Robbi Pounds, Staff Writer
In New Orleans, where I lived for 15 years, people complain about sloth and ineptitude, but you know what New Orleans can deliver super quick and with no problem at all?
A new roof.
Here in beautiful western North Carolina, a guy, yes, one guy, has been working on my 1,000 square-foot roof for more than a month. This roofer works so slowly, I feel like the new roof is growing across the house, organically, like some type of mold or moss.
My neighbors named the roofer "The Tin Man," and we joke about whether or not he's shown up on any particular day. If something has moved in the yard, I don't know whether to attribute it to the roofer or to the wind.
I only bought the materials. The Tin Man won't make a dollar until he finishes the roof, and we didn't include a date on the contract, which was written on a piece of cardboard. My tin roof (rusted) has kept the rain out for longer than I've been alive, so I'm not in an enormous hurry to shuck it off.
Still, this is ridiculous. I acknowledge that.
The Tin Man will pull his truck into the yard, work for two hours or so, then drive off to buy lumber and not return for a day or a week.
I've seen roofs completed by his hand, and they look perfect. The Tin Man came highly recommended by a contractor I've known since I moved to North Carolina. When I hired him, I asked how long the job would take.
Two days, he said.
That was in July.
My mistake, I suppose, was in assuming that the two days would be consecutive and made up of eight-hour shifts, not an hour here and an hour there, spread out over however many months this project takes.
New Orleanian's can take heart. The next time they feel like screaming that old refrain, "Everything would be okay if everyone would just do their jobs!", think of The Tin Man, slowly crawling his way across my roof as the seasons change, showing up when I least expect it, like a hummingbird, to flit around the house and then zip away, back into the mountains, perhaps never to return.
Robbi Pounds is the staff writer for The Graham Star. She can be reached by phone, 479-3383 or email, rpounds@grahamstar.com.