Paper, not plastic

Our house is an old one, at least by US standards. The bulk of the house was built 1830. A sun room was added in 1998, and a wing containing an oversized bedroom with small kitchen space (cupboards, sink, and fridge) with its own bath, shower, and walk-in closet plus a room above this overlarge bedroom was added in 2001. In order to connect the new wing, a small hallway was constructed at that time with a half bath (toilet and sink only) and a large closet where the washer and dryer are stacked. The old part of the house needed a new roof, and after contacting five businesses and receiving three bids (the other two couldn't be bothered for some reason), i selected Company H. I'd been saving my pennies, knowing that we'd need a new roof at some point, and was glad that i had enough in the bank. It would be but a simple matter to transfer the funds and write the check. Done.

I signed the paperwork 01 July and gave then a check for the deposit. I didn't realize until later, the person on behalf of the company, who signed the same time i did, dated his signature as "08/01," which reads As August 1st in the US. Whoever does the scheduling saw the 08/01 and didn't schedule my job for August, which i'd been told would happen, but in September. Well, as long as it was before first snow, it'd be all right.

They did arrive just before mid-September and finished the job in two-and-a-half days. They were quiet, efficient, and careful to clean up as much debris as possible. There was one change order as two soffit boards needed to be replaced. Not surprising, and i signed off on the change order. It was about $250 more. I had called to explain that i'd be sailing for a week immediately after the job was done, so if they sent the bill as soon as the job was done, i might not be home to receive it.

After sailing, SFB was going to help Himself and i take our boat out for the season, but something else happened instead, as i noted here.

I was back into work mode, checked my emails, both business and personal, and deleted oodles of junk emails in my junk folder. I do tend to scan them, just in case one or two are misfiled. By month's end, when things were starting to get back to normal, i double checked the paper mail. No bill from the roofing company. Strange. But, maybe they bill a month out from the job. A month out, still no bill, so i call and talk to the same man i talked to initially, who had done the estimate for me. He explained that they had emailed me a bill. I checked my email, didn't see it, and told him so. He thought it may have gone into my spam or junk folder. Nope, nothing there, but i did have those hundreds when i finally got back on-line...yes, maybe i had deleted it. Well, if they could send another, that would be great.

And i check my email both the inbox and junk folder. Daily. Nothing. About 10 days later, i decide i'm going to call again and ask for a paper invoice. I'd been expecting a paper invoice all along, really, but hadn't gotten one, so yes, a call is best to see what's going on. I couldn't do it right then as i was on a teleconference for work. I have one project that seems to breed these telecons like rabbits. I don't mind when they contain agenda items that are really useful for me, but this one decidedly didn't, and my mind had gotten to wandering. We were to be done with the telecon at noon, so after that, actually after i went to the loo, i'd call the Company H.

Coming out of the loo at 12:04, my home phone rang. I answered. It was Kelly from Company H calling, wondering if i'd be paying my bill? I told her yes, i would be glad to pay it as soon as i received one. I must have inadvertently deleted the email they sent, had asked for another to be sent, and was still waiting. If it were easier to send a paper invoice, would they do that, please? Yes, yes they could. Excellent.

Company H is less than six miles from my house, so it wouldn't take more than a day to send something snail-mail. And i get the mail promptly. I deal with it immediately, recycling junk mail, after i have assiduously removed any trace of my name and address. I have a spot for the bills that need to be paid, and a spot for things to peruse. If the peruse spot gets overfull, then i dump all the contents after removing name and address info. Still, i check to make sure i haven't somehow misplaced the bill. I check each piece of mail Mail Lady Stephanie delivers. Nada from Company H.

I am somewhat bemused by this. Don't they want their money? I would. The work is done, has been done for six weeks. And so, this week, when it gets to be about seven weeks out, and i have errands to run, i decide i'm going to pay a visit to Company H. I had planned on transferring over the money from savings to checking once i had a final total, but not before. Long ago i decided i'd never write a check if the money wasn't in the account, or if i did, i wouldn't mail it until after i made the deposit. Were i to be hit by a bus, i didn't want bad checks to add to whoever was going to be sorting my affairs. It's a habit i've rarely broken.

From my banking days, i knew that businesses paid a fee to accept credit, and later debit cards. They paid by the transaction, and it's typically a percentage of the transaction. Most use 3%, some use 4%, and some can go higher depending upon the set-up. Along with the "i never write checks unless the money is there, or if i do, i don't mail them until the money's there" rule is the practice of nearly always writing a check or paying cash when i'm dealing with a local business, so they don't have to pay the 3% for me to use plastic. Yes, anachronistic, i suppose, although nearly each time i ask if i can pay by check because i don't want to stick them with the 3% plastic fee, i get a grateful smile, a nod, and "Of course you can pay by check."

