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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think this is really inconvenient ?

407 replies

darkcloudlooming · 04/12/2017 17:24

So national grid are replacing the gas pipes on my street and in my home.. ( why don't people just stick to the saying if it's not broken don't fix it!) so today is 'my appointment' for them to come and disconnect my gas to do this. So I had to allow them in at 8am this morning ( I told them to come back at 9 as I said I had breakfast and kids to get off at school) so they came and disconnected it and now I have to wait all evening between 4pm-8pm for them to restore my gas supply. So they could come at any point whilst I'm cooking and I will have to cook tea ( gas cupboard is in my kitchen next to my cooker in a cupboard!)
So now my kids will have to eat their tea whilst having strangers come in and out of the house. It's annoyed me! And we have had no hot water all day!
Am I being unreasonable to think this is inconvenient and unacceptable ?

OP posts:
Original poster
darkcloudlooming · 06/12/2017 08:58

@harrypotternerd no I would NEVER expect your DP or any worker to put their life n danger.. all I meant about your partner is ( the way you worded it) sounded like he deliberately left it off when he didn't need to. Why word it that way to get a reaction? If he could have put it back in after he finished the work he should have done or else it would be very unprofessional not to. I would not expect him or anyone to keep power on.. I just meant he could have been sympathetic towards people who have to go through the disruption

OP posts:
Original poster
darkcloudlooming · 06/12/2017 09:00

So they came and turned it off... the guy said they will need to come back in at 1 and that's perfectly fine with me as I will be in. But then he said he needs access at 3 which will be virtually impossible because that's the time I go to pick my kids up and I won't be back until 3:40. I have no one to stay in my house and they said they need to have someone stay. DH is working. So can you see how hard this is for people with young children? They are going to have to wait. That's not me being awkward.. it's physically impossible to be in 2 places at once

OP posts:
shhhfastasleep · 06/12/2017 09:05

Which is why you plan in advance to deal with it. If this is the most inconvenience and vexation you have ever had in your life, op, you are doing pretty well.

Roussette · 06/12/2017 09:05

Can't tell you how many times I've been in that predicament. Young DCs, no family close, feel like I have no one to ask to help out for half an hour Then I get my thinking cap on, make a few phone calls, chat people up and someone steps in.

dark this is life with young children, this is normal. I just can't understand why this is such a huge thing. Having kids is always about juggling things.

harrypotternerd · 06/12/2017 09:06

that is the thing, the work he was doing it would have been dangerous for the people living in the house to have the power on over the weekend (could have caused them to be electrocuted or could have started a fire) he normally is sympathetic but when he was told by this particular woman that she was paying him so he had to leave the electricity on and if he was electrocuted then she would call an ambulance plus would constantly swear at him because 'he wasn't going fast enough when quited for 3 days of work it should only take 1' and constantly knocking his tools over and told him he should not have his lunchbreak his sympathy went pretty fast. when he explained why he could not have the power on for her over the weekend (he did provide a generator but that apparently was not good enough for her) she lost it at him and said her husband will be 'fixing him up'.

BastardGoDarkly · 06/12/2017 09:06

GrinI've just realised its lather not lava

Did you explain about the school run? Pretty sure 40 minutes would be ok?

Roussette · 06/12/2017 09:07

p.s. my DCs are grown up now but I remember it well. It's hard when you don't have any family close

DownstairsMixUp · 06/12/2017 09:11

Yabu just get them a McDonald's or something. I don't have gas, all electric though so don't have these problems.

Lillithxxx · 06/12/2017 09:22

I’m out of this.
Realising OP is just a miserable mood hoover with no inclination to make her life better. So glad I took advice when I was struggling all those years ago. Saved me from myself.

ptumbi · 06/12/2017 09:22

I had 3 dc and NO family close (within 120 miles)

I made as many friends as I could, with kids the same ages. I had to, i couldn't be in 3 places at once to see xmas nativities/assemblies/doctors appointments/pickups...

Don't you have any friends, OP

StealthNinjaMum · 06/12/2017 09:32

OP I was one of the more sympathetic posters - having been inconvenienced last year by gas works with no notice - and I completely understand that today will be an inconvenience. Some of us don't have neighbours we can trust with a key or friends who can look after our children. In my case I have a very lovely child but with some behavioural issues and your scenario today would cause a problem.

