January 8, 2009

For the past several months I've been trying to obtain quotes in order to modify our condo to better suit my needs. As the disease progresses my environment needs to change in order to keep up.
In order to get the work done I had to submit two quotes from different contractors and forward these to the city engineer for approval. The work is subsidized so expediency is virtually impossible to attain, I actually had to wait close to three years before getting approval to have the work done and whenever one works with the government involving a subsidy two things happen, the first when the government gets involved in anything prices tend to rise. Secondly trying to get projects accomplished quickly are a figment of your imagination. Things move so slowly it's sickening, I must have contacted a dozen contractors, the majority refused because they were too busy or if you happen to mention the word government subsidy they run plain and simple. Of those that accepted to provide me with quotes well that's been an experience on its own.
Several months ago I sent in two quotes as requested by the city, the lowest bid was accepted by the city engineer yet after further investigation on my part as to the differences in pricing I found that the lowest bid did not meet certain regulations relating to our provincial fire code. When I called the city engineer to let him know that the lowest bid was in fact lower since it did not meet the fire code and required less equipment his response was "doesn't matter the lowest bid is the one we take", even after explaining that the lowest bid resulted in an installation which was basically illegal it didn't matter in the city's eyes that's the quote they would approve unless I provided them with yet another quote from another contractor. So next Tuesday another contractor will visit and I'll start the process again hopefully this time things will work out and we will be able to get things started.
It's frustrating when you encounter this type of situation where it makes no sense yet the person at the other end of line sticks by the regulations even though they are wrong. Whatever happened to guts? I mean being able to stand up going to your boss and saying hey this is wrong. Seems so simple doesn't it?
PS: stress and MS do not mix very well stress has a tendency to exacerbate symptoms which in my case leads to inpatients and great difficulty when dealing with incompetence in general.