October 14, 2022 - For several years I worked as an interior painter and installed wallpaper in many homes in the area. Working inside people’s homes can be an interesting situation. I encountered numerous obstacles of different kinds ranging from hard-to please customers to pesky pets. Usually I had to work around cats, dogs, birds, pot-belly pigs, and on one occasion a pet snake. One job stands out as particularly interesting.
A number of years ago I contracted with a lady to install new wallpaper in one room of her house. It was a rather large, rambling home, and several walls were to be papered in the den area.
On the morning I set up my paste table to begin my work, the lady of the house came in with last-minute instructions then reported she was going to be gone most of the day, and to “make myself at home.” Shortly after she left I was surprised to see a raccoon ambling into the den, stop, and stare at me. Actually, we were both staring at each other, obviously somewhat startled. I noted that the raccoon had on a collar which indicated it to be a family pet. I concluded that it was supposed to be inside, so I continued my work.
Unfortunately, the raccoon decided it wanted to help me with my job. After installing a strip of wallpaper I returned to my table to see the varmint with his paw down inside the paste bucket stirring it around. I shooed him away, but he left paw prints of wallpaper paste on the floor. He immediately returned to get under foot as I pasted another strip of paper. Then he wanted to help me fold the paper as he jumped upon my table. This time I popped him on the behind with a yard stick and told him to “git.” This little critter pestered me all day just like a two year old child.
I arrived at work the next morning to find that the raccoon had gnawed on a roll of wallpaper and played in my paste bucket. I showed the damage to the lady of the house and explained to her that if she wanted me to finish the job she would have to do something with the pesky ‘coon. We just could not work together.
So, she put the animal outside on the patio. I could see him through the large glass doors as he tried to get back into the house.
Several hours later I heard a loud crash out on the patio. I looked up to see the raccoon freeing himself from the clutter of several broken potted plants. He had crawled up a large Christmas tree shaped metal flower pot holder which fell over when he reached the top. The lady of the house ran outside yelling at the pesky pet, “What have you done? Just look at what you have done! You’ve ruined my plants!”
I could not help but chuckle. I finally completed the job and was glad to get away from Mr. Raccoon. This job was almost as interesting as the one in which the lady wanted me to hang the wallpaper with the pattern upside down. But, that’s another story.