However your anxiety is coming across in your posts. People have repeatedly asked why your husband didn't help? Perhaps he's abusive or lazy and that is the cause of your anxieties? Are you too embarrassed to admit this? If I were as anxious as you appear to be my dh would step up and support me.

I meal plan and it would be SLIGHTLY IRRITATING to make sandwiches for the DC instead but they would like it. I might put down a picnic blanket and let them eat in their bedroom! (When we were burgled they seriously loved this). I would also - if the workman allowed it - let the DC watch for five minutes and use it as an opportunity to teach dc about gas. It was slightly annoying having my road dug up last year but DC also enjoyed watching diggers and looking in the hole at pipes and also getting indignant about people who threw litter in them! Likewise your DC could go an evening without a bath and have a boardgame night.

So I think you need a sense of perspective and do need to look at the wider issues in your life and marriage to understand just why you got so worked up. Things don't always go to plan with children, I hope you don't overreact at everything that goes wrong or your children will learn from your anxieties. Please think about seeing a professional to learn how to cope better.

Fwiw I think the people who plan these works probably don't care about customers. The actual workmen are trying to do their best but when the utility companies are spending millions on doing these works I see no reason why they can't write to people giving estimated dates of work and worst case scenarios of what it might involve. Even if these later prove inaccurate it gives one a bit more time to plan.

LunchBoxPolice · 06/12/2017 10:07

Honestly op, you're working yourself up into a right lava

Best part of this thread.

Ecureuil · 06/12/2017 10:12

Yes OP, it is a pain. But not just for people with young children. It’s a pain for people who both work full time, for people who have other commitments... it’s a pain for most people, I’d guess. That doesn’t alter the fact that these things need to be done. In order to have a safe gas supply to your house, this work needs doing. That’s going to mean a work around/some juggling for most people. Not just you.

Barbie222 · 06/12/2017 10:16

Good grief! There is a saying somewhere that if you’re not careful your problems grow to fit the amount of space you make for them.

Original poster
darkcloudlooming · 06/12/2017 11:13

@Ecureuil yep I totally understand how hard it is for Working people.. my next door neighbours are out every day at work and I feel for them too..

OP posts:
iMogster · 06/12/2017 11:17

"Working yourself up into a right lava."

Dictionary discription:
When the stress gets too much and you're like a volcano and about to blow your top!

BastardGoDarkly · 06/12/2017 11:34

Oh blimey! So it is lava!? I think ill just avoid that particular saying from now on Grin

iMogster · 06/12/2017 12:26

You've coined a new phase BastardGoDarkly and I'm loving it! I was adding my own discription. Grin

Original poster
darkcloudlooming · 06/12/2017 12:43

Whatever these gas guys are doing out there it's affecting everyone's electric, alarms going off all over the place and my lights and washer keep going off for a few seconds and coming back on 3 times Already..... must be hard work though can't deny that..

OP posts:
TheFaerieQueene · 06/12/2017 12:50

Hyacinth Bucket has joined mumsnet.

clarabowsandopentoes · 06/12/2017 12:55

OP you need to find some strategies for minimising the stress these minor/moderate inconvenient life events are causing you. A lot of people would say "OK this is mildly irritating but here's how I'm going to tweak my plans to accommodate matters" whereas you are whipping yourself into a massive frenzy. Clearly there is a a link between the way your handling this and your anxiety/OCD. Ive been there and it does make us more problem oriented than solution oriented but that's no way to live it's a vicious circle. I found CBT very helpful. Just saying.

HidingBehindTheWallpaper · 06/12/2017 13:08

He also told me of a customer who demanded he leave the power on when doing major electrical work, he left the power off the whole weekend for the way this customer was treating him.

That was a complete dick move.

strugglingtodomybest · 06/12/2017 14:43

Hiding, it's been explained why at 09:06:10

BastardGoDarkly · 06/12/2017 15:09

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

ptumbi · 06/12/2017 16:06

bastard no it definitely is Lather! As in a horse that will rear and buck and basically work itself up until it actually foams/lathers.

Horrible.

If only everything, every day was exactly the same, all the time, eh OP?

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