Saturday, May 14, 2011

What a week

Over the last 5 weeks I have closed 2 jobs each week, at least one of them (sometomes both) between five hundred thousand and a million dollars.  Can you say mentally tired?  Very.  At the start of the week I didn't have too much going on and figgered it would be a good thing to just coast.  A couple of small jobs; a little-bitty bank renovation in Turner Valley and selective demolition (the officail title used at tender time was deconstruction, is that what they're calling it now, and why didn't I get that memo?) of a building that was built in 1948 that was being used as an Emergency Call Center.  Both small jobs that were extremely easy (the bank) and very easy (EOC) for me to put together. 
Then all hell broke loose Wednesday.  The boss had put a budget number together in January for one of our favorite general contractors and got a call that they had drawings now, could we put a hard number together for it?  They needed somebody on site for Monday.  Didn't seem to be a problem 'til we had a look at the drawings.  This is a bigger job than the general thinks.  Going to be around five hundred and he wants a price for Friday.  Wonderful.  I'll do my best.  I jumped on it first thing Thursday morning, got my bill of material out to the distributors and got down to the nitty gritty of doing a take off.  Worked my ass off all day and was feeling pretty good about being ready to close it Friday afternoon when I left for the day.
When I got home I had the very first outdoor happy hour of the season (YAY) and went in to watch the hockey game.  I would have liked to watch the whole thing, I think the outcome would have been different for Buck's Beloved Wings if there had been just one more out there rooting for them, but it all of a sudden reached up and hit me smack-dab up-side the head at 7:30; I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, I had to go to bed.  And.  Crashed.  Then the door bell rang and someone was opening the inside door and knocking on the inside door and the girls went nuts, flying down the hall and barking.  They don't usually bark when the door bell rings I think what set them off was the knocking on the storm door.  I leapt out of bed, grabbed my robe, and went down the hall after them.  When I got to the door there was a guy standing there with a clipboard in hand.  I opened the inside door and told him I wasn't interested. 
Him:  "But I'm from Telus" (flashes fancy laminated ID on lanyard around neck)
Me:  "I don't care.  I've dealt with you highway-robbin'-bastards before and I'll never deal with you again.  When will you people get it through your thick heads and leave me alone?!"
Him (glancing at partner, must have been a training session):  "Whoa".
Me:  "And don't you know it's quarter to ten?"  SLAM, and LOCK.
I had been so out of it when everything started that I had glanced at the clock (of course without my glasses on) and mistakenly read 9:45, not 8:45.  Sound asleep for just over an hour, great.  I was so verily PISSED over the whole thing.  First that he had the audacity to think that he could just kinda invite himself in by opening the storm door, second that it was fu**ing TELUS at quarter to nine, and third that he woke me from a very sound sleep.  And of course when I went back to bed I stewed for a couple of hours.
And then last night at about quarter to 12 there was knocking, almost exactly like the night before.  Of course the girls went nuts and flew down the hall.  I jumped out of bed and went to investigate.  Checked my front door (a quick peek through the glass), nobody there.  Looked out one of the front bedroom windows to check on my truck, nobody out there and headed back to bed.
I had no sooner crawled back in and laid my head on the pillow when I heard thumping.  Sat up and looked out the window to check on the canopy that I had put up on the deck, thinking that the wind was trying to carry it away (it hasn't stopped all week) and saw the neighbor's man door in the garage opening and closing almost like the wind was having a go at it when I realized that no, someone was in there trying to get out and somone else was in there trying to keep them in.  The door slammed shut and there were some more thumps and the whole building shook like one of the parties involved was being slammed against the wall.  The neighbor lady emerged and went to the house.  Her husband (?) came out and followed her, stopping to unlock the house door when he went in.  The lights were on inside and I saw him moving around and then come out and sit on the unfinished deck for a while and then try to go back in the house.  The door must have been locked again with his keys inside because he went to the garage and closed the door and all the lights went out.
So what to do, Gentle Reader?  I've been beat up enough times to know how it goes.  And these two get into it often enough that I don't think it's healthy for their 3 little kids to grow up thinking that's how mommies and daddies treat each other.  AND is he beating up on the kids too?  Do I get involved, or not?

6 comments:

  1. Abuse isn't something to turn a blind eye to. I know it's easier said than done.

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  2. I know Dani. Do I call the cops?

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  3. Do I get involved, or not?

    That's a tough one. I think I'd get involved if and when the violence spills out where you can see it and there actually IS violence being done. Some people's style of argument can be VERY physical yet not involve battery on the other person. There are a lot of broken objects and holes in drywall across this land...

    Thanks for the linky-lurve!!

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  4. Rough week. As for your quandary, you do mention that there's a history there which puts a little different light on it. If it's happened before and you heard and saw what you saw this time, then the inference of abuse is a logical one. I think I'd call the authorities.

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  5. Thanks for your thoughts everybody. I think I'll call the non-emergency police number and just get it on record in case something like this happens again. Wouldn't want an incident like we had here a couple of years ago where a seemingly stable guy killed not only his wife, but also his kids and a tenant that lived in the basement. Everybody in the neighborhood said "Huh?"

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  6. Deb, I read this right after you posted it...been pondering on it.

    Every day I see abused women, children, (and some men, too) come through the ER at the hospital. Buck makes an excellent point about people having different styles of arguing.

    I think you're wise to report what you saw. It's a real struggle for a "live and let live" guy like myself to put my nose in other peoples' business. But you might keep an eye out, and if something like this happens again, maybe call the cops and report that you think somebody's trying to break in next door, or something.

    I mean, just a cruiser and a couple of cops on the scene might settle things...and put the guy on notice that somebody's watching.

    Dunno. It's a tough one.

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Please feel free to comment, but also remember that as bad as I can be, my niece may be reading this so behave!