I’m wondering if the owners would like to know this employee is painting them in an unflattering light. Maybe Mr Imma would be able to express his “displeasure that my wife was spoken to this way, thought you would like to know it gave us pause about continuing with your company, but felt it was unfair to judge the whole based on this one person. I would appreciate if if you would assign a different sales contact to our account for future interactions…”
Of course I suppose you run the risk that they do feel the same and then… ? I dont know, make it uncomfortable going forward? Hard to say.
Sorry you had that experience, he sounds like a jerk.
4 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
63
Sounds like that salesperson wanted to interject his own ideas and values instead of listening to yours!
A simple change like putting the handles in a different spot can make the world of difference on a daily basis…and yes, he definitely has a prejudice against left-handed people!
Could you approach a manager and maybe find out why your ideas might be rejected by this 30 years salesman? I mean, maybe there is a reason that he has from experience or possibly resale value, etc. He is coming from a different point of view and maybe it is not in your best interest in his eyes and so he is not even open to your point of view…take the high road and maybe discuss this with Mr. Imma and see if he agrees…bottom line, you should get what you want/need without the hassle! But, also, be sure it is for your best interest…the both of you.
How infuriating. The salesperson wants the sale, will happily take your cash, but also wishes to dictate what you will buy? Outrageous. This is your hard earned and carefully saved money as well as your well-thought out plans for your dream home. Once the sale is completed he will never have another thought for you, but YOU will live under his influence forever after. What. A. DICK.
Absolutely, ask for another sales person. That is terrible customer service.
We just discussed the whole situation at home and we agreed on basically everything. Mr Imma did eventually push back on the lefthanded thing and said he wanted it like that too, so the little adaptation that I asked for is in the quote. It’s just some doors that swing differently than you’d expect to. The sales guy even took us to the showroom to try out different doors and we both thought it was very odd that he pushed back on such a small little detail. He can point out it’s unusual, but I’m the customer, so if I confirm I do still want it like that, that should be it. It’s not a big technical challenge or something like that. It’s a weird thing to push back on.
The only reason he gave was that it was odd and unusual and that other people besides us would find it a hassle. Which is true but other people don’t live here, and for a lefthanded person, the whole world is a hassle. So I don’t feel bad for any righthanded visitor who has to spend 5 seconds figuring out a door. Mr Imma is a musician and can use both hands pretty well (not sure if he’s naturally ambidextrous or just developed that through playing, but it’s a great skill to have, I’m jealous!) so it wouldn’t be an issue for him.
We started out our journey by visiting all the main chain stores in our city (there are no independents left here) and we couldn’t find what we wanted there. That’s why we ended up approaching smaller independents in the rural areas surrounding our city. We’ve noticed with other companies that their staff is often more conservative than we are, which is fine, as long as everyone is respectful about each other’s values, and so far we’ve not encountered any issues, except with this man. Our bathroom supplier was initially quite surprised about our colour scheme/style, it’s not what he would normally sell, but he helped us find exactly the right tile that matched our idea. It’s fine if he privately thinks “no way I would want that for my own house” as long as he does his job. With this kitchen guy I felt to urge to ask for a pink kitchen with golden taps just to see what his reaction would be…
We went to our house today and saw the rainwater collection tank was installed. It’s dug into the garden, it’s absolutely massive. The Netherlands is a wet country but our summers have become drier, with the occasional summer thunderstorm where the water all flows into the sewage system because the ground is too dry to absorb it. We’ve had a drought in summer for several years in a row now, which is absolutely unusual. That issue is going to get worse in the future. With this system, we can collect rain when it’s falling and we’ll use it for the veggie garden, the laundry and the toilet. We’ll only use tap water for cooking, drinking and showering. Together with the leaks that have been removed, we expect our use of tap water will decrease by at least 75%.
11 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
66
Your home is going to be lived in for quite some time, so you are right…a little inconvenience for potential visitors does not compare to your daily use!
We worked with a contractor when we remodeled our last house…so he was the middleman for all negotiations, which seemed better for us since he could blame his clients for any weird requests but we didn’t have to hear them!
