Not a good day

This morning while I was getting ready for work, the cell phone rang. It was "Beth" from the electrical contractor. She was trying to explain that they can't even begin their work until the cabinet-removing/installing contractor gets a permit to do their work. I told her I didn't know anything about it and to call Home Depot.

When I got to work, I called her back to ask her whether she'd received the letter from the condo, and she said she hadn't. She then went on again about the other permit, saying that the other contractor is trying to reach me to get money for their permit. (No, they haven't been.) I then told her again I didn't know anything about it and to call Home Depot. I also called the condo office and left a voice message asking them to please fax an original of their letter to the electrical people.

I then faxed Beth my copy of the condo letter and asked her again to contact Home Depot about the other stuff, quoting a sentence from the contract, which reads, "Permits may be necessary to obtain and will be the responsibility of The Home Depot Authorized Representative."

At the next opportunity, I called "Helen" at Home Depot and first told her about the electrical permit. "They're just getting around to that now?!" she said. (I told her they had first called me about it last Thursday on the cell, which I'd left at home.) I then told her about the other permit they were talking about, and Helen voiced some skepticism over the necessity for that. I asked her to please call the electrical contractor and talk to them and get back to me.

Several hours passed and I hadn't heard anything, so I called Helen back. She said she had left a message at the electrical contractor but that no one had returned her call. I asked her to keep me posted and then called Beth back. I told her Helen had called and left a message, but Beth said she hadn't received one. (What's that about?!) Then she said she'd tried calling Home Depot earlier (more than one, in fact, and none mine). She read one of the numbers she'd called (not the right one) and I then gave her the correct number and told her Helen was there at the moment and to please call her right away. This is not the first time the electrical people have had a problem getting these numbers right.

I never heard back from Helen (or the other contractor who needed money from me, for that matter). I called her several times and left a message at Home Depot and also a voice mail on her cell phone.

So I'm in limbo now. I was pissed and said so (to the electrical people). I could tell Helen was pissed, too (and told the electrical people), since she's the one running the show, so to speak. If the cabinet people need money from me to pull a permit, why haven't they called me? They have all my phone numbers.

It's out of my hands as I sit here with no kitchen and the days pass in a tangle of snafus and botched communications, with no progress being made.