To ask why trades person felt it was ok to do this?

[EmilyBolton]

so I’ve got builders in at the moment. I have to keep everything on even keel as it’s taken 12 months to find someone willing to do job 😱

They have keys to the garage and back gate to come in and out. They come through the garage to access room they’re working on. Room they’re working on has access door to main part of house. No lock- just internal door…but it was sealed off to prevent the dust coming through.

I came home on Friday and walked into kitchen/Diner/lounge and saw that a plant pot and fabric cover I had placed over my tumble drier had been removed and was now placed on my dining table.

should explain tumble drier normally in garage. I moved into the dining area while building work going on so I can still access it. But I don’t want to look at a tumble drier in my lounge for next 3 months so had put a cover over and a plant on top.(ok, I know that puts me into a bit mad category!)

Now I’m not stupid. I am very aware that tumble driers are a fire risk at best of times. When I use it , I lift my cover off and ensure air can circulate properly. I also don’t leave house with a tumble drier on- never have since all the cases reported of self combusting driers. I live on my own so actually only use the thing very rarely anyway.

The tumble drier was not on when I was out.

One of tradesman in that day was the electrician. I am assuming that he entered the lounge/dinner through the (sealed) access door to access electrical points from the other side of the wall. I am assuming that he then saw my decorative tumble drier, and that he took it upon himself to take the cover and plant off the dryer and put on the dining table. No note. No text to explain why or even that someone has come into the main house whilst I was out.

I am assuming that this person decided I was clearly stupid and was actually using the dryer with the “camouflage ” features up in place and creating a massive fire risk and decided to take it upon themselves to solve this “problem” without any discussion, or checking with me to see if I was really that stupid . It feels like a very heavy dose of “mansplaining” (especially as they all know I’m living on my own and of retirement age). It just feels so bloody patronising as well as an intrusion in my home by whoever it was that felt entitled enough to start rearranging my stuff.

Aibu to call the manager (who is overseeing project) and ask who did this, why and why they thought it was ok to move my stuff without permission, or should I just let it go in interest of keeping everything sweet and happy . I have been trying to shrug it off since Friday- but it feels like an intrusion. I don’t want these guys wandering into my house while I’m not there and doing stuff I’ve not given permission for them to do.

Yes, I used words assuming very deliberately. I am assuming in the absence of any other possible explanation I can think of that would account for it. You’re just repeating back to me what I told you that I was assuming.
And if you read my op I didn’t say I’d jump in and start making accusations based on a conclusion I’d already decided on….there was a lot of whys in what I was planning to say if I did contact them.

The stealth mansplaining made me laugh…I think that’s a new term we can use 🤣🤣🤣

It's far more likely they spilled something and cheekily USED your dryer.

The electrician probably had to check the socket behind the dryer & removed cover & plant to get to socket.

😲

Oh, give over, as if. FFS. Hey, hey, maybe he pissed in your dryer right? You can never trust these working class blokes in your home, right?

@FourTeaFallOut 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

did not see that comment coming!

You sure he wasn't using your table for something? Handy place to put down tools, sort a light fixture etc and just grabbed the cover so as not to scratch it?

I really think it doesn't warrant the energy you are devoting to this. My joiner used the table to eat his dinner. I do know him and they were working in the adjoining room. Made zero difference to me.

Is tradesmen on Mumsnet another of those strange things like never answering your front door or needing an invitation to go to someone's house even if it's to drop something off??!!

Is there a chance they've actually used the tumble drier? Can't think why they'd need to, but if they've split some water or something?

Bit rude if they have without asking, given how expensive they can be to run.

I mean I'd probably assumed I'd forgotten to put it back on rather than they'd move it bit if you're curious you could always ask if they used it and either get an apology for the use, or a sheepish 'we moved it because we thought you might set fire to your own house'

He may have come into your house to access the distribution board.

There might have been an issue with something tripping a circuit. It’s logical to check that its not the appliance that seem to be out of use because its covered up.

He might have needed to access something behind it.

Electricians are usually the most careful and conscientious of trades - it’s unlikely it was about rearranging your plant pot and fabric cover.

Are you normally an over thinker? Or just when it comes to tradesmen?

Rules these days re electrics are stricter than in the past , if new sockets etc are going in then the other electrics might also have been look at or checked too .

as someone who just had a lot of building work done I honestly wouldn’t give this a second thought

You've done an awful lot of assuming in your op. If you feel the need to mention it then ask one of them when you next see them. Don't call the manager though, that's ott.

Go en the level of assumption in the story, hidden camera makes more and more sense. You’ll almost certainly catch them doing something which could be used to your advantage if the renovation doesn’t work out to your liking.

I can’t imagine getting worked up about this. But if we are overthinking maybe whoever did it lost a lives one to a tumble dryer fire and couldn’t live with not correcting this😂.

honestly Let it go. don’t create an atmosphere over something so minor

6 years ive been renovating with different tradesmen, Im shocked at how much MN tate them, just leave them to it fgs.

Obviously they moved the plant and cover to dry some of their washing.
very thoughtful of them not to risk setting your house on fire.😉😉

I don't know how you got to the mamsplaining example. For whatever reason they went in the kitchen without telling you and then moved stuff. No reason to think it's nefarious, but understandable that you'd be a bit put out by them roaming in at will. I'd contact the site manager to say "Hi, can you just remind the team please to let me know in advance if anyone needs to go into the kitchen, as I wasn't told before Friday's access. Thanks" and then stop fretting over it.

If it was stealth mansplaining, it wasn't very effective. You won't know exactly why it was done and for all they know will go right back to your old dangerous habit of tumble drying with the fabric cover in place. They should have left a note!😉

Noooo don't contact the boss! Just ask them. Say you wondered why they'd moved your plant. They might say it wasn't them! Poltergeist!

Did you really spend all that time typing this? Total non event!

So many assumptions. I wouldn't give it another thought.

Honestly I couldn't get worked up about this. You don't know how or why it was moved.

However, nothing was taken, nothing was broken and you actually had a tradesperson on site doing some work.

Don't piss off your tradespeople for such a minor reason. At the moment most have plenty of work to pick and choose from and if you're going to complain about such trivial stuff you could end up not having the job finished.

Save your stresses for something that actually needs it.

Maybe they needed to turn the electrics off and when they turned it back on your dryer was beeping (if it does that?).

If it was the electrician and he had to enter the room to access sockets from the other side, how would you expect him to do the job if you didn’t grant access?

Point 2 - as a qualified electrician it’s his job to alert and remove dangerous risk items - he obv thought this was one.

Please don’t report this, you’ll look like a complete fool.