in town for a bit to eat, and thought I might be there at work when he pops in.
“But because he’s on the clock for work,” she explains, “And his colleague is with him… stopping by our place just isn’t going to work.”
“So, we DIDN’T need to run around like headless chooks after all?”
“No… sorry!”
“Well,” I say, in my silver-lining tone, “At least the lounge is nice and tidy for US to enjoy!”
“Suppose… yes,” she says, as she heads back to her favorite chair in the sun.
Now… back to my email. You know… the one I wanted to finish 2 HOURS AGO. 😣
The moral?
Let’s go with this…
It’s OK if I send my email a couple of hours later than I want.
That’s because I’m my own client.
But when working with other people as clients?
No.
They’re usually not the happiest when things arrive late.
So..
Tip o’ the day fur ye lubbers…
When your project is due in 2 days. Deliver it in 1.
A time buffer is your friend.
Allows for last minute “oops” situations caused by builders who want to come RIGHT NOW and random friend drop-ins.
PLUS delivering early sure is a warm fuzzy-izer for clients.
Mmmm… warm fuzzeees.🧸
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham