It's illegal.
I am a rabbit.
Looks like you two are in luck - there's room at the inn.
Might wanna be careful around the shower stall, though ....
While living in Lubbock, Texas my wife would call the utility company and be asked "why isn't your husband calling?"
boomerang
Maybe you have a demand & supply situation here? Is the US like Oz - suffering a shortage of tradespeople? Most of our tradesmen are now in their 50s because there have been so few to follow in their footsteps & take up a trade. Younger folk seem not to be interested. As a result tradesmen are so few & far between they can charge what they want. No competition!
My goodness!!!
Hmmm - dunno - as I said, I haven't felt gender problematic around this stuff - but the tradesperson who cheered in the little anecdote I posted earlier - did say :"He tried it on because you are a woman". Said it makes him sick - I dunno <nimh-like shrug>
I am going out for New Years Eve now!!!!
Happy New Year folks - even if you DO get it when we have already had our way with it!!!
I'm a no nonsense kinda gal myself. When I need to have things repaired, I tend to stand over their shouler and watch them so I can do it myself the next time around. I replace all small electrical stuff myself, such as doorbells, light fixtures, dryer cords, etc... My cousin is my mechanic, so thankfully I don't have to worry about my car, but I do keep a close eye on the plumber. I don't like being ripped off and in a nice way, I do make that obvious. I ask a lot of questions too.
dlowan's position is the only one here that I can empathize with. Gender insecurity is quite beyond my understanding. I always thought it might have to do with my being male, but I'm so glad to be assured that's not the case. To me, blaming a tradesman's unscrupulousness on the fact that the victim is female is just the latest version of playing the victim in the face of adversity.
I am lucky to be a man who is sometimes mistaken for a woman. How the tables turn there, speaking of insecurities. "Hey, you thought I was a woman, didn't you? Let's have a look at that quote. How about....15% off, or I tell your buddies?"
Lol! I have a terrible track record for mistaking men for women - for reasonable reasons - but, still, it is a humdinger if they notice...
I'm pretty good at fixing things too but I do know when its time to hire a professional. And there are some things (especially things that might mean crawling under the house) that I would just rather pay someone else to do.
I do understand your point, Merry Andrew but I do think that sometimes people try to pull one over on girls. I'm sure they do it to men too.
I've had a few too many of those experiences where salespeople talk around me.
I was telling Mr. B about what happened when he got home from work last night and he too thought the guy was doing a number on me. He was especially outraged that the guy would say that it could take up to four hours.
Anyway.....
Mr. B called another plumber. He came out and fixed the drain in 15 minutes for $65.
I suppose the difference could be that Mr. B knew the right questions to ask and I didn't but from what I can tell we both told the plumber that the drain was clogged and it needed to be snaked.
As far as the whole kid-gender thing it just always seemed to me that boys had more fun and did more exciting things. I always hung out with boys because I hated all those girl-type things and found most girls pretty boring.
To be honest, that hasn't changed much over the years.
I'm not gender confused and I'm strictly heterosexual but I have what has been described as rather "masculine attitudes" towards many things.
That might make an interesting discussion in itself.
Gonna bet all the plumber did was pull the J-trap directly under the sink outta the drain line (a couple 2ΒΌ" collar nuts is all there is to it), clear the obstruction, and reinstall the J-trap. That's the source of - and fix for - about 90% of sink drain problems, and 15 minutes sounds about right, if not more than adequate, for that particular job. A fair sized pair of expanding-jaw pliers or a strap wrench, along with mebbe a piece of coat hanger wire to clear the obstruction, likely are all ya needed. Any decent home-owner's do-it-yourself book woulda got ya there. The tool; about $10, the book; about $5 - total savings: $50 - and a buncha aggravation.
DrewDad wrote:While living in Lubbock, Texas my wife would call the utility company and be asked "why isn't your husband calling?"
Ha, that's typical for Texans. Have had similar experiences in
dealing with them. At first it's "Yes Ma'am" and they're so polite
but when you're calling upon their rip-off, they get quite discriminatory
towards women.
I think if it had been that easy Mr. B would have done it himself. Mr. B. is a very good fix it guy - last night he did try to do it himself. He too knows when its time to call the professionals.
As for plumbers and other tradesmen: I don't care to
do the work myself, they're the experts and they should
fix the problem. However, I don't want to get ripped
of in paying too much or having the whole toilet exchanged
just because the flush is broken.
I'm late to the party, but I've had my share of experiences like this...
When I wanted to buy my first computer (about 1993) I went to a local computer store that was touted as having superb customer service. My daughter (then four) and I stood, completely ignored, in that store for a long time, with salespeople walking past us toward men, before I left. I even tried to get someone's attention, but was put off more than once, with a "I'll be right back as soon as I help this other person" -- "other person" always a man. I was in awe of the "customer service."
A couple of years ago I wanted to buy a new monitor. My friend Steve drove me to several computer stores, where the salesmen ignored me and talked to him, even after we pointed out that I was the potential buyer. One a**, still talking to Steve, said, "She'd like this one because it's gray and will look better." (!!!) (That store is out of business now -- wonder why?)
I bought the monitor, and a couple of other electronic gadgets, at the first place where I was treated as the customer. (It was also the buy I wanted; I'm not so addlepated as to get the wrong thing because of salesmen's sexist nonsense. But I do hate it.)
Wy, that kind of stuff drives me nuts.
I've had similar experiences in camera stores - especially when I made the jump to digital cameras and had a lot to learn.
If I introduced myself as the owner of blahblahblah studio they showed me all of the very most expensive stuff - ones that did way more than I needed them to.
If I just went in and wandered around I would get ignored.
I finally found a little joint that would answer my questions and help me make the right decisions.
Its a bit of a drive and a little more expensive and I'll never be their best customer moneywise but I am certainly loyal and I've sent a lot of other photographers there too.
I used to sell used cars.
Women weren't treated any differently than men, except maybe we were nicer to them.
The people that were easy to make a killing on were those with awful credit...men or women. Inner-city folk with the IQ of a bag of gorilla pubes.
MA and Slappy ~ Walk a mile in our shoes. Believe me, it happens. We wimmins need to be on guard.
Ninja please.
You don't think guys get ripped off? My roomate got absolutely RAPED when he got his brakes done on his car a while ago. And last month I paid almost $200 to have our dryer fixed, it took 20 minutes and a part that probably cost $20.