One year, when I was working summer stock theatre, I was invited to a party thrown by a pair of the theatre’s board members. They were a married couple, and she was 6’3", and he was 6’6". They were older, retired, and had money, and decided to remodel their entire kitchen to fit their heights. At 4’11", I found the house incredibly uncomfortable for me; the stools were to tall to climb up onto, let alone sit on. The counters came up to the height of my bust, making it challenging to pour beverages, or reach hors d’oeuvres, etc. Taller friends started reaching things for me just so I didn’t put my elbow into the dip! Being there made me think about how difficult it is for short little me to live in an ‘average height’ world, constantly reaching up overhead, and how equally challenging it must have been for them, leaning down constantly.
I’m sitting here on my sofa ENRAGED on your behalf, @Immaculata ! It’s a CUSTOM kitchen, you know customized to the buyer. I mean, I suppose my American/English words/ideas may not directly translate, but I have a feeling that they do. If you wanted what is typical you could’ve gone to Ikea. You and Mr Imma are “grown-ass adults” who have used a freaking kitchen and know how you use it and what you would want.
I remember when my ex husband and I built a house with my dad’s help there were some really dumb things that I had to fight for. Sometimes I relented, based on what seemed like good logic presented to me that I wish I had not relented on. Now that I am two-decades older, I would not relent on some of those same things and I would make my desires known ahead of time. When I showed up on the jobsite after the drywall had been textured, I asked “why is the ceiling like that?” My dad was like, didn’t you want it like that? Not because he thought I said so, but because that was the typical “upgrade” (probably still is) and I has made the mistake that I would be asked ahead of time like with other choices. Of course, I pretty much has to live with and did and it was fine - I mean, it’s a common ceiling texture. We would even get compliments on it ! But still. While I’m reliving it - I would never have “bullnose” corners again on my drywall. It’s just not for me. Let’s just say I have at least a couple strong opinions about walls!
Both of those things are exceedingly ugly in my eyes as well. Textured ceilings, ugh. That frikken popcorn ceiling bs, how is that an “upgrade”?
Chacun son goût & all that but at least ask first, sheesh.
2 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
70
It is considered sound reflecting/reducing so it used in areas that might be considered noisy…it was used when big stereos became readily available. It is also pretty cheap compared to using acoustical tile…but, that being said, I also think they are not attractive.
Jim loved them in his sound studio, but that is all.
Just today we found some things in the skip that we definitely said a million times should not be removed!! But we were in time and they weren’t damaged, thankfully. And the contractor freely admitted that he didn’t really think and that he should have known and he was glad I discovered it in time. They needed to be temporarily removed for the work but they should have been stored, not thrown out. I pointed out those things specifically as something that shouldn’t be removed, plus I put a blanket ban on demolishing any authentic parts of the house without my explicit consent. This is why you need to visit the building site as often as you can!
Just the other day we walked through the house and the contractor told me in a conversational tone “all this ugly stucco will be replaced by nice smooth stucco soon, that will look much better!” Plastering was part of the quote, but we hadn’t discussed the texture for the plaster at all. As it happens, we indeed want smooth walls, but it’s annoying that people just assume you’ll want what everyone wants. Now I totally get why all new built and freshly renovated houses look so similar. Especially if you’re unexperienced with building, you don’t always know when decisions need to be made and then suddenly, oops, decision has been made for you!
@MistressJennie with such a difference in height it must be difficult to pick furniture that’s comfortable for both of you! There’s only a 2" difference in height between us which was very convenient when we decided on counter height.
@TheMistressT we had little choice but go for custom. We went to Ikea first but weren’t extremely impressed with the options. I know lots of people get Ikea cabinets and then hire a contractor to put in expensive appliances and expensive countertops but in an old house, standard sized cupboards don’t work. The well-known chains here cost twice as much as Ikea but still couldn’t adapt their sizing. They just offered more tricks to hide empty space. It felt less than ideal to have hidden empty space in an already small galley kitchen. We found out that custom kitchens from a small independent carpentry business aren’t actually more expensive than the big chains. This little factory came highly recommended. Just the carpentry part (so the cupboards, without appliances or counters) worked out at about twice the price of Ikea. That feels like a very, very fair price for custom work made by carpenters in this country, who’ll come to my house to take measurements and guarantee everything fits. The quoted total price was the same as the big chains, with much nicer appliances.
