Trade Pet hates
Everyone gets cheesed off at something every now and again, especially at work. So what would you say are the most annoying things about your job?

Well I can think of loads of little niggles that I just assume are now the norm and should just accept them. But there's a couple of things that really mess with my day. See if you find the same things annoying, they're in no particular order just me ranting that's all.

1. Trying to make someone's DIY blunder look trade worthy. There's nothing worse than starting a job only to find that it opens into a whole can of worms because someone in their infinite wisdom did some DIY. A lot of the problems are just sorted as part of the preparation for a good finish. But things like old paint on spotlights, switches, hinges, handles etc. Do I spend all my time scraping the mess off, or walking around like Shaggy saying to the customer "It wasn't me"? Either way it's not productive.

2. This is always annoying, following another tradesmen who probably charged far more than us and having to make his bodge look good. Electricians for example, boy they make great plasterers don't they? Do they hell, slap on the Wickes one coat plaster and off they go. Then we have the plasterers who aren't really plasterers and I end up sanding and filling the work they should have left... Well plastered.

3. Knots in timber. I remember the day when Joiners used to be courteous and applied knotting solution to the softwood knots, removed the sap producing ones and even filled their screw and nail holes. Where have those guys gone in the last few years? I'd love to see them return. It's all about making a fast buck these days and in the end someone's got to catch it all; you guessed it... Me.

4. DIY Paint supplied by the customer. Sorry I will not use it, you're after a top finish so you'll need top paint. I could spend the next hour typing out reasons why I use trade paint, but I won't. Just don't buy it.