blog_page14

Chapter 14
Genug. Basta. Enough.

Table of Contents

Days 395 & 396 - It's the weekend. It's beautiful. Sunday is Father's Day. My Mom & Dad are in Canada. Happy Father's Day, Dad (eh)!

Day 394 - At 9am, the man from Abbey Locksmith comes. He looks at my doors and the moldings around the doors and recommends a different type of lock, which, of course, he doesn't have with him. We reschedule for Monday at 8am. I get a call from Ed Mastro the A/C guy (wow, I finally have a name!). He can come over now. Unfortunately, I'm not home and Jefferson doesn't have my keys. We make arrangements for Monday. I also get a call from Jay at Popular Plumbing. He has my lien waiver, but I haven't paid him for everything. I said, I know, I thought we could meet and make the exchange. We're meeting on Monday (busy day!), and he said from now on, I should just call them directly. I said, yes, that is what I'll be doing from now on. In the morning, while I was making my coffee, I noticed that the only piece of granite that John cut was the window sill. The window sill is the only piece that didn't need to be cut. T minus 1 and John's not coming today. So, it's over. He still has to come and get his ladder (and let's not forget, sign that general release), but that's it. There's no real sense of relief.

Day 393 - Thurs. - Otto is supposed to come at 8:30am and Warren is supposed to come at 8:45-9:00 to pick up a check and drop off the form that I need to file with the NYC Building Department of Electrical Control. I do not want to meet Warren by myself. I really think he's a nutcase and he scares me more than a little. I am watching from my front window to see who comes first. Unfortunately, Warren shows up before Otto, so I call Jefferson and quickly tell him the situation and ask him if he can come and hang around outside, just in case (Jefferson is just slightly bigger than me, but I couldn't be too choosy). I meet Warren outside and he shows me the papers I need to file (actually he needs to file them, I just wanted make sure it was done). They are supposed to be typed, he has filled them out in pencil. I make a slight attempt to suggest I won't pay him, but in the end, I do. I know, I know. Don't even say it. Later on, I think to myself, I should have called over some police officers that were standing nearby, told them my story and asked their opinion about whether I should pay Warren (shoulda, woulda, coulda... ), but as I mentioned, Warren always seemed a little crazier than I would like for someone I have to deal with and I could imagine waking up one day with an electrocuted horse's head on the pillow next to me. I call Warren later and ask him to type another one up and get it to me. He says, "no problem." I'm skeptical, but worse comes to worse, I'll erase the pencil and type in the information myself. When I get home in the evening, I see where Otto has moved an electrical wire in my wall and "fixed" the wall. There is plaster dust on the floor and paint streaks dripping down the wall. I go into the bathroom and clean my toilet. Not that it's dirty, but when I know the workmen have been there and might have used it, I feel like I would be using a public toilet. I just clean the outside and the seat with Simple Green and a paper towel, as I just cleaned the toilet bowl yesterday. I cleaned it and threw the paper towel out. No flushing occurred. At about 10 o'clock, I go to the bathroom to "go to the bathroom." I won't go into graphic detail, I'll just say, I flushed and it didn't go down. What possessed me to flush again (maybe if I flush again, it will go down?), I don't know and why I opened the toilet tank and pulled the chain up, sending more water in, when none was going out I cannot fathom. Suffice it to say, I was now facing a brimming bowl at 10 o'clock at night without a plunger and too mortified to call Jefferson. So, I did what any resourceful New Yorker would do-- I found a 24 hour Duane Reade and bought a plunger. As you might imagine, I'm not all that well acquainted with the finer points of plunging, but you'll be happy and relieved (not as much as I was) to know, that it went fairly well and I can now flush without fear. Now, I'll confess, I'm a heavy toilet paper user, but this has NEVER happened to me in my life. I have vacillated between Otto and Louie as to who I think the saboteur might be. I think I was right all along-- both of them. I think Otto chucked a paper towel or something down the toilet. I'll never know, but it feels good again to think, T minus two and counting...

