Repair-folk

I choose tradespeople the way I choose bottles of wine.  I go for the prettiest ad (or label, in the case of wine).  I will admit up front that this is mainly because I don't really know any better.  And I've met some pretty great tradespeople this way (not to mentio n consumed some excellent - and sassily labelled - wine).  And then I decide whether those tradespeople can come back for repeat work based on in part, the work they do, but also in part, how they treat Boy-o.  No joking.  Boy-o loves people with tools.  He calls them worker-dudes.  Total worship.  And so, when 'worker dudes' come to hang out at our home for various jobs, he gets pretty excited.  And chatty.  Very very chatty.

We've had some pretty amazing kid-friendly people come by to do work for us.  Boy-o's favourite is still Freeman the electrician.  Freeman (PT Electrical, if you`re curious) saved our butts (possibly from an not-beyond-the-realm-of-possibility electrical fire) and talked to Boy-o the whole time about the jobs he was doing, tools he was using, etc.    It was above and beyond and super sweet.  Win/Win.

We have also had some serious duds.  The guy who came to change our oven element last week steadfastly ignored every question that came out of Boy-o's mouth, acted as if he wasn't even there, and then as he was leaving, looked at him and said: "You talk too much."  Never, never, never will the jerk from Accurate Appliance Repair be coming into this house again.  Ever.

The other day, we had the first (of several, we thought) company reps come by to give us an estimate on replacing some windows. Not only did he not pressure us to replace more than the four we can (read: can't) afford to replace, he was awesome to the kids. He patiently answered every one of Boy-o's rapid-fire questions, including (but not limited to): Do you know Diego?. . .Can you speak Spanish?. . . HEY! Do you have a penis?!

Um, yeah.  So much for estimates.  We pretty much hired that dude on the spot.  They`ll be back in June for more questions about windows, Diego and, more than likely, penises.