You never know who is going to walk into your house when you hire someone via phone. For instance, is it really any surprise when the stereotypical plumber comes to your house and has the pants that are falling below his waist? You have to look away when he bends over. We've all had those experiences.
But this ol' country boy surprised me. He had clean, pressed, nice looking clothes. Handsome, might I add. Talkative. He thought my project ideas were "cool". I wasn't able to afford all of my cool projects, but did manage to get three really nice wall-to-wall shelves put in for books and decor.
From a customer point of view, I was really impressed with him. If he was even 5 minutes late, he apologized first thing as he walked through my door. If he couldn't make a scheduled visit, he would call me ahead of time and explain. These seemingly insignificant niceties really are not insignificant these days anymore. Oh, the rudeness of people -- I could do a whole blog on that topic alone. Consideration -- that is all that I ask of people.
I also needed to hire a handyman, but on a whim, asked my carpenter if he could take on some non-carpentry related work. I needed a shower nozzle changed (I didn't have the strength or tools to get the old one off), and I had a chandelier that I wanted installed in my bedroom. I was surprised that he said he could do these things, and so happy that I didn't have to make all of the arrangements to have a second person work on the chalet.
He replaced my shower nozzle immediately (and for the record, he needed to get a special wrench to get that old one off). On his way back into the house after he retrieved this mammoth-sized wrench from the truck, he said, "I happen to have my weed whacker in my truck, so I can trim down that area in your front lawn." [Even though I am in the middle of the woods, these obnoxious 12" blades of grass were poking up everywhere mocking me every time I walked from my car to the front door.] After all of my "thank you's", he said, "It is a House Warming gift from me." Aw. Can you believe this?
I then showed him the chandelier that I wanted put up. Look -- it is really girly girly. All of these strings of pearl beads cascading down. I was kind of embarrassed -- I mean, how many people put a chandelier up in their bedroom? But he said, "Wow, that is beautiful!" So if he was going to make any comment at all, I was so glad that he said that one!
My country boy proved trustworthy, as well. Since I am only at the chalet for 24 hours per week (Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon), I entrusted him with my house key so that he could fit his work during the week. Never was a thing out of place, no treasures stolen, no sawdust left behind, and no paint splatters to report. And he always locked the house up tight when he left.
After taking measurements, or going over the cost of the projects, he always slipped in the most interesting comments. It was an accumulation of these comments --little things-- that really started to hook me on this country boy. The more he talked, the more his life values and strong character came out. I realized that we had some of the same morals, views, values, ethics, perspectives, and "issues".
I wanted to spend more time talking to him. Looking at him. Swooning over him...
But now he has completed his projects. I didn't have extra money to throw at more projects because I am saving up for something else now that needs to be dealt with soon -- otherwise, that would have been a good way to get him back in my house.
I knew he was busy one upcoming Saturday night but free the next morning, so I called him and said that I wanted to thank him again for all of the extra work that he did -- and I invited him out to breakfast at the clubhouse. [The chalet is on a resort.]
It was the most gorgeous and perfect day. We chose a table outside that looked out on the 18th green and the mountains in the distance.
We spoke for hours. It was fun. And of course, my crush on him got stronger.
I've seen him once since that breakfast, and now this coming Saturday night we have plans to go to the clubhouse bar where they have entertainment on Saturday nights. And it will be cold enough in the WV mountains that they will have a fire burning in the huge stone fireplace. oooh - romantic!
Note: The term "country boy" is not meant to be derogatory. That is just how I will refer to him since I don't want to use his real name. Likewise, I am "city girl".
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