Handyman Trouble

Clare's story of a stalker who claims to be unbalanced by the fact that her father is dying (and by sugar) has inspired me to tell my own story of a man unbalanced by the death of his mother. This story begins in September of 2002 when I moved into my current home with my sister and her family. We did the customary check-in sheet for the security deposit, noting that, among other things, the screen door in the dining room was damaged, the light outside the garage was missing and the upstairs bathroom sink leaked. Our landlady promised to have the light fixed within the week, and suggested putting a bucket under the sink (she's brilliant, obviously).

In August of 2003 my sister and brother-in-law moved out, and we moved upstairs. We signed a new lease and called Bonnie (the landlady) with a list of necessary repairs, which included, among other things, the still leaking sink and the never replaced light. In spite of many phone calls and two letters, Bonnie never had anything fixed. Apparently her regular handyman was incapacitated by the death of his mother.

Seven months after our move upstairs I once again contacted Bonnie. She sounded less than surprised to hear that nothing had been fixed and again gave me the lame excuse about her handyman (whose mother died over a year ago, for crying out loud). Then, she insisted that I call him since her reminders weren't working. I gave in, simply because I would like to use my screen door some time this spring. I called, left a message, and after four days the guy finally called, with, what else, some story about having been out of town for a family event related to his mother's death.

I was on the phone with this guy for a good 15 minutes repeating myself over and over until he finally seemed to grasp what we need fixed, where we live, and we managed to set up a time. He said we could just leave a key for him, but I thought "heck no" and told him someone would be home. Well, naturally he showed up four hours late, and only managed to remove the screen door and to take off the plate covering the wiring for the outside light (which, of course left some lovely exposed wiring, a great thing considering the rainstorm which was brewing when he left). He promised Justin that he would be back the next day but later called and said he had to order a part and it'd be better if he came back on Friday so he could get everything done at once. Of course he was several hours late on Friday too, and only managed to replace the screen door. Apparently he had the wrong parts or was missing other parts to fix all of the other problems. So he's supposedly coming back today to "finish up" (yeah right!).

I have, so far, avoided being home when he's been there, but the general consensus is that this guy is more than a few bricks short of a load. What I fail to understand is why our landlady insists on using this guy to do the repairs, and also why it is that supposedly he was a perfectly capable and reliable handyman until his mom passed away. I understand being incapacitated by your mom dying, but really, it's been a year, and if he can't behave rationally by now he should seek some counseling and tell his employer he's not up to the job.