A Tale of Two Bears

This last summer at Young Women's camp, we had a bear that visited our pavilion on a nightly basis. I never had the joy of actually seeing him, but I certainly saw instances where he existed. From the size of his paw prints, he probably was a two or three old bear--still somewhat small but still big enough where I didn't want to run into him.

That's one kind of bear. Today, I'm going to share with you another kind of bear--a bear of the female, human variety--sometimes affectionately known as "Mama Bear."

A couple of days before Heather and Dustin's wedding, Ron arranged for a piano moving company to come and move our piano. (Duh!) He made sure that he got a written bid saying how much this would cost. They showed up on time and then immediately began hauling out papers and asking me to sign different things before they moved the piano.

Now, before I go any further in this lovely story, let me tell you that these men made me feel uncomfortable. I asked Dustin to pop his head into the living room so they knew that there was a man folk on the premises.

OK, back to the story. I read the first document. It seemed pretty straightforward so I affixed my "John Hancock." Then they pulled out more papers in triplicate. "Sign here!" "Sign here!" Sign here!" As I began signing my name I noticed that they were planning on charging me for an extra man, for extra time, for extra gas. I didn't know what to do. I could see our piano moving expense doubling in no time.

I quietly called Ron at work and told him what was happening. He told me that he had a firm bid and that they didn't have any right to raise the price. I took the papers back from the supervisor and began scribbling out my name. He protested. He protested greatly. He told me he would be in serious trouble with the owner of the company if I crossed out my name. And then, "Mother Bear" took over.

"I just spoke to my husband. He told me he has a firm, written bid that we are paying this price. Now you are saying this is going to cost more! You will move the piano for the price quoted and I refuse to pay any more. Do you understand? Do you understand!?"

He was a little surprised that this sweet, loving, stay-at-home Mom could suddenly turn into a raving lunatic. Poor Heather and Dustin. I'm sure I embarrassed them.

"Do you see this girl over here? This is my daughter! She's getting married in TWO DAYS! I'm moving a week after that! You are NOT going to do this to my family! You are not going to suddenly raise the price. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand," he muttered.

"Now look me in the eye and give me your word that when you deliver this piano you won't suddenly come up with more "hidden fees." Do you give me your word?"

"I give you my word."

"I'm going to hold you to your word. And IF I find out you lied to me, I will not only report you to the Better Business Bearau, but I will also report you to the California Consumer Affairs Department! Do you understand?"

"I understand."

This company delivered the piano and Ron paid them the agreed on price. I'm sure I was not popular.

Now, fast forward two months before Mother Bear reappeared again in all her glory.

Two weeks ago, we were told that our rental was going to get a new roof. I had just gone through this in July on our Stockton house and truthfully, I was not looking forward to repeating the noisy process. But, the end results would be worth it and the roof on this house needed replacing very badly.

Three days into the roofing process, I came home from running an errand to find our garage door wide open. I knew I had not left it open. I also knew the garage door into the back door was locked. I wasn't sure how the roofers opened the door. I was not pleased because Ron has all his tools stored in the garage along with many household items we have not unpacked yet. I closed the door and called Ron at work. He told me to be a "mother bear" and let the roofers know that this was not acceptable.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was one of the roofers. He was wondering why the garage door was closed!

Gathering all my nerve I said, "Yes, I saw that the garage door was up when I came home. I am not happy! You have broken and entered into our garage! I have a lot of things in the garage and they could have been stolen."

"They weren't going to be stolen! We were on the roof the whole time! And besides, you weren't home and when the power to the outside outlet tripped, we had to get power from somewhere."

"How do you know no one would sneak into my garage? You were on the roof! Did you see me come back home?"

"Uhhhh."

"And why didn't you call my husband on his cell phone and tell him about the problem?"

"We didn't have his cell phone number."

"Someone in your company does--he's received at least three phone calls from your company. You should have called them to get the number!"

"We're sorry."

"How did you get into the garage? The back door is locked."

"We climbed in through the roof."

Oh. Of course. I should have thought of that.

I hate being a "mother bear." It's outside my comfort zone. But sometimes, a female human needs to do what she needs to do.

P.S. After nearly two weeks, the roofers told me they are finished.