. My carpenter walked off, leaving me with a half-done job.
I'm just floored and very upset.
Today was Day 3. He was making good progress but had to go to Lowes to get more materials. We talked in great detail about what he had left to do, he calculated what it would cost and I gave him another $200 on top of the $500 I gave him at the start of the job.
He left around noon, and didn't return til 2:30 pm. While he was gone, I saw some oil stains his truck had left on my pavers, which was kind of upsetting. It doesn't look good but I went online and cleaning them seems fairly easy, just using dish detergent you let soak on the stain for 30 minutes, then using a scrub brush and then rinsing with hot water. I have it soaking in Dawn detergent now; hope it will work.
But anyway, he was annoyed having to walk further up the driveway since he couldn't drive all the way up. I explained why and pointed out the pavers. He actually said he thought I had put the stains there and said he "knew" I would try to deduct for what I owe him for the bookshelves becus of the stains. I never said I would do that. I just moved my car so he couldn't drive on the pavers.
But this wasn't the real reason he was upset, and I knew it. When I asked him what happened, he said some other driver hit his truck, but while they had damage to their vehicle, they only hit his tire and we looked at it and apparently there wasn't damage. But then he said he almost got arrested because HE LEFT THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT, but that the cop was "nice" and didn't make a big deal of it.
So he is VISIBLY upset, and I could understand that. I tried to calm him down and pointed out his truck suffered no damage and he wasn't arrested.
But then he starts talking about things I did that he didn't like. He said the day before I had turned out the dining room chandelier light, and that annoyed him. I turned it off when he left thee job for a while. It had been a cloudy day, but then the sun came out and since the chandelier is pretty dim anyway, I didn't think he'd need it on.
And then he went on and on about the pavers, that he knew where this was going, etc. He just went off on a rant.
I tried talking to him and explaining why i turned the light off and that i hadn't said anything about making him pay for the pavers, but when he remained agitated, I just went inside the house and thought maybe it was best he calm down by himself.
He's coming and going out of my dining room (i went upstairs) so after a while i look out the window and i see him packing up his stuff!
He was walking off the job! I tried to go out and talk to him again, asking him if he could just stop for a minute but he refused and the whole time I'm trying to reason with him he's walking back and forth collecting all his tools and equipment.
He said so many things that were completely irrational, that it just wasn't his day, etc.
I just can't believe this and now I'm wondering who the heck I'll have to find to finish this job. If he showed any interest in finishing it with maybe a small apology, I would gladly let him finish, but he was just so off the deep end I doubt he'll do that.
I'v known this guy for nearly 20 years and hired him off and on over the years and never had this happen. He has had some run-ins with the law and I do remember my girlfriend, the one who first gave me his info as a good handyman/carpenter, telling me a story about him getting arrested after he showed up at the police station with a rifle in the truck.
I think he has some anger management issues, clearly. He had several chances to just calm down but he just made things worse instead. I know he was upset about the car accident and the cop, but he could have recovered from that. You don't go yelling at your customer when clearly I had nothing to do with that, and if the pavers and my turning off the light really bothered him, there were better ways of dealing with it.
I'm holding out small hope that he might call in the next day or two to smooth things over, but I am a little doubtful that will happen. This really stinks.
I'm speechless, shocked, upset.
April 29th, 2017 at 09:13 pm
April 29th, 2017 at 09:25 pm 1493501129
April 29th, 2017 at 09:31 pm 1493501501
April 29th, 2017 at 10:16 pm 1493504195
April 29th, 2017 at 10:16 pm 1493504204
April 29th, 2017 at 10:33 pm 1493505205
In your shoes, I would never have hired this person. He clearly has mental problems and I would afraid of him becoming violent. Write this off and hope he does not come back ranting about some perceived list of wrongs.
April 29th, 2017 at 11:48 pm 1493509737
He clearly wasn't thinking rationally. One doesn't give up work for his irrational reasons, if they are in their right state of mind.
April 30th, 2017 at 09:40 pm 1493588457
May 3rd, 2017 at 01:12 am 1493773925
May 3rd, 2017 at 11:38 am 1493811516