On my way to Company H, i had my checkbook, but hadn't transferred the money from savings to checking. I had credit cards with me and decided i was going to pay the balance with plastic. Because my bemusement slid to miffed. I walked in, and talked to Stacy who remembered me. She noted that yes, they had sent me an email a few days after the job had been completed. I explain it must've gone into the junk folder, and go on to explain the follow-up calls. Yet i still don't have an invoice. Stacy says she can fix that, and she presses the print button. I look around Company H. It's a small space, small enough that the other two people i spoke to could have very easily called out to Stacy as they were on the phone with me to generate another invoice.

I see that the change order adds $257 to the bill. I pull out my credit card and am in the midst of handing it to Stacy when she says,

"We don't take credit cards."

I stop for a moment. I can understand not taking cards for small transactions, but a new roof is not a small transaction, although seeing so many of their signs at some huge places, i realize my roof job was a small one for them.

"We've been busier this summer than any of us can remember," Stacy is saying. I murmur how that's good for their business no doubt. Then i explain that i didn't transfer the money yet from savings to checking, if i give them the check....

"I won't be getting to the bank for a couple days, so that's fine, " Stacy nods.

As i write out the check, i tell her how happy i am with the roof, that with this last wind and rain storm we had, everything was great. She thanks me for letting her know, always nice to hear things are working as they should. She thanks me for the check as i neatly fold up the invoice and put it in my purse, to be file in the house file upon my return home.

On my way to the bank, where i feel so very reckless for coloring so far outside the lines by giving a check i know to be no good until i get to the bank, i figure what the hell. I stop at the quickie mart for a lottery ticket.

I do not get struck by lightning nor hit by a bus. I get to the bank quite easily make the transfer, and breathe a sigh of relief once i get back in my car.

It had been my plan all along to pay by check, so it's no skin off my nose that Company H doesn't take plastic, but i wonder how often people just assume they do, and when it's time for payment, they find themselves unable to pay?

Company H isn't a one-man operation, which if it were, i wouldn't be surprised that there's no plastic option. It's not a huge company, either, but it's large enough that i just assumed plastic would be a part of their world.

We'll see what changes in two or three years when the later additions to our house will need new roofs. In the meantime we'll be saving our pennies.

Flock of Seagulls

I live about three miles from the coast. Now, to those who live inland, this means nothing, as they would look at where i live and where the sea is and say, for all intents and purposes, that i am indeed living on the coast.

And yes, i can smell the salt in the air when the wind blows a certain way, and i can definitely feel it in my bones, in a good way, so i am close enough to the sea for my tastes, even if i haven't a water view. To obtain one of those, i'd have had to move the decimal point over a tad for housing, so i got as close as budget allowed, and am happy with that.

The house is situated at the bottom of a hill--some would call it a mountain, but technically it's a hill, and it seems that has a bearing on things, too, especially where weather is concerned. The forecast will say something like, "trace to 2 inches of snow on the coast, and 3 to 6 inland." The snow arrives, and although the map clearly shows me in the "trace to 2" zone, i watch the snow pile up. After a few times, i caught on, and now just look at the inland expected amount. After these storms, when i drive to the coast on the coastal road that is a main thoroughfare, i see that "trace to 2" was accurate.

One other thing i've noticed is that i seldom see seagulls at home. Years ago, i read how if you see a gull inland, a storm is approaching. Since moving here, each time i've seen a gull flying overhead as i stand in my yard, we have a storm within 36 hours, and usually 24, so this rings true in my neighbourhood.

Himself and i went out to eat over the weekend, celebrating Valetine's Day a bit early. We went to a wonderful local place that's known mainly for its seafood and pasta dishes, and which serves gigantic portions. We split the sausage and mixed seafood platter served over little round bits of pasta, all covered in a zesty tomato sauce. The mixed seafood comprised nearly a dozen mussels, easily a half pound of haddock, and a half of a lobster in the shell. Instead of the usual lettuce and tomato salad this place serves, the cook made a ratatouille with cannelini beans, potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, and zucchini (marrows). There were also huge slabs of artisan bread.

We ate our fill and still took home some of everything for later. By the time i thought about having the leftovers for lunch, i realized the seafood was probably a bit dodgy. Having had food poisoning a few times, i thought it best to find something else for lunch.

I took the leftover seafood in its takeout container to the compost bin, and in a cackhanded moment, dropped the container. It flew open and fell on the ground just outside the fence. I went around to retrieve the container and knew something would come along and eat the food. My money was on the crows who come round from time to time.

Within a quarter hour, i saw first one seagull and in a blink, it sounded like a caucus with more arriving by the second, squabbling over the leavings. One quiet one nonchalantly dragged the lobster shell away (we had helped ourselves at the restaurant by picking pieces out of the shell, and except for the claw, which i tore off, the rest of the shell came home with us). With a few deft picks, he got the biggest morsels before another bird came over to see if any was left.

Both cats were enrapt, and i stood there as mesmerized as they were. The noisy babble continued and abruptly stopped. They all seemed to realize the bits they wanted were now eaten, and it was time to move on. Silence roared after they left, and i made my way outside to see what remained. Three empty mussel shells, and a few spoonfuls of pasta.

I had to check the weather, of course. Increasing clouds with chance of precip on Thursday.