Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Hopelessness of Others (continued)

Simon,
I'm not perfect. In fact i'm far from it. But i've reached a point of utter disbelief at the pathetic hopelessness of certain people who we're relying on to get this shop open. My first bit of advice to anyone who's thinking about opening their own shop. If your estate agent recommends a solicitor, I would suggest you IGNORE THEM. Ask friends instead. It seems pretty obvious now, but when we had the offer on the shop accepted 3 bloody months ago, there was no reason to think that this was going to be a problem. It is. That's all i'm saying. Our hands are tied at the moment, so any advice now is appreciated, but too late. We are still waiting for a letter to be posted that we thought had been sent before Christmas.
This is bad enough, but then we arranged to meet the signmakers outside the shop on Friday to show them what we wanted. They didn't show up....
Although this isn't a massive thing in itself, I think it was the thing that tipped me over the edge. I sort of lost it.
I spoke to Tim yesterday, and, once again, he's going to talk to the solicitor on Monday. It's not that I can't talk to him myself, but the stuff that needs posting is Tim's stuff, so it's got nothing to do with me. Tim, although a lot calmer than me, is equally pissed off and I hope he hounds those responsible all morning until this thing is ready to post. I then hope that we make sure it's posted by picking it up ourselves, as then we can be sure that it's done, rather than assume that it's done because we been told it will be. I'm probably especially pissed off because,
a. I'm running out of money and we're only paying each other £400 a month at the moment, and
b. i'm thinking about being a Father in July and I naturally want to get everything up and running and settled well before then.

On a more cheery note, Katie saw a mouse in our bathroom yesterday.

6 comments:

  1. Aaah, a little minky, we have one running about in our eaves!

    Seriously, it all sounds so frustrating for you (the shop...not the mouse!), sometimes I think all the efficient people have fled the earth.

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  2. Chin up Simon, you will get there and triumph over advertsity. A lot of people are going through it at the moment - but you can triumph over adversity and turn things around if you have the will. If anyone does then you two do. I know it is frustrating, but things always work out for the best in th long run.

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  3. Oh Simon what a nightmare! It's totally crap when people don't do what they say they'll do and so infuriating to keep chasing them. Keep at it, the bookreading public of Wood Green (and Hackney!) are depending on you!

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  4. Hello!

    Just thought I'd let you know (in case you hadn't already seen), that your hit counter is actually one of those bogus things that generate traffic and increase pagerank for a car loans website. You could get one from www.sitemeter.com, if you really want one.

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  5. Hello,
    i'll be a lot perkier tomorrow, I guarantee it. We only have this one last thing to sort out and then hopefully it'll be onwards and upwards.
    Thanks for the support. It really makes a difference knowing we have people out there on our side.

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  6. Honestly - people are so crap and then they expect you to pay for the service that they're NOT providing.

    All I can suggest is that you both rock up in his reception and say you don't mind waiting while he gets the documents ready to post and then you'll take them away with you. It will annoy him so much, not least because you'll be discussing his uselessness within earshot of other clients, that I reckon he'll get it sorted pretty sharpish.

    But like my epic hassles with BT, once it's sorted it will all be forgotten and the day you open will be so great that you won't care - hang onto that. And call me if you need to vent!

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