"RicodJour" wrote in message
oups.com...
MRS. CLEAN wrote:

I am collecting antedoctal evidence, but it appears there is objective
evidence to support my experiences.

I'm surprised that you could type "objective" without bursting into
flames or melting or whatever it is *you people* do when confronting
gross irony.

You know, it *IS* possible that you could randomly pick 3 contractors out of
the yellow pages, and end up picking 3 awful ones. If you happened to be
looking for someone to deal with wet basement problems, the likelihood of
picking bad ones would be multiplied exponentially. If you had this
experience, then you could that 100% of them seemed shifty to you.

Nobody can beat these odds, unless they get estimates from every available
contractor, or get referrals that improve the odds.