Up the Up Staircase

I was going to title this "Up the Down Staircase" but I know that that title has already been used by some famous writer whom I no longer remember his name. His theme was about racial matters but my theme is about hard work and finding good help.

I recently did a tiling job in a second floor bathroom. When I say second floor, I mean, in through the door, down a hall, up the stairs, and down another hall to the bathroom. The first 20 trips up and down weren't too bad, but by the end of the you feel like you have been on a stair stepper for about an hour.... or longer. You don't want too many dry runs up or down. The help I had certainly didn't help out with that aspect of the job.

So I needed to put this vanity top together and install the faucet and drain. I wanted to do that in the garage where there was room and where I had all the parts. I had to go upstairs to take some measurements. When I got back down to the garage, the vanity top had disappeared. So did my help. I ran back upstairs to find him and when I did I also found the vanity top. So, of course, I had to carry it back down. I put my help to work patching drywall and painting.

The next thing I needed to do was modify the back of the vanity to allow for the water supply and drain. For some reason I couldn't find the vanity. So back up stairs I went. Sure enough my help had carried it up. So, of course I had to carry it back down. I needed certain tools to work on the vanity, couldn't find those either. My help carried those upstairs and I carried them down.

The other thing my help is good at is losing tools. I would use a tool and put it back in the tool zone. When I wanted to use it again I'd go to the tool zone and the tool would be missing. So now I had to search. I'd ask him if he used the tool and where did he put it. Well, he couldn't exactly remember. Oh, he took it down to the garage to open a can of paint. So down stairs I went.

He is also good at stacking things in doorways. Go into the bathroom to work, turn around to leave and trip over something he set in the doorway. Pretty soon stuff is piled high in the door way. So I move the stuff and organize. But before long there are more lost tools and more blocked doorways. I bet he's one of those guys that parks as close as he can to the door at the super market, too.

I wish I could calculate the lost time spent looking for tools, parts, and stepping over piles of stuff. I'm sure it makes no difference to him.... my loss is his gain. Well, not totally. I will avoid using him on my next jobs.

But, man, I'm tired.