Tradies

Tradesmen are called "Tradies" in this country. They include plumbers, electricians (aka sparkies), roofing specialists, painters, and carpenters (aka chippers). Maybe others are also included and I don't know. As funny as it may sound, I met the Tradies on the road. I drive to work in the same time with them, around 7AM. I know this because they are the only drivers I see wearing yellow, green or orange fluoro jackets. They drive trucks and utes most often. I know also that they don't work on weekends, because we have some things to fix in the house and it's taking forever to have them fixed for the simple reason that Tradies don't like to work on weekends. They don't say it upfront, but they invent so many excuses, most of them childish or outrageously hard to believe (lies), that work either never gets done or gets done when one of us finally decides to stay home during the week, not do our own work, but at least have the house repairs done. I recently learnt why Tradies can afford to not work on weekends. They are among the best paid people in Australia, which means they can choose when to work and what work to do. Here is one example. A window in one of our bedrooms could not be opened and the "repairman" said that it needed to be painted on the outside, because rain was makign the wood frame swell and thus blocked the window from opening. We could not stay home when the came to paint the window, so he painted the window shut from the outside! After I complained, another "repairman" came and finished the job properly. He forced the winodw open, shaved some wood to allow it to open and then repainted.