Fired the gardener, house/dog/fish sitters, house cleaner, baby sitter....

So it was a long time coming. A real long time. But our friends have just had endless rotten luck since 2007 what with the economy going bad just in time for their 2nd child, and then the 3rd coming along. They lost their house, everything. We gave them every odd job possible, and they were always so dependable, knew and loved our animals, fed the fish well, handled small water changes in the tetra tank, and they're really well-meaning though utterly hapless.

But things kept going wrong...

5 large trash cans of my daughter's toys broken after they had an extended family get-together at our house while we were away. My daughter is very OCD and wouldn't let anything go from infancy on even though she had no trouble sharing her toys with any kid who walked in the door. Sigh.

Drawings in crayon and ink on the inside of a bathroom door and across the family room wall, also from the same gathering.

The doll that my mother gave me when I was 7, which fell into pieces when I took it out of a locked glass cabinet. Apparently, it had been taken out and treated roughly, then posed together in one piece.

Half our forks from our wedding set. Gone. Apparently, the middle child went through a phase of throwing out stainless flatware because he thought he was supposed to do so as with plastic. He is actually the good child.

The mother was watching my kid at my house but being a neat freak, she couldn't stop from cleaning the house. Which was nice except that she doesn't understand that bleach is dangerous. Frantic airing out of house with dogs and child camped out in backyard for an afternoon.

The injured stray dog they were hiding in their backyard. It was living under an abandoned mattress spring. I took it, got it operated on, neutered, all shots, license. $560. He's still with us as the friend who was going to adopt it has had her own family emergency. Sigh.

The uprooted aquarium plants, submersible heater suddenly set vertically, and missing mag float cleaner (it was *inside* the tank before it disappeared).

The roughly 100 dead Endlers in the soapy fry tank. The 4-year-old meant well. He thought he was helping to clean apparently. He is trying to be good, too.

The $1000 water bill (they didn't notice the broken valve or the toilet running for a week) and the $150 plumber bill (they didn't notice what the kids were throwing down the kitchen sink).

The $500 for lice shampoos and finally professional treatment (they didn't know their kids had lice).

And finally, after the father kept not showing up to do the yard work and the mother wasn't returning my calls, I went over to their house in a panic and found him drunk as a skunk in the middle of the afternoon. While I was having it out with his wife, who has given up, he went to get the kids. He came back with them, and I realized that he had DRIVEN the 5 blocks to get them. The kids apparently used to his driving drunk. At that point, I completely lost it.

So the parents are fired from all the odd jobs. We take the daughter out when we can because she's been our child's best friend since infancy, practically. I'm not allowing my child inside their house.

I called in some professionals to give me a quote to finally get our yard back into shape. $5,600.

Holy mackerel...

 

If only one of those had happened to me, friend or not they would have been fired. They also would of been given the bill for the damages and lost property.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to let people get out of trouble themselves and not help.

 

Oh my goodness That's just lame.

 

The problem, too, was that it was easier to go with someone we knew really well, who could be trusted to cook for our dogs (I prepped most of it, but rice had to be made), would take them to the vet, give pills. It was so much cheaper than the time we tried a "pet resort." But it ended up really costing us in the long run.

Very expensive life lesson and very sad. I've known them both since they were kids and had thought they had defeated the odds of teen pregnancy. Sigh.

 

So sorry, ec

 

Sorry to hear about all the problems you had when trying to help these friends. I hope that everything is sorted out for your own home soon.

 

If there's anything I learned from my debacle in '09, it's never trust jobs to close friends or family members. Paying the extra few bucks upfront can undoubtedly save thousands in the long run.

Terribly sorry you've had to experience such a thing. When I had my problem, it wasn't nearly as costly as yours but I still refused to have anything to do with my brother in law for a good 2 years.

Hopefully things return to a decent sort of normal for you sooner, than later.

regards.

 

Thnx for listening to my woes. I'm such an idiot. But I've had to face my own arrogance in this--realizing that I thought I could basically help other people fix their problems. Obviously. I can't, and the best I can do is out my family and animals first.