I thought I was going to lose my mind yesterday!

[Lorax]

We have been refinishing our basement for the past five years. Finally we got smart and hired a friend of the family who does this for a living to come over and finish up for us. Otherwise we'll never get it done. Wait, I have to tell you that all of our family are extreme Bushbots. We are the exception and it's the source of a lot of tension.

Usually I deal with that by reminding myself that I believe in tolerance and if I am in someone else's home, I try to be respectful and change the subject if it is too much to bear. Yesterday our handyman and his assistant were in our basement working and they had the radio blasting, you could hear it all through the house. Of all the things they were listening to - Sean Hannity. Ann Coulter was even on, talking about Godless liberals and all that crap. I wanted to go down there and scream, not in my house, not in my house! I thought I was going to lose my mind. However, this guy is not known for working fast and for some reason he was cruising along at a good clip, so I didn't want to break whatever kind of rhythm he had going on. I let it go because I just wanted him to finish what he was doing and get out. I'm sure our handyman just assumed we hold the same views as he does because the rest of our family are followers of the DimSon.

DH told me I should have poked my head down into the basement and yelled at him not to listen to that crap in my house. I'm thinking of saying something to him - but on the other hand, I just want him to hurry up and finish.

I'm just curious, what would you have done?

[Booster]

1. Same thing you did. You have to pick your battles and this is one

I would not have wanted to have while someone was working on my house. Like you, I would have just wanted him to get done and get out.

[Hekate]

3. Yup

Pick your battles. Let the men work and get gone with your thanks. Sometimes earplugs (or the Serenity Prayer) are your only solution.

Hekate

[Lars39]

2. Kept my mouth shut.

Good re-modelers are hard to find.

[Berserker]

5. Good re-modelers

don't have the radio on so loud you can hear it throughout the house. We respect the homeowners and ask them if it's ok if we even have a radio on.

[Lars39]

13. That's called consideration and good business sense.

:hi:

[Monk06]

16. I'm with you Berserker >>>>>>>>

Good workers are too busy to listen to the radio.

The guys I worked with were as silent as ghosts.

They would kick you out of a room if you interrupted
them with small talk.

I worked with a sixty year old dry waller who put in
eight hours a day on stilts with five pounds of mud
on a pallet in one hand and the biggest spreader you
could buy in the other.

If you called him by name you better be telling him
something he needed to know to do his job. If not
he would set your hair on fire.

[rucky]

4. Even though it's your home,

you invited him in to work.

Now, technically you are the boss, but I personally like to treat skilled labor with as much respect as possible, seeing as they're performing a service that you could not do yourself. And if that show of respect means letting him listen to whatever while he works, i suppose I'd grin and bear it as well.

I've had to put up with my share of country music while someone else was on the job. Just think of it as another obnoxious form of entertainment.

[Haole Girl]

6. You did the right thing, no matter how right

I got into it with a physician once, when he brought up Bill O’Reilly. Our relationship has never been the same. I don't believe that one was worth it, because there was no changing his radically right mind and now there is a certain tension between us. Live and learn.

[pretzel4gore]

10. i thought hippocrates oath was '1st,, do no harm'

if someone's a bushevik, he's not a real doctor, no matter how much paper crap he has on the wall. O'reilly is a lying punk who promotes murderers.

[tridim]

7. If he's putting up drywall,

Go down tonight and write "Bush sucks" all over the drywall in magic marker.. He'll have to live with it until it's painting time. :)

[tabasco]

8. Tell him to turn that crap off !

For crying out loud, IT'S YOUR HOME !

Your employee has no reasonable expectation to come into your home and play a loud radio while working.

You should have stood up for your rights and told the dumbass to turn that crap off or leave your house!

Now he wil think it is perfectly ok to do it to somebody else.

Good grief.

[DURHAM D]

9. I would have said something like -

Listening to Sean, eh - I listen to him and Rush sometimes when I want to understand where people get their wacky ideas and bad information.

Chuckle and move on - don't engage.

Your handyman will definitely think about it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. I would have told him to get the F out and finished it myself.

:shrug:

[seabeyond]

12. i owuld have waited until they said how unchristian liberals are....

adn then, i would say,.....what, they say i am not a christian. how horrible is that that they would say i am not christian. do you think i am not a christian.....

and let him say no. and he would. every repug with the fundie dems arent christian bullshit,... i look right into their eyes and ask,.... am i not a christian. and make them tell me what a good christian i am, cause i am.

oh also, then i would go on to say how unchristian and offensive talk like that is, then into the divide and hate....

probably would have sat down there for hours talking. yup

[Lorax]

17. Yeah but...

does that still work if I'm not Christian? Because I'm not. Ann the Man was talking about liberals being godless, not unchristian. I don't know, I heard her voice come on and I started washing dishes because the running water was the only thing that would block the sound. So maybe she talked about being un-Christian, but I didn't hear it.

[seabeyond]

21. guess you would have to have a different argument, lol

turning the water up high works too. you get the work done and get em out of the house

and there is no way i would waste my time trying to validate myself without being a christian to any of these people. the only reason it is an easy argument for me is cause i am.

besides, you will get the basement done and it will feeel so good. we have a tough time finding people to actually do the work we pay for. we got our gardens done this year, adn just feels good

[stillcool]

14. I would have blasted the stereo...

and drowned them out...but I'm a brat.

[napi21]

15. If you're paying the guy, you should have courteously said

I'm very busy upstairs and cannot concentrate with your radio playing that loud. Please turn it down or off.

Then go back upstairs and do you own thing in peace and quiet.

I think you were right in not instigating an argument, but as a paying customer, you have every right to demand compliance with YOUR wishes.

If the job is complete now, let it alone, there's nothing to gain. If it's not finished, my advice will still work just fine.

[Merlot]

18. I would have requested he turn it down but not mentioned the content

If these people are friends of your family they either expect that you too are a bushbot, OR they know that you're not and are doing it to annoy you/start something.

Reardless of the content, they should respect your home.

[Just Me]

19. I would've asked them to turn it down 'cause "those people" give me,...

,...a headache and thanked them in advance for complying.

[Mika]

20. Take another radio downstairs and blast AAR at the same volume.

Tell them its the only way you can listen to reichwingnut radio. You'll turn AAR off if they turn off Sean and co.

:evilgrin: