Sorry for the whining, but I have had a frustrating day! First, my contractor was planning to grout my bathroom today. So, I pointed out several tiles that needed to be fixed first, and specified that NO GROUT was to be used in ANY corner or change of plane. He tried to tell me that he would grout and then wait a couple of days, and if there were cracks he would caulk over them. NO NO NO I said, you will use CAULK exclusively in ALL corners and changes of plane. Okay, he says, and tells me he will need an additional tube of color-matched caulk. Fine, no problem.

So, BF and I go to Long Island to get the caulk and a few other things, and as we're pulling into Expo, the phone rings. It's the contractor's translator, telling me that they've gouged the tub. The brand new tub. Great. I tell the translator that I'm not surprised, considering how careless they've been with everything despite me asking them repeatedly to be more careful (3 of my cabinet doors have to be replaced because they've scratched them, etc). He says that there is someone who can patch it and that it shouldn't be a problem. NO NO NO. I will decide if it is a problem! I tell him that if it can be patched to my satisfaction then that's fine, but if not it will have to be replaced. GRR.

So, we get home, and I walk into the bathroom to check out the tub and grout. There is a small gouge on the edge of the tub, which is VERY irritating, but luckily it will be covered by the mounting channel for the glass, so it's not a huge deal. However, guess what? ALL OF THE CORNERS ARE GROUTED. I immediately called him in there and reminded him that not 5 hours before he had agreed that only CAULK would be in the corners. Again, he tries to give me the song and dance about putting grout first and that "no one does it with caulk." NO NO NO!!!!!!!!! I don't CARE how you do it in other houses, in MY house you will do it MY WAY (AKA the Bill V and Mongo way, AKA THE RIGHT WAY). I was finally able to convince them to go dig out the grout (while it was still soft) - but of course they did a half-assed job. They'll be caulking next week, and if I have to stand over them with a whip, they'll be digging out every bit of grout that they left behind before they caulk. We may do some of it ourselves just to make sure that it really gets done right.

Anyway, given the sh*t job they did in my bathroom, I'm seriously considering finding someone else to do my backsplash. Mongo, do you want to make a quick trip to NYC? Bill V? It's only about 45 square feet of 3/4" glass mosaic...

Thanks all for reading my rant!!!