Down on the Floor. 5-24-12

I kept telling him that he didn’t sand enough. There were still spots where you could see the old floor. There were many other things I thought he was doing wrong, that I tried to say nicely. I didn’t let him leave on Monday until he swept up his mess. I asked him to vacuum, but the vacuum just shot everything out in a cloud of dust. He came back on Tuesday and sanded some more. He kept saying, “This looks good, this looks good,” and “You’re the customer so I want to please you,” as if I were somehow eccentric in my tastes. He said that he was going to put the stain down, but I could still see spots where the old finish remained. Of course, I mentioned it. Then I said, “I’m leaving this in your hands. You’re the professional, and I’m paying you for this service. I had cheaper estimates, but I picked you because you said you were experienced and could get it finished quickly. You need to do the job properly.”

I looked up at one point, and he was pouring stain from the can onto the floors. He had his friend come by, and they were both rubbing the stain in, leaving huge blotches. He looked at me and said, “This is coming along really well.” I must have looked horrified. I said, “No, I don’t think so.” We decided to let it dry, and it still looked bad. He said it just needed another coat and needed to be rubbed in a circular motion. If I was more optimistic, I would have thought I was on one of those Candid Camera type shows, but no. He put the other coat on, and it started to look bright red and still looked bad. He wanted to put on another coat the next morning. I told him I wanted to see it the next day in the light. I cancelled him coming over the next morning.