OhWAW
MAIN RULE: never have WAW people at the last minute without a full and proper investigation as to why they wish to arrive so soon, who happen to be newly met 'Romeo & Juliet", who happen not to have any apparent onward plan, who did not reveal that they secret smoke, hence who lied on their profile, who say they can and can't, who say they will and don't, who say they are willing but aren't at the least sign of me doing something else, and who, when fully tested when I was unable to control their lack of initiative, did absolutely nothing, not even clear the kitchen or put away tools, who did not ask me what they could do to help, who had not fulfilled the tasks requested, who did not consider that the old biddy might need to be checked as she hadn't surfaced from the bedroom during the day! Ah, they could hear incessant coughing!
So... Oh. What a Way to end three weeks. I have examined facts for truth. I was not perfect. I never am. I did annoy them. If I wasn't monitoring, helping, working alongside, giving instructions (quicker to do it myself as English spoken language differences did not match! ... Bossy me! ) they were lazy, distracted. They told me so!! When I asked what his plan would be if, when properly employed, his boss asks him to do something and discovers he hasn't done it, he shrugged his shoulders!!! He did not seem to make the connection!
In the classroom, good T.A.s were worth their weight in gold. The supplementary ones or trainees that came from time to time, one trained them because that was our role - to educate. It is my role as a host to pass on skills, to train to educate... BUT NOT TO DRAIN ME! I drained my SELF! I could have moved them on after week one! but there still would have been the same discontent from them. If I have any other WAWs there will be a very different approach.
For three weeks I made allowances for language, youth, inexperience, an injured knee, refusal to see a medical specialist... but when hours were not made up from a man and woman who told me they were happy to work more than five hours a day and all the rest... I wanted them to go. Influenza told me I wanted to be in darkness without knowing that people in my house were doing nowt but being in their 'love nest'... hey ho what do they do? They shout at me whilst I am in my bed, say that I am unfair to rise from my sick bed and take them to the town in six hours, accuse me of giving no warning. That last part is true! I am asking them to go one day early! They shout at me in my kitchen and tell me I have not fed them! What? Threaten to make a mess of my house and garden project started! Then the truth is revealed. THEY HAVE NO PLAN AND NO WHERE NEXT TO GO, except she was supposed to be going home. Suddenly, ACTION. They spend twelve hours on the computer checking for travel and other unsuspecting hosts. No one knows where they have gone, except heading North.
When they arrived I learned that I had accepted them from a different bad scenario! Someone had threatened to kill them! Alarm bells rang but insufficiently to alert me they were kids! My name will of course be part of their future 'bad time' story! Eventually, my logic decided it wasn't worth giving him, who has a policy of not giving feedback, any feedback. But I have notified the WAW Team. She was naive, scared like a rabbit and should have been sheltered in her family home.
What riled me when I surfaced to get a hot water bottle on one occasion was that he shoved her out of the way so that he could wash up, then allowed her to finish it because he didn't like to wipe, nor wash up! I found her washing one plate and then wiping it.. and so on! My plates in the cupboard were dripping wet or greasy with fat! Cutlery and crockery have all been rewashed. My two remaining wedding teaspoons were in their bin parcel. THEY HAVE GONE...and left labouring tasks for me to achieve, but I don't mind!
Let's look at the positive: they widened the lavender border, moved logs, forked and dug, gave me courage to buy a chainsaw, chainsawed timber, felled two trees, dug out one tree root, created timber surrounds for 4 part potager, moved heavy concrete plant troughs using roller wood I found, helped take garden waste to dechetterie, did hard labour prep of courtyard... all stuff I couldn't do plus she sorted a lifetime of postcard collection and photos. They sang and played guitar, we played board games, enjoyed a long walk... had a laugh... ate delicious food. I praised them often and at every supper ..."Well done you". Yes I developed trust issues, suspecting they were not moving on, but had no regrets telling them the honeymoon was over! I think I have the right to not allow people alone in my house if I do not trust them. I have regrets that it ended unpleasantly! But I have received KARMA!
Glad that I live am I;
That the sky is blue;
Glad for the country lanes,
And the fall of dew.
That the sky is blue;
Glad for the country lanes,
And the fall of dew.
After the sun, the rain,
After the rain the sun;
This is the way of life,
Till the work be done.
After the rain the sun;
This is the way of life,
Till the work be done.
All that we need to do,
Be we low or high,
Is to see that we grow,
Nearer to God on high.
Be we low or high,
Is to see that we grow,
Nearer to God on high.