Day 392 - I call John at 3am to tell him I want the front bathroom cleaned and ask that he call me when he's on his way in, to tell me when the A/C guys are coming. Why 3am? I can't sleep because of the heat and humidity. I call again at a little before 8 o'clock. John was waiting until 8:00. The A/C people are coming a 9am and he should be there a little before then. He shows up at ten minutes to nine and the worst thing happens. He has a sheet of paper with all of the subcontractors names, addresses and phone numbers and how much is still owed to each of them. He has separate letters for each of them saying that I can pay each subcontractor directly. He has put down the total balance remaining, subtracted out the wall unit and the amounts owed to the subs, leaving a few thousand dollars still owed to him. I remind him about the assessment by the Co-op Board. He says he knows. I ask him how much he thinks is his fault-- I want a number. Long story short, he will finish up and I don't owe him anything. He promises he won't sue or put a lien on me (I'll be having him sign a general release). Although I was dreading it, I kind of wanted to have a scene where he threatened to sue me and I threatened to countersue for breach of contract and the shoddy work and the dangerous electrical condition in the bathroom. Instead, he was completely conciliatory and offered to tear up the bathroom floor, so I can have it redone. I have this great termination letter all ready to go, with copies to the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs and the Suffolk County Executive Office's Department of Consumer Affairs (Read great, unsent Termination Letter). Now, it seems unjustifiable to send it. Crap. I feel kind of cheated. I speak to my friend Lou, the attorney , and he agrees-- I should swallow my pride and bitterness and just ask John to sign a general release form. I speak to John later in the day. The air conditioning is working; they figured out radiant heat problem in the front bathroom (so it doesn't keep tripping the GFI); John's cleaning the bathroom, he needs to get a white "brillo"-like pad and it should come off okay. Why, why, why couldn't he do this eight months ago? In the evening, I have dinner with my parents. I tell them what happened today and how, now, I feel bad. My Dad thinks I have the contractor equivalent of the "Stockholm Syndrome." I think maybe, he's right. No joy in know, it's T minus three and counting. When I get home, although the A/C thermostat in the back of the apartment is set for 70�F, the room temperature is 77�F. That's not good. The front of the apartment is cool, but there is a whistling noise in the hallway. Great. Note to myself, call Murphco Air Conditioning tomorrow.

Day 391 - Warren leaves a message for me at work. If I need him to do anything or want him to sign anything, he'll come over. He needs the money, he says, to pay his mortgage. I don't return his call. I'm not giving him a dime until John signs off on it and Warren signs a lien waiver (finally, the attorney in me is coming out-- three years of law school weren't a complete waste!). John leaves a message returning my call regarding the A/C people and the list of subcontractors he was supposed to e-mail me. He says the A/C people are coming tomorrow and he'll try to coordinate them and the plumbers for tomorrow morning, when he will be there. He also tells me that his wife isn't home right now, but he'll call and ask her to e-mail me the subcontractors names, address and phone numbers. I never get anything from her and although I return John's call, I never hear from him. I call Abbey Locksmith and make an appoint ment for Friday morning to have top locks installed. T minus four and counting...

Day 390 - Monday, June 15, 2004 - I get a call from John at 7:20 in the morning. He never calls when he's not coming, so I am surprised. He tells me Otto should be there at about 8:30am and he will be there at 8:45-9 o'clock. He asks me to leave the door unlocked so Otto can get in. I ask where my keys are. He says, Louie has them and he's not coming until later. I ask that when Louie comes, and they all leave, that they leave my keys on the counter. If they need to get in again, Jefferson will have the keys. John says the A/C guys should be coming today (ha!), and maybe Warren and the plumbers. I tell John, Warren doesn't have to come anymore (since I'm already nervous about his work). John says he understands. I highly doubt it. I ask John to leave the names and telephone numbers of the Air Conditioning company and the plumbers for me. He says he will. I ask if he has the piece of granite for the backsplash. He does! I'm shocked. He's not sure if he has thinset to install it with, though. Whatever. I just didn't want to have to find something that matched the rest of the Astral Azul granite counters. At 8 o'clock, Doug from Apple Windows comes. He looks like "Sitting Bull." I've dealt with him before. He wasn't all that nice then or now. Of course, the windows were perfect when they were installed and anything that's wrong with them is someone else's fault. John takes the same tack. The beauty in that argument now is, that since Robert is no longer around, anything that is wrong (e.g., the tile surrounding the back bathroom window goes all the way up to the window, there is no visible window frame surrounding it, so tilting the window in for cleaning or repair is very difficult. John says, this was Robert's decision, to give it a cleaner look. Sure. Then why aren't any of the other windows done that way?). Sitting Bull leaves and soon after, so do I. When I leave my building, who do I see? That's right... John! I couldn't believe my eyes. I let him in, we talk a little and then I leave. Using the large amount of credit card purchases at Smolka, I have tracked down my custom-made shower enclosure. Suzette of Smolka said Robert called the installer directly and put the installation on hold. I knew about that, because I was debating whether to and/or how much of my front bathroom to redo. Smolka, however, was never told about this, so they closed the order. Suzette was very nice and said, as soon as I was ready, to call her and she would "get things back on track." I get various calls from John today and one from Warren saying John said I can pay him (Warren) directly. I speak to John and confirm this. I also confirm that whatever I pay Warren is coming out of anything I might owe John and tell John I will be sending him a letter to that effect to sign. He agrees. I am going to have all the wiring rechecked, so to pay Warren is just galling. When I get home, I see that John has set the granite window sill and the piece below, but the piece behind the sink is missing and the way he has cut the long piece under the windows sill will still make the backsplash assymetrical. Differently than before, but still not right. I call John and he tells me it will work. I tell him to "just bring the piece of granite back." He agrees. T minus five days and counting...

