Remember those days of your youth when you would call up a boy or girl that you liked on the telephone and sit around all day jumping every time the phone rang hoping it was them returning your call? You felt vulnerable, anxious, insecure even. These are the same feelings we had Monday when we tried to call 5 or more of the following types of people:
General Contractors - 2 of 5 called us back
Electricians - 1 call back
Dumpster people - Jason called one place every hour, and I called them once. Since I had a number in the proper area code, I got a call back 3 hours later.
Drywall people - 3 of 10 returned phone calls, one not until the next day.
What do people tell us when we ask for recommendations of such skilled laborers as mentioned above? To use the phonebook. The what? No google maps? No .com addresses? Nope, the yellow pages.
I tried to get my hands on one of these coveted books, but you cannot just go pick one up. The phone company mails it to you. I kind of laughed at the rep when she told me that. Luckily, our drywall guy let Jason take a look through his copy that he conveniently keeps in his work van. (What skilled professional doesn't?) I am assuming he had it next to his rolodex and his car phone.
If nothing else, this experience has made us return to simpler times before tweets and status updates... and the internet altogether. My favorite advice came from the township secretary who told us to stop in at the Farmer's Inn (a bar up the street from us) and talk to Margie because "she knows everybody".