Chris,
If you've got a good hardware store, you needn't work so hard with your
acting skills. I find humility and honesty gets me a lot of really
good help. They don't even hold being an architect against me...once I
explain that I work on old buildings...then they think I'm interesting.
I've thrown myself at their mercy for things like my new
respirator...bought the safety glasses because they insisted (Female
variety store person seemed to really know her stuff and understood
that I had left my ego out in the car).
However, kids are kids. Chances are the 16 year old doesn't know a
damned thing and isn't interested in helping you. The eighteen year
old has been kicked in the teeth once or twice and will tell you what
he knows and look for help with what he doesn't know...consider working
with him/her an investment in better future service...I don't often ask
for help with things I really understand, like paint and primer and
brushes...and I go right to the store manager for capitol
equipment...lawnmowers, weed wachers and such...and make sure he
understands that if the damn thing breaks down I'm bringing it back and
I'll plant it on his anatomy...you can't do that at Home Depot. But at
the hardware store they know its not an idle threat.
Geez...you sure stirred up a storm. Now you got to fix that hole.
-jc
(what do you say when people comment that your work sounds interesting?
I always just smile and say, "It has its moments.")
-jc
On Saturday, May 3, 2003, at 08:08 PM, Met History wrote:
> In a message dated 5/3/03 7:37:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Soooooo, if its a concrete material, you could use a cement
> material...if my understanding is somewhat near correct, you'd want
> something pretty smooth and workable. But a little voice keeps
> telling me that you are patching wood...
>
>
>
> John, you have helped me clarify the problem. The lineoleum is laid
> bridging three materials - 1) the original kitchen concrete floor
> (tinted maroon, beautifully scored and covered over by my wife over my
> strenuous objections*); 2) a 4" wide trough where a cinder block wall
> was taken out and 3) the old maple floor of the maids room. The hole
> is just over the wood-to-trough border, in the trough itself (it was
> filled with cinder and carelessly patched with about 1" of concrete,
> and then plaster to level). The loose cinder so close to the surface
> caused the the top patch to wobble and fail, and so has the
> lineoleum. Now I realize that I need like-to-like, some kind of
> conrete filler. But as my Sears 1952 "Complete Home & Garden
> Handyman" says, "there is something about concrete work that makes
> strong men weak".
>
> Like Garrison Keillor, I too can admit my weaknesses (although I don't
> make money at it) and I am just going to throw open the door of the
> hardware store tomorrow, swagger up to the counter and say "Barkeep,
> give me a sack of the best concrete money can buy!"
>
> Then, unfortunately, he'll say "Oh, you want the 80-40, or the
> portland 30-aught-12? And, 50 pounds or a hundred pounds? " Of
> course, I am still working on the difference between cement and
> concrete, and don't really know what lime is, except you put it in a
> gin and tonic.
>
> So then, John, I'm going to say "Damn, I gotta call John back at the
> job!" and I'm going to back out real slow and go home and fill the
> sucker with melted wax and hope it stays pretty cold this summer.
> But John, please, please .... don't tell Suzy.
>
> Best, Christopher
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