Days 388 & 389 - It's the weekend. It's beautiful. Saturday I pick up my peepholes from Kevin and my table from Victor. Little by little, I feel like things are coming together.

Day 387 - Fri. - I have a Spa Day with Karen and my Mother at Georgette Klinger. Massage, facial, manicure. More days should be spent like this. Afterwards, my mother and I race to Cranbury, NJ to a working showroom at Topdeq to look at computer furniture. I'm not sure about the computer furniture, but I may have found barstools for the kitchen.

Day 386 - Thurs. - I call Dana and thank her again. She says I sound like a new person. I say I feel like I'm taking control of things and I can see light at the end of the tunnel. She tells me she spoke to her supplier about the Blue Macauba. It's been coming in very grey and she wants to know if that's all they have before she orders my mosaic tile border. She says it might be that people aren't asking for it to be very blue and that they are just accepting what comes in. She'll let me know. She also gives me the name of another decorator. His name is Robert. Grrrr.

Day 385 - Today I started to take the bull by the horns. I called Kevin from S & L Metal Restoration (the one who rechromed my radiators). I think he has my peepholes and the metal pieces for under the radiators. Actually, he only has the peephole parts. That's all John gave him. John has had the peephole pieces for about three months now and just dropped them off with Kevin last week. I had wanted to mail them to Kevin, John said, no, he lives nearby and he would take care of it. Kevin and I talk and agree on what he will do and about how much it will cost, and we agree that I will come pick them up and pay him. I call Apple Windows and make an appointment to have my broken window measured and the other windows measured for screens (John and the guys seem to like letting them fall out of the windows-- I've lost three of them this way). I call Master Kitchen Supplies and speak to Shirley about the desk legs and having the brackets for the island remade. Robert took them to have two more holes drilled in each one, but they went missing along with Robert. More and more, I am finding out that Robert left a long time before I realized he did. Anyway, Shirley remembers the job, but doesn't remember seeing the desk legs or having the specs to redo the brackets, but she's going to check. I speak to my parents in the evening and while we're on the phone, my Dad looks in the White Pages for a Victor Cardenas who lives in Queens. Victor is the furniture restorer who has my grandmother's gate-legged table. My father calls two Cardenas's and strikes gold on the second one. I call Victor's cellphone and it is him and he does have my table and I can pick it up any day Monday through Saturday. A sense of relief washes over me.

