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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to not allow the plasterer to play his radio?

417 replies

Shedbuilder · 13/07/2021 10:22

I have a plasterer booked for four days of fiddly work all over the house, repairing the mess left by the so-called specialist fitters we paid a small fortune to install triple glazing —but I'm not going there!

We both work from home and around us we have other households with people working from home and noise-sensitive older people. It's a hot day and our windows are open because it's hot and to keep the air moving just in case of Covid. So when he arrived yesterday with his giant radio we nipped the problem in the bud early on and said sorry, both working from home, both need to be able to think and make calls without background noise — no radio. Which he glumly accepted. Today he's had a brief conversation with us about how tedious his work is without music in the background, so we suggested he use his phone and some earbuds. But no, he doesn't want to run out of data and he doesn't have earbuds.

We've ordered some cheap earbuds and we'll see if we can rig up some kind of free wifi connection for him tomorrow, but he's really huffy and I'm wondering whether we'll see him again tomorrow. He's a good plasterer and we've waited two months to get him. Are we being unreasonable?

Yes = we are unreasonable
No = we're no unreasonable

OP posts:

Plump82 · 13/07/2021 10:33

I had a new roof done which took 3 weeks so along with the associated noise of that, they also had their radio playing. I also work from home and it was roasting during those 3 weeks so had the windows open. I just accepted it was part and parcel of getting the work done and advised anyone who I was on a call with that there might be some background noise.
I think yabu

Alwayswonderedwhy · 13/07/2021 10:33

Yanbu does my head in when trades people assume they can have music on in my house.

UrAWizHarry · 13/07/2021 10:34

Surely you aren't in the same room as him.

Just ask him to keep the volume to a low level, saying he can't have a radio playing is spectacularly dickish.

BigSandyBalls2015 · 13/07/2021 10:35

I wfh and have the radio on all day on low. I don’t understand the wifi issue ... just give him the code.

Purple21 · 13/07/2021 10:36

So why can't you give him your wifi to use his phone?

Original poster

Shedbuilder · 13/07/2021 10:37

@Purple21

Give him your wifi for his phone but tbh just tell him to have it at a certain volume. It will be so boring for him without some background noise honestly

We've offered to let him use wifi for his phone but he seems to think it will still cost him for data (?) and he doesn't have earbuds or earphones, both of which he could use easily given the nature of the work he's doing. We've ordered him earbuds and we'll lend him an iPad to play music from when they arrive. I've already told him we've got Spotify premium.

OP posts:

JeepersCreeping · 13/07/2021 10:37

I don’t understand the wifi issue

you must be one of the chosen ones that openreach has deemed worthy of a decent connection some of us are still on copper phone line wiring, despite pleas to MPs, complaints to openreach etc...

seriously, i love how folk living in houses can't understand that not everyone has a super duper wifi option

strawberrydonuts · 13/07/2021 10:38

He sounds really entitled.

If he doesn't want to use his data on music, he should invest in a bluetooth radio and some earbuds that are compatible with it, for situations where people don't want to listen to his radio in their homes.

If he needs music to work then the onus is on him to enable that, not you. You really shouldn't be buying him earbuds!!

RampantIvy · 13/07/2021 10:38

@Alwayswonderedwhy

Yanbu does my head in when trades people assume they can have music on in my house.

Do you not understand just how tedious a manual job can be when you are doing it in dead silence? It probably doesn't require the same level of concentration that a complicated spreadsheet or presentation requires.

Hallyup6 · 13/07/2021 10:38

Let the poor bloke play his music and shut the doors.

Youdiditanyway · 13/07/2021 10:38

Unsure why he can’t use your wifi but perhaps he doesn’t have Spotify or Apple Music on his phone so this isn’t an option for him? Not everyone does.

I’d personally let him have it on at a low level for the sake of 4 days.

strawberrydonuts · 13/07/2021 10:41

@UrAWizHarry

Surely you aren't in the same room as him.

Just ask him to keep the volume to a low level, saying he can't have a radio playing is spectacularly dickish.

It's really not.

Whilst I am working, hearing a radio on even a low level would drive me mad.

Insisting on playing his radio out loud in someone else's home is "spectacularly dickish" when he can just use earbuds.

Sugarplumfairy65 · 13/07/2021 10:42

YABU to expect any window company to make good your plastering and decoration when fitting windows. If you read your contract, it will tell you that its your responsibility. They are window fitters, not plasterers

UrAWizHarry · 13/07/2021 10:44

Yeah, and I can imagine the AIBU for a tradesman who turns up with headphones.

"My joiner is wearing headphones and can't hear me when I offer him my waitrose lemon thins. AIBU to insist he doesn't use them?"

If the OP can't hear the radio due to y'know, the use of doors and low volumes then it is dickish to insist that it isn't used, was the very obvious point.

Notimeforaname · 13/07/2021 10:45

we'll see if we can rig up some kind of free wifi connection for him tomorrow
Huh? Why cant he just connect to ur wifi ??!!!😆

dreamingbohemian · 13/07/2021 10:45

I'm curious what people would say if it was a cleaner insisting they had to have music on while they worked. After all, that's also a tedious manual job. Don't think they'd be getting as much support though.

SilverDragonfly1 · 13/07/2021 10:45

Not unreasonable. It's your house, you have good reasons and have offered alternatives that involve you doing all the leg work. Him being sulky about that is pathetic.

hennybeans · 13/07/2021 10:45

The all day radio noise is one the worst things about having someone in to do a job. That, and them leaving the front door wide open all day so the house is either freezing or full of flies. But it is to be expected.

If I was a tradesperson in somebody's house working on my own, I would seriously have a nice set of wireless headphones, my own Spotify playlist/ audible/ podcasts ready for the day. I think listening to radio full of ads and rubbish talk is tedious. I wish this were more the norm.
I think you were ok to request headphones, but yabu to insist on silence when he didn't have any. His radio on lower volume is a good compromise.

CornedBeef451 · 13/07/2021 10:46

I can't bear background noise when I'm working, particularly nonsense on the radio so YANBU.

strawberrydonuts · 13/07/2021 10:47

@UrAWizHarry

Yeah, and I can imagine the AIBU for a tradesman who turns up with headphones.

"My joiner is wearing headphones and can't hear me when I offer him my waitrose lemon thins. AIBU to insist he doesn't use them?"

If the OP can't hear the radio due to y'know, the use of doors and low volumes then it is dickish to insist that it isn't used, was the very obvious point.

Well from the OP's posts I am assuming they will be able to hear it and that it will be annoying.

Using earbuds is really not a big deal.

When you are being paid to do a job, the onus is on you to meet the customer's requirements, not the other way around.

Can't believe how entitled some people are.

TiddleTaddleTat · 13/07/2021 10:48

YABU
Plasterers are like hens teeth here
I would be bending over backwards to keep him!

Skybluepinkgiraffe · 13/07/2021 10:48

I think you're being more than reasonable, given your updates, and I hope he came back .

Dentistlakes · 13/07/2021 10:48

YANBU op. Unless he’s working at the far end of your house where you are unable to hear him, then it’s not acceptable to have his radio on during your working hours. Apart from ruining your concentration, it’s not acceptable during calls. He should use earphones.

eandz13 · 13/07/2021 10:52

Having seen your update of lending him iPad and buying him earbuds YANBU. I would've originally said YABU if I hadn't read that though.

FlatteredFool · 13/07/2021 10:52

YANBU. I have misophonia and radio noise and chatter is a trigger. I can't work with other people's noise. Maybe the tedium will make him work faster and he'll finish the job earlier. WiFi and headphones or let him huff and puff about it.

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