NEVER AGAIN!

My wonderful NFIL decided to do dh and I a "favor" recently by way of offering to pay us $100 if we would wash his gutters and soffits on his house. We didn't have to clean the inside of the gutters, just basically wash the exterior to get the dirt off. Dh and I figured it would take us an hour, tops, which would mean we'd make $100 for an hour's work. Not too shabby, right? So we told NFIL we'd do it. Lesson learned.


As it worked out, we showed up to NFIL's place at 10am on the hottest day so far this season - it wound up getting up to nearly 91 degrees that day - to find out that not only did he not have any of the proper tools for the job but NFIL also apparently expected us to wash the entire HOUSE (siding) as well as the gutters and soffits! Looking back, we should have told NFIL right there, "This is not what we agreed to. If you want to negotiate a price for us washing the rest of the house, fine. Otherwise, we're sticking to the original agreed-upon project." But, because dh and I are desperately in need of money lately, we took on the job.


After about 45 minutes of waiting around on NFIL to get back from getting gas - he told us not to start until he got back - and then another hour of trying to do the job with sub-par supplies, I'd had enough and called NM to see if we could borrow their pressure washer. Thankfully, they said it was fine and they only live just around the corner from my NIL's so dh and I drove over to get it. As it turned out, NM also had a scrubber brush with an extending handle so that dh and I could reach the highest parts of the house without having to go up and down the ladder ever few seconds which was another huge time saver.


It got hot outside quite quickly and it wasn't long before I had to go inside to cool down because I was feeling sick from the intense heat. I never did quite recover enough to go back outside and help so poor dh, God bless him, wound up doing the entire house by himself. And where was NFIL all this time? If he wasn't off working in his stupid garden, he was harassing dh and bitching about every little thing, saying dh missed this spot or needed to wash the house THIS way - read HIS way - instead of the way dh was doing it. Between the intense heat and the constant back and forth bickering of NFIL and dh, I was out.


What should have been an easy 1 hour job wound up being a SEVEN HOUR JOB. It was only in the home stretch on the last side of the house that NFIL finally got off his lazy ass and offered to genuinely help dh out. Of course that was only because dh was "taking too long" to finish the job! By the time we got home Saturday night, poor dh was totally wiped out. Worst of all though was that he had a very painful 2nd degree sunburn on his shoulders. We'd been in the shade for the first hour so didn't think to put on sunscreen right away - another lesson learned.


By the time it was all done, not so much as a thank you from NFIL. Figures. We felt the LEAST he could do, seeing as how it had turned into such an enormous job with us having to borrow equipment from NM for  crying out loud, that NFIL could have offered a bit more money, even just $50 more dollars but, of course, no. In fact, we only got $60 of the total amount and had to wait an extra day for the remainder.


Forward to yesterday, MIL (or should it be NMIL?) was here visiting with ds. At one point, we're chatting about poor dh - who was napping at the time - and MIL has the audacity to make a "joke" about how dh ought to have known better and put sunscreen on right away, going so far as to say that she had noticed it and knew he'd regret it. Really? Then why not SAY something, bitch?!! She then went on to say to that NFIL was "joking" about how dh is such an "indoor boy" and clearly can't handle outdoor work (read MAN'S work) outside! Talk about pissed! I said nothing to MIL at that time but I vowed to myself NEVER again will we do those people anymore "favors". Dh and I are constantly doing this or that for them. Meanwhile, the golden duo, NBIL and NSIL, sit over there next door in their big, fancy house and can't even be bothered to watch their own kid. Hell, the most "outdoor work" NBIL has ever done is sitting on his fat ass by his in-ground pool drinking a beer, yet MY dh gets insulted and after working his ass to the bone for over 7 hours and suffering 2nd degree sunburn for his efforts??! To hell with the lot of them! The next time they want something done, they can damn well HIRE someone professional to do it for them or do it themselves because THESE two doormats are officially retired!