Day 384 - I call John at 7:30am and leave a message asking when the A/C people are coming. John calls me back. He hasn't heard from Pete, the A/C guy (how rude!), so he doesn't think they're coming. Gee, do you think the A/C guys are busy now? Oh, and John is going to come on Monday with Louie, Otto and Russell (whoever he is) and really knock some stuff off the Punchlist. Yeah. Later, I get to thinking, if John isn't coming until Monday, I guess the A/C guys aren't either. It's going to be 93�F tomorrow. Have I mentioned, I hate John. I call Charlton, the professional tile guy (Dana had his number). When I introduced myself, he had no idea who I was, until I mentioned Robert's name. Charlton said, he had called Robert a few times a while ago, but never heard from him, so he thought I had decided to live with it or go with someone else. He's going to see if he has the original estimate or he'll come back, show me the tile cuts (I asked to see a sample-- ten times burned, eleven times shy) and redo the estimate. I meet with Joy Licht in the afternoon. She seems nice. She's a former decorator who now runs a contracting business. We start going through the apartment and I think she is surprised at 1) how much is actually done and 2) of the things that are done, how well most of it is done. She also likes my decorating and design choices. The two real problems in her mind are whether the electrical wiring is competent (I have my doubts, too) and the tiling in the front bathroom. We discuss that she will bring in her tile man, plumber and electrician and see what needs to be done. I tell her John has until June 18th and supposedly will be back on June 14th with a posse to knock off the bulk of the Punchlist. Ha, ha, ha! Joy asks me to call her on Monday or Tuesday to tell her whether or not he came. Anyway, the work that they do will be done on a "time and materials" basis and she estimates that it will take four to six weeks once they start. Cost of repairing Warren's wiring: ka-ching; cost of retiling botched front bathroom: ka-ching, ka-ching; telling John to get the hell out: priceless.

Day 383 - Monday, June 7, 2004 - I have a message from John when I get into work in the morning. The A/C people may be coming tomorrow and he wants to talk to me about his "logic." That's John's way of saying how he's going to schedule things. I return Joy's (my soon to be new contractor's) phone call, confirming that we are meeting at my apartment tomorrow afternoon. I call my friend Lou, who's an attorney, and tell him that things may turn ugly. He tells me not to fire John until the 18th of June, since I gave him until then (3 weeks ago-- he hasn't shown up since), because I don't need to give him any ammuntion. In the end, we basically agree that I will send a certified letter terminating our contract on June 18 and I will only countersue. I speak to John later in the day. He tells me he will see whether the A/C people are coming in the morning or afternoon tomorrow and he will call me back before five. I never hear from him.

Days 381 & 382 - It's the weekend. Saturday is overcast. I clean the apartment a little. Sunday it's supposed to clear up, but it doesn't. I go with my parents and Jessi to a miniature horse show in Bethany, CT. We watch Great Dane-size horses and their JonBenet Ramsey-like handlers for about an hour in a cold, constant drizzle. Surprisingly enough, we all enjoyed ourselves and talk about going next year, if the weather is nice. Hopefully, I can stave off this year's incipient pneumonia.

Day 380 - I call John at 7:30am, just to hear myself talk. When I get to work, there's a message from Warren the electrician. He'd like to schedule a day next week when he can come and finish up; if have a punchlist for him that would be great. The only thing is, is that John still owes him $2000 for the job, so maybe we can come to some arrangement... he'll take cash... or whatever. I don't return his phone call. I do, however, call John and leave a message with this information and the information that I do not owe Warren any money and I am not paying him. I don't hear from John today. I call Dana at Waterworks to see if Robert ever dropped off the mosaic tile sample. There is some confusion as to whether he did or not. In the end she tells me he did (I'm surprised). I didn't sleep well at all last night and Dana is very nice and when I started telling her about what's been going on and the fact that Robert is gone, too (I know Dana because of Robert), I kind of lost it. So, I told her most of the current state of affairs and as I said, she's very nice and she talked me down from the ledge and gave me the name of another contractor, a woman named Joy Licht. Now, this is not a Waterworks recommendation (they're not allowed to do that), but a personal one and to show how much Dana trusts Joy, she is probably doing her parents' renovation. Dana says she'll call Joy and give her a heads up, which she does. Joy calls me a short time later and leaves a message. I am out taking a walk, trying to get a grip. You know, there aren't a whole lot of places near Union Square where you can have a good cry. I know. I've looked. Anyway, when I get back to the office (another place not conducive to a cathartic cry), I call Joy. She seems very nice and says, if John hasn't finished the work, he can't put a lien on me and 13 months is an outrageous amount of time for the renovation of a two bedroom apartment. She tells me to send a certified letter to John terminating his employment and make it very legalese. She will come over and take a look at the place and tell me what she can do to "make me whole again." She makes me feel better. This night, I actually sleep for six whole ours.

