An Arrogant Homeowner: A True Story
Fitzpatrick-Since Peg hasn’t been able to respond yet, I’d like to entertain you with a recent tale from the trenches. Would that it were a fable:
You travel to Italy. You stay in a Tuscan farmhouse for a week. You fall in love.
You come home to California, to your tract house built in 1984. You want to transform it.
You solicit estimates from professionals. It’s outrageous how much money they charge!!! You hire a crew of illegal immigrants for cash to remodel your house. They’ve trained for generations as farmers in Jalisco; unlike the family from Chianti who plastered the farmhouse, who’ve been at it since the Renaissance. One of the crew steals your purse and charges every one of your credit cards to the limit. Since they’re unlicensed and not citizens, how do you find them, and what is your recourse when you do?
And you’re too dumb or arrogant to know that with its amateur architecture and shoddy workmanship, the pro’s are laughing at your job. Not to mention the farm boy from Jalisco, who’s got the best sanchas in Tijuana charged to your Visa.
But don’t worry. Since all the other architecture and workmanship in your neighborhood is probably just as bad, your neighbors and your friends won’t be able to tell.
Honest.
You travel to Italy. You stay in a Tuscan farmhouse for a week. You fall in love.
You come home to California, to your tract house built in 1984. You want to transform it.
You solicit estimates from professionals. It’s outrageous how much money they charge!!! You hire a crew of illegal immigrants for cash to remodel your house. They’ve trained for generations as farmers in Jalisco; unlike the family from Chianti who plastered the farmhouse, who’ve been at it since the Renaissance. One of the crew steals your purse and charges every one of your credit cards to the limit. Since they’re unlicensed and not citizens, how do you find them, and what is your recourse when you do?
And you’re too dumb or arrogant to know that with its amateur architecture and shoddy workmanship, the pro’s are laughing at your job. Not to mention the farm boy from Jalisco, who’s got the best sanchas in Tijuana charged to your Visa.
But don’t worry. Since all the other architecture and workmanship in your neighborhood is probably just as bad, your neighbors and your friends won’t be able to tell.
Honest.
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