Paint Peril

Sometimes it is the decisions you don’t make that ultimately causes catastrophe. Statements like ‘I didn’t think about it’ commonly follow disasters that happen to/with certain people. But the question is this, ‘what if they genuinely didn’t think about it; they surely can’t be blamed for what they didn’t think about, right?’ Let me try and answer it for you.

Scenario 1, from the Owner’s point-of-view:

“Man! This rug looks amazing in the living room! I just knew it!” You say to yourself as the R280 000 Naein Persian rug -which you bought just yesterday- proudly lights up the interior of your lounge. You made a loan at the bank and it would be paid in less than 1 ½ years. All that’s missing now is a replica of one of Claude Monet’s paintings overlooking the Seine.

Hold on… “These walls need a massive new paint job; they cry out for a drop of paint.” You think to yourself, and then you walk outside, “It is almost the rainy season; I had better paint outside as well.” You feel the walls outside and you see that the current paint needs to be removed and the new paint reapplied. “I need to ring a paint company for a quote after the long weekend; there’s no way I’m going to do this on my own!” You scurry to the phone book, and make the call…

Scenario 2, from the Painter’s point-of-view:

“Denver! New job! We have to paint a house in Constantia!” Your employer shouts at you. You have just gotten back from the long weekend which you spent working at home. You fixed a leak in the roof and then came the job of cleaning the yard, painting your bedroom, and cleaning the house. You didn’t go to Church on Sunday, but spent the Monday moping around at home and then you went out for a few drinks with your buddies. The hangover isn’t severe, but it is big enough to make you miserable.

“Yes sir…” You say, head off to pick up the paint, check the colour after opening the lid, loosely put it back on, and start the drive to Constantia. You drive into the road which the map indicated, and the driveways are lined with the finest cars in the country; BMW, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Range Rover, etc. The houses seem to stretch as high as the sky. Two storey buildings are common sights, and only on a rare occasion do single storeys appear in the shadow of their neighbours’ mansions. You stop at a house and it is just like the rest of the houses. You climb out; paint-stained overall trousers, torn paint-stained company shirt with the company logo, and old safety boots. The rest of the crew jumps out of the rear end of the panel-van as you approach the front door. You ring the posh doorbell, and the door is opened by a middle-aged man who seems a bit anxious and irritated.

“Finally! You’re here… Well, I will show you what you need to start with… Come along.” He says as he friendly pushes past you and walks down the stairs. He indicates at the outer walls of his home and then you are left to start. The crew quickly start cleaning the wall, and then in about three hours you are finished with the front and side of the double storey home. Sweat isn’t that bad as the clouds block out the sun, but the wind makes it incredibly cold. You decide to go see what must be done inside, and you return outside to fetch a can of paint. You pick it up and carry it inside. You bring plastic and tarps to throw over furniture and the floor to cover it from paint. As you are cover one of the posh couches you clumsily walk back to see if it is completely covered, but as you do so, you knock over the can of paint -which wasn’t properly closed- onto a carpet in the centre of the floor. The paint flows over the carpet and you’re petrified stiff. The owner comes round the corner and upon sighting his carpet, he goes stiff with shock and anger.

You state that it was an accident, and that you would have it cleaned. But the owner isn’t interested, “You ruined it! It will never be the same, no matter what you do to it!” He pauses and takes a look at him and then the paint, “You clumsy fool! No well-sealed paint can just open like that! You didn’t close it properly, did you? You didn’t look what you were doing, did you!?”

Ending for Scenario 1 & 2:

The owner sued the company for the R 280 000 to buy a new carpet and in the end the company fired the employee for neglegance. The company paid the money, but the story made it to the newspapers. “Paint on rug costs company fortune” and the company closed due to lack of business, and bankruptcy. The employee struggles to find jobs elsewhere, because the stain on his CV is a bit too great to repair.

Conclusion:

You might say the owner was a bit harsh? Picture this, the owner spent 7 years in law school, and a further 10 years of lawyering and then assisting an advocate in order to pay for that rug. Give or take 20 years of hard work is lost to a painter’s incompetence. Wouldn’t you sue them?

The painter had his priorities all mixed up, and he didn’t think. Who on earth leaves a paint can open and drives with it to a customer, where he just carries it in as if it isn’t a major hazard? Ah, but see, his mind was clouded from the hangover. This was no accident; it was a lack of priority from the painter.

If he had decided to drink -if he was to drink at all- with his lads on Friday or Saturday eve, he would have been freed from his hangover. He knew that he had work on Tuesday, but went for drinks on the day before, Monday.

Priority prevents peril. Be careful how you prioritize; you might be the next one spilling paint on a multi-thousand Rand carpet.

Priority prevents peril. Be careful how you prioritise; you might be the next one spilling paint on a multi-thousand Rand carpet.