July 12, 2024: A handrail signifying nothing -

We hired a guy to install a handrail on our stairs back in February, and ... long story, but it is now July, and the project is not done, and the guy had nearly stopped returning my texts or calls. But I got ahold of him yesterday, finally, and when I asked him when he might get to our project, he said, "Can I be honest with you?"

He is abandoning the project, which I think is for the best. I was VERY GRUMPY about it yesterday, but today I'm finding it funny because "Can I be honest with you?" is SUCH a dumb question. It belongs in that list of Things You Shouldn't Say, next to "Don't hate me for saying this, but...." and all its friends.

Also, I'm laughing (wryly) because I'm remembering an even better home improvement failure/great line. My friend hired a guy to extend the heating system to a side room of her house that had no heat. Came the cold months, that room still would not warm up. So she looked into the crawl space, and there was no ductwork. The floor vent he had installed was decorative only. When she called him, his response was, "I knew this day would come."

She wins.

As I was writing the above, the failed installer drove up and gave me back the handrail itself (he'd bought it and painted it, before chickening out). I asked him to carry it upstairs for me, but he couldn't because it is too long to get from the doorway through the little hall and into the stairwell. It can't make the turn.

Not only that! Now that he is gone, I checked and it is twice as long as the place it needs to go. Here it is spanning our whole front room.

Rick was always dubious about the handrail guy. I'm betting he knew this day would come.