Just a few days ago, one of the restaurants I own was getting a new air conditioner installed as a condition of lease renewal. Of course, the landlord did not tell me the AC people were coming to do the work and just showed up at 7AM with the expected high temperature to be in the mid-90sF. It was already 78F when they started.

I asked my manager to ask the AC guy how long it would take. "He doesn't know", she said. Such an answer drives me insane. You mean he has no clue? Will it take three months?! 30 minutes?! How can we plan to work around no AC in a restaurant when the installers have no idea how long it will take?

But of course they had a rough estimate. Why didn't they give me one? It would relieve a lot of anxiety if nothing else even if it was wrong.

At the three hour mark, I was told it would be about an hour. After 5 1/2 hours, I was told half an hour. It took 6 1/2 hours to complete.

Here are the issues with all that:

1) If I had an estimate, I wouldn't have needed to drive to the restaurant and talk to the installers myself.

2) If I didn't get an estimate, I would have had to raise hell with the landlord who I have a good relationship with.

3) Once I had an estimate, I didn't feel the anxiety or need to constantly check on the progress which would have irritated the installers. And believe me, I would have irritated them!