Bed Drama

Our new bed arrived last Monday.  It took the guys about an hour to bring all of the pieces in and assemble them.  It would have taken at least an hour more if I hadn't stepped in.  Yes, I was one of "those" people micro-managing the whole thing in my own house!  They greeted us by saying they had never put this actual bed together and they weren't exactly sure how to do it.  No problem, right?!

Basically empty room ready for the bed guys!

Initially, I just wanted to see how the bed assembled, so when we move, we'll know how to take it apart to move it.  That turned into folding up their furniture pads/covers to get them out of the way.  Then I noticed that one of the guys was hastily reading the directions and just started screwing random pieces together.  My concern then was, "this bed is going to be put together so wrong that the minute we lay on it, it will collapse."  So, I kindly asked if I could see the directions.  Then I noticed that the directions I had in my hand were only steps 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12.  Where were 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9?  Oh, they were on another piece of paper than the guy had dropped.  I actually LOVE building things!  Ikea type furniture makes me so happy!  I love to read the directions and put things together piece by piece!  It would actually be a perfect job for me to deliver and assemble furniture, except I don't have the strength to lift the heavy pieces that these guys were.  Bummer!

I immediately halted building and told the men we were starting from the beginning.  Good thing because things were already on the wrong track!  The guy initially reading the directions got huffy with me because he had to unscrew and move some of the pieces because they were in the wrong spot.  No way?  You thought that guessing where things went would prevent you from having to do it over?  Oh well, I want it done right!  And done right the first time!  And I have the patience to read and get it right unlike...umm, well, unlike men in general!

We were finally to step #12 when we all discovered that we were missing two slats to finish off the assembly.  Those slats are important because it's a bed that doesn't require a box spring because the mattress lays on the flat wooden surface...that now had gaping holes in it because we didn't have the slats to screw down.  We did have the pieces for the middle, but two slats were missing on each side of that.  Genius guy thought he was just going to screw down those middle pieces and I stopped him because he didn't even have them centered.  He suggested we just go to the hardware store and buy a piece of plywood and screw it down.  I suggested that we call the company and get them to ship the missing pieces.  Not rocket-science.  At that point he huffed his way out of the room.  He was not happy with me at all!

Bed with slats missing!

The other guy was so nice and pleasant!  We assured him that we'd been sleeping in the guest room anyway and we wanted the bed put together correctly, so we'd just wait for the parts.  He called the company to report the missing parts, took the payment balance for the bed, and we gave him a jug of gatorade and some cups for the road.  He couldn't believe it!  He seemed genuinely grateful!  He said this had been a first for him...he'd never had anyone step in and help read the directions in an attempt to help them put a piece of furniture together.  He said it in a positive way like he really was thankful, but we'll never know.  Regardless, my furniture, my house, my way!

I was actually pleased because I now had a chance to vacuum the room and we could arrange the furniture around the bed.  This turned out to be a good move because we ended up having to move the furniture a few times to make it perfect!  It was also during the furniture moving/vacuuming period that I noticed the wood on the side of the bed had been split.  Now I can't promise it didn't happen before it arrived in the house, but the force that huffy guy was using to slam the side railing into the headboard could have damaged anything!  So, now we've got a crazy expensive bed with a split side and no slats.  YAY!   This is my life people.  Seriously, nothing is ever simple.  Ever!

Oh well.  The room looks awesome!  Someday, we'll be able to sleep in there and it will be every bit the bedroom I've been waiting for!  Until then, we're still camped out in the guest room!

Final placement of furniture and the mattress resting on the bed for the time being!

One other nugget...why is it, when you have a scheduled delivery time, the company ALWAYS want to deliver outside of that time?  Our delivery time was 4pm-7pm.  I received the call that morning at 9:49am saying they were running a little ahead of schedule (oh, just a little right?) and could they deliver between 11:45 and noon?  Umm...is 11:45-noon, 4pm-7pm?  No?  Yeah, because we're real people with real jobs!  We can't just stop everything and come running.  How about your 11:45-noon move to 4pm-7pm like scheduled.  Okay?  Cool!  Oh...you're not going to be there until 5pm?  Perfect!  That's actually in the scheduled time!  Maybe it's just me, but when I schedule something, I expect that to be the plan!  And I like things to go according to plan!  The end!