@Magpie I don’t know if they even do popcorn ceilings anymore, but they were done for accoustics like AIMR said. What we got was “brocade” which is an upgrade, because it’s more labor and therefore more expensive. And everyone knows that it cost more so it seems like the kind of fancy that non-fancy folks (like me) know. And the more textured the walls are to some degree the poorer the quality the framing and the hanging of the drywall can be - which also means cheaper labor costs.
@Immaculata That’s what I mean. The sales person at the small shop ought to know that the reason you are there is to get exactly what you want and should be pushing just how great the company is at meeting their lucky clients’ needs and desires. It’s great to have experts offer suggestions based on experience and knowledge, but not for the purpose of being right, just so that people know all they can before committing.
We walked through the house with our contractor yesterday. They poured concrete this week so we can walk around now. We marked all the location for electrical outlets and I put a ton of them in my craft room. I’ll have two double electrical outlets under the windows, above my future sewing desk. It will be long and fairly narrow. I only have two machines, but the space will be big enough for four, so I want to make sure every machine has their own outlet should I ever have four. It would also make it easier for a friend to come and visit and bring her own machine.
In another part of the room, there’ll be a proper desk from an office store and it will be one of those adjustable standing desks. I’ll work from home from that desk, but since the height can be adjusted, it can double as a cutting table, or I can move the sewing machine there when I’m sewing something particularly big.
And best thing is my workplace will pay for a part of it - we’ve got great work from home benefits. There’s a budget we get for a desk, there’s a budget for general decoration of our home office space and I think there are budgets for chairs and monitors too. I’ve always worked from my laptop at the dining table so I’ve never properly researched those options before. I’m thinking of using my decorating budget for a sunscreen for the window. We’ll have A/C when we’re done, but it’s always better to keep the sun out of the house, and out of your eyes while you’re working. The large, south-facing window is the most attractive part of the room but it can be annoying during summer.
I am so excited for you! Just recently I had been wishing for an additional outlet where I craft, one up high for the iron, so I could get more reach from the cord and also more easily plug and unplug when using it.
@Immaculata@TheMistressT oh, so wishing I had more outlets. Our house is old. So few of them are where we need them, and most of them still are USA 2-prong rather than the 3-prong. Many appliances and electrical equipment require the “3” ones now, as do multi outlet strips. That’s on my long term list of things to get done is update all the electrical. The wiring is fine (we had it inspected) but I guess the previous owner didn’t want to have more receptacles installed and have them all upgraded for the newer configuration.
2 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
78
Love hearing your progress and your excitement! Sounds like you have thought things out carefully for now and the future needs!
Our rental is from the 1960’s so it doesn’t have nearly the amount of outlets we need for all the modern conveniences and electrical appliances, etc. After checking to be sure the wiring could handle the load, I purchased several multi-outlet strips where you can push a button to turn off any “temporary” hook ups. They are also surge protectors. I mounted them to the walls higher off the floor where I can reach them when sitting at my home desk.
I also got one to put on a shelf where my iron is stored so I can stand and reach it. I charge my phone there as well. All of my lamps have USB type chargers for the appliances that use that. If you can’t make a permanent change, there are lots of options these days.
If you already have the grounded wiring already and nothing “funky” going on with the electrical otherwise, it is VERY easy to install new outlets! So long as you have a few basic tools and know where to turn of the power to the outlet you are working on, it’s mostly just a little fiddly rather than difficult. I have been steadily replacing all our outlets and switches as I repaint rooms including adding CFCI outlets where regular ones were before in the kitchen and baths of our 1976 house.
A standard outlet is only a couple dollars, so if you felt like taking on this challenge it would be quite inexpensive to start!
We did that for years, our 1940s house only had one outlet in every bedroom when we purchased it. We did have a few more downstairs, those were installed by previous owners.
I am the lucky owner of an ironing board with a built-in extension cord! I plug my iron directly into the board. I’ve had it forever, but it’s an older version of this one: Amazon.de A roommate I had once left this when they moved out about 10 years ago and it was definitely not new back then.
2 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
81
wow! I had no idea such a thing existed! How convenient is that?
! But still. While I’m reliving it - I would never have “bullnose” corners again on my drywall. It’s just not for me. Let’s just say I have at least a couple strong opinions about walls! 
