Friday, August 14, 2009

Miscommunication!

The repair work around the summer residence has been completed--finally! Now, we only need to pay the bills that are rolling in; answer inquiries from HOA about painting without their approval and make sure the roofing permit is filed away for safe keeping. There has certainly been "failure to communicate clearly" in our way to completing this repair task. When thinking of miscommunication (failure to communicate clearly) brings up the famous movie quote--do you know what movie and who spoke those famous lines? Answer at the end of our miscommunication. First off, DH worked so hard to turn all those deck boards over so painters could apply 'stain' to the bare wood. Now, thinking of stain, we see in our mind's eye hints of walnut, pecan, cherry, etc that will bring out the sheer of the bare wood, using its transparent abilities to leave the luster of the natural wood to shine through. Painters, bucket and paintbrush in hand, start to spread color on the bare wood! Heavens to Betsy--"No, No" he hurries out the sliding door to say--"this is not what I wanted". Poor painter, who doesn't speak much English, looks dismayed--this is what is on order form--STAIN! The bucket even reads STAIN, even though it's the color of the house and solid color. Painter makes his phone call to supervisor, while DH makes his phone call to company office--"we want stain on deck, not paint", he declares over the phone. 'We'll need to call you back with an answer', the reply comes. DH goes to paint bucket to read about contents. Thank goodness, the internet has come through again with description of this STAIN painters want to apply to wood deck. Kwal stain is in fact a solid color STAIN--much better, longer lasting and perfect for wooden decks! This is definitely a miscommunication or a failure to communicate! And shows how much we are out of the loop in the paint world!

Grand looking deck and house--looks to be a new house!
Now, to the HOA communication that we received. In letter dated the day we begun to paint: "you must have approval to paint your house"--well, not those words but close. We did read the guidelines on website and it clearly states that 'if no color change is made in paint, then there is no reason to have HOA approval'. Okay, another miscommunication on their part, not ours this time!
We also had a miscommunication with roofing company when they didn't leave permit on site so when city inspector came out, he would not approve the roofing job until the permit was posted! Okay, roofers bring out permit and post on the window and it's there for days. Earlier this week company calls to say it was approved and you could take down the permit--the city came out again? yes, there it is--signed, sealed and delivered--approved! Why post the permit if the city inspector isn't taking the permit for his records? Oh, well, miscommunication on someone's part. Goes to the fact that in our daily lives we think we are communicating right but the other person on the end of that conversation might have a different thought of your communication.

Answer to question, who spoke these famous words and what movie? "What we have here is a failure to communicate."--was voted as the #11 movie quote by the American Film Institute. This line was spoken in Cool Hand Luke. The quote is attributed to "Captain, Road Prison 36," who was played by Strother Martin.
Here is the entire quote:

"What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don't like it any more than you men."
The captain isn't the only one who utters the words. Later in the movie, the main character, Luke (Paul Newman), still cocky despite being cornered by prison guards, openly mocks the Captain with the famous line.

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