brenda, I wish there were someone at my company to stir up some of our collective shit.

My sister is angry at the roofer for starting work on an $1100 job when he quoted her $350. Understandable. But. The fact that she can't easily be reached and gave him my number instead of her own did have something to do with it. He got there, found the problem was more extensive than he thought, and started (or continued) work while trying to reach her. It's not like he finished the job and *then* told her it was $1100. I'm not sure I would've done it differently, myself; he can't afford to pay workers to sit there doing nothing while he tries to contact someone for permission.

People who don't want to be called at work, never answer their phones, and send their cellphone calls directly to voicemail that they never listen to? Don't have a wide platform to stand on when they're mad about not being consulted up front. Not to mention, she lives two hours away from the house that's being worked on, and the daughter who does live there sleeps all day and doesn't want to be bothered. And not that he shouldn't have talked to her about it, but who's he supposed to consult? Me? Being under the impression that she wanted the leaking, partially collapsing roof fixed, this morning when he called me and asked of he could go over there and do the work, I said yes. When his secretary called me for my sister's number, I called my sister at work and had her call the secretary. All that, instead of her just giving him her number. She's also mad because she wanted to be there when the work was done. Well, did she tell him that? Because she didn't tell me that. What's she going to do, climb up there and supervise? Make sure they do it right? No, don't joke, she would if she could.

It's a leaking, partially collapsing roof. The inhabitant of the house didn't bother to inform us that her closet ceiling was leaking and sagging inwards until someone happened to notice the same thing on the porch -- two weeks after the leak started! It needs to be fixed.

Oh, she's on the phone with me now. She's not gonna do it. She's just gonna have it patched so it lasts six months. Whatever. It's not like she doesn't have the money. She's saying she doesn't have it, but please, she knows I know she does.

Okay, rant over. Whatever.

Grilled salmon seems healthy to me, but maybe he's framing "indulgence" differently than you. Maybe he thinks of indulging as eating a non-vegetarian meal.

My father has always been fat-phobic (like, rude comments in the grocery store to his children about strangers fat-phobic), so I guess I am suspicious that this restricted diet is more about paranoia and mental hangups rather than actually determined by medical stuff. Which is really weird because in most things my father is hyper-rational.

Salmon is great for cholesterol - it's full of fish oil!

Right, that was my thinking!

In the exact same email he offered to feed my children hot dogs, so I don't even know.

Personally? I don't see how a super-low-fat diet can be healthy. We're made of fat. Our brains and our nerves and our cell membranes are made of fat and cholesterol. What are we supposed to make ourselves out of, if we don't take in enough fat?

Could "indulgence" mean financial indulgence, not health? Good wild salmon is pretty pricey.

I am suspicious that this restricted diet is more about paranoia and mental hangups rather than actually determined by medical stuff.

It sounds like it, but I don't want to judge your dad based on no info. (Also, never let him meet me. I am his nightmare. I am fat and I eat fatty foods. LIKE SALMON.)

(Okay, I think I need to see if there's a salmon burger [thank you, TJs] in the freezer for lunch, because this conversation has made me want salmon big time.)

My father is a cheapskate, but he is also a retired doctor! (And in context, it was clearly a dietary rather than financial indulgence.)

Oh yeah, disclaimer: I am currently snacking on reheated bread pudding left over from last night's office party, so do not take nutrition/lifestyle advice from me. Fatty carbs FTW.