Day 379 - Thurs. - John was supposed to come today with Otto. I called him three times today and he never picked up and he never called me back. Even before I got home, I knew he hadn't been there.

Day 378 - I call John, just to touch base and remind him that he said he was coming tomorrow. He doesn't call me back. You may have noticed that my mentioning of Robert has been remarkably absent. That's because Robert has been remarkably absent. That's right. Robert is gone. My guess is that between dealing with John for over a year and my recent, incessant phone calls, he's had it. I don't really know because he hasn't returned a phone call in two weeks and now I've stopped calling him. I knew that sooner or later, it would happen because that's how he deals with stressful situations. I can't blame him too much-- he's been dealing with this renovation for the better part of three years. I didn't expect that he would screw me though. He has names and telephone numbers of companies and people that I've order things from (and paid) (e.g., my shower enclosure, the furniture restorer [who has my grandmother's table], the stainless steel place [this one I can get-- Master Kitchen Supplies, but he took the brackets for the island and I think I'll have to have another set made], and Charlton, the glass tile guy). Not to mention that I would get discounts at furniture stores, if I went through him. Ah, well... the best laid plans...

Day 377 - Tuesday, June 1, 2004 - My parents drove me into the City yesterday and the three of us were able to get the boxspring and mattress on the bedframe! The "pillowtop" mattress is higher than the footboard, even with the shorter, more expensive boxspring and when I sit on the side of the bed, my feet don't touch the floor, but when I lay down on it, I feel like "The Princess and the Pea." Last night, I slept on it for the first time and it was heaven.

Days 374, 375 & 376 - It's Memorial Day Weekend. Let's take a moment and reflect.

Day 373 - Zilch.

Day 372 - Zip.

Day 371 - Wed. - I get a call from my parents at 8 o'clock in the morning. John came (only a half hour late) and dropped the table off. He says he doesn't have the three light fixtures, they must be in my apartment. Considering (other than clothing), I can count the number of items in my apartment on two hands (even counting the dust bunnies), I'm pretty sure the lights are not there. I wonder if they look nice in his house.

Day 370 - I call John at 8:45am. He's just parking his truck. This was the man who told me he gets up at 5am and would be at my apartment ready to start work by 7:30am. Anyway, John comes in and asks where I want to start, I say, "really this is just a general discussion." I ask when the wall unit is coming, it's been about four months; when the A/C people are coming; when the granite backsplash will be done; I show him Louie's stellar work; I tell him I'm afraid to use my appliances when I'm going to be leaving, because I'm afraid I'll come back to a flood or worse. I mention to him that in February I asked if it was reasonable to think we would be done with everything (except the second wall unit) in three weeks and he said, yes, it was reasonable (see Day 259) (obviously it was reasonable, but wasn't going to happen). I also reminded him of the day he came into my apartment after another client had kicked him out and he said, he had "two days worth of work left and she stiffed [him] for $20,000. I asked him how many days he thought it would take to finish up the punchlist and he said, with him and Otto (I think he knows my feelings about Louie's recent work and Louie is working on a bathroom for John), it would be about two, three days. I look at him incredulously and said, "so?" I'm preety sure the wall unit wasn't figured into that timing. Ha, ha! I start saying to John that one night next week, I'll come and pick up the dining room table and light fixtures that he took before demolition started, that he has been promising to drop off at my parents' house for about six months. He says he is going to bring them over tomorrow morningat 7:30am. We'll see. Before I leave, I tell John that on June 18th, I will be putting new locks on the doors. I think this might have been too subtle for John. Later on, I send an e-mail confirming what we discussed this morning and clarifying that on June 18, when there are new locks on the doors, he will no longer have free access to the apartment because everything will be completed, and if the wall unit is not completed, stained and installed, I will no longer require it. I'm pretty sure even he got the gist, but maybe not.

Day 369 - Monday, May 24, 2004 - John and I are supposed to meet tonight, "to go over things." Of course, when I call him, he tells me he can't, but we make arrangements for tomorrow morning. He says, "8:30?" I say, "the earlier, the better."

Days 367 & 368 - Saturday, May 22 & Sunday, May 23 - It's the weekend. It's beautiful. Happy Birthday, again, Dad!

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws