Treatment of tradesmen (or tradeswomen!)

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diy_darren

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Whenever I have a plumber, electrician, plasterer, etc .. around to do work I always make the effort to offer them a drink and talk to them like an equal, not the hired help.

Back at the start of the year the plasterer was around for a few days so I got talking to him more. I was horrified to hear how some customers treated him :shock:

On one hand he'd been to jobs in pubs where they'd insisted on cooking him lunch, but on the other hand he said he'd been to one house where they were serving breakfast while he was unpacking his kit. The one bloke turned to him and sneered "and don't think you'll be getting any of this!".

Is it common to get treated like this?
 
had one mate where when he had finished the job and presented the customer with the bill, the customer sat down and presented him with a list of cups of tea he had had and charged him 40p / cup! (or tried to!) :shock:
 
yes its true.

some place you will get get tea / coffee untill it comes out of your ears others you think you are in the sahara desert.

best one i had i told the bloke the job was free (dont ask, but it was) but that i drink black coffee,

every 40 minutes, black coffee, it was lovely.

joe public seem to think ALL the money for a job goes into YOUR (the worker) pocket, so why should tyhey give you a cuppa
 
Go to the job prepared.I take a flask and plenty of cold drink.You are supposed to be earning money.I always refuse any refreshment.too time consuming,cup of tea natter half hour gone.Get real you are there to do a job.I can do 2hours more work,be finished on to the next job.Take the tea a natter is expected,or even more.
 
A cuppa and a natter is what gets me recommendations for being approachable and friendly, as well as excellect work :roll:

I never take tea breaks or lunch breaks just drink and eat on the go usually apart from a 5 min natter, but the I rarely start before about 9:30am :shock:
 
Do you find that people fall into one of the following

1 Mrs "You cant do enough to please me" turn up early they moan

turn up on time they moan "I expected you to be late"

fix the problem "why didnt you do that ten minutes before it broke down??"

2 Mr "I dont give a toss one way or the other just get in with the job" I love these no interest in what you are doing I just want you to do what I am paying you for

3 Ms "Not matter what you do I will think you are Great" cock up the job they dont care and think you are great. turn up late they dont care they think you are great, sleep with their wives they dont car they think you are great, poo on their coffee table well you know the rest. I once went to a darling old boy who fell into this category poor love.

He had paid 900 to have a 1000x600 SC rad installed (I am NOT Kidding) and the job was a disgrace i cannot begin to describe how bad it was.

So sighing to myself I started to rip it out and start again while this auld boy was saying things like "those boys were great eat me out of house and home but made me laugh, they even drove me to the bank to get thier money"

Four hours and no money later it was installed correctly and surrey trading standards had lots of info about these "lovely" boys.

BAR STEWARDS.

for every Customer 1 you have 98 Customer 2 and 1 customer 3

:)
 
One October afternoon I was one of two people drilling/chiselling a new soil pipe hole through an old wall about 18" below ground level. It was a freezing day but we were so hot we were in T shirts - didn't dare stop or the sweat would freeze.

After digging and backfilling the trench for the new pipe run, I then wheelbarrowed all the excess dirt about 100 yards uphill and dumped it.

Halfway through this, after no liquid for hours, I felt slightly dizzy, so I had to ask if we could have a cup of tea, or, failing that, a glass of water.

The customer went into the kitchen and reappeared with one glass of water for the two of us. :roll:

These days I don't arrive anywhere without a 500cc bottle of water.
 
Once worked at a place for five weeks without even a sniff of a warm drink. In fact they even gave us a key(for the back door) so we could let ourselves in on a morning while they lay stinking in their pits.
Another customer made us so many cuppas we couldn't even drive home without a toilet stop.
On the whole, in five years of self employment I've been very lucky to meet and work for a lot of nice people. There that's jinxed it, I'm going to get all the carp now!
 
to some folk we're knights in shining armour, to others we're just little men who should use the 'back' door.
 
I worked on and off at a castle from when I was a boy through to tradesman 25 years and never once was offered a cuppa but when other members of the family took over tea any time help youself.
5 weeks without tea count youself lucky very lucky.
 
Most of my jobs are either in pubs/shops or council properties.

I get loads of coffees from the council jobs.

Coffee/free stuff from the shops.

f**k all from the pubs!
 
:lol: nice one solo.

and as for you softus....the work will have done you good, on limited rations. you fekkin wimp :lol: :wink:
 
I will never forget one job I went to with our "boy" apprentice... He'd started two days earlier and was doing the rounds with all the engineers...

We arrived at the job and this late 30's woman kept loading on the tea's whilst chatting away with us... As soon as the cup was empty; it was refilled... Great; I paced myself nicely as I knew we was in for a long day, but the poor apprentice kept chucking it down his throat...

It didn't take long before his bladder gave in and he needed to go spend one... So; like the polite "newboy" he asked if he could use her loo... She quickly responded with; "Yeah - The closest one is just up the high street; I think it's a 20p you'll need"


Of course; I rolled up with laughter thinking she was jesting with him - Next thing I knew; we was asked to leave site... Trying to explain to my then manager "Yeah, kicked off site because the newboy wanted to go to the loo"... Classic day - Will never forget it as long as I live.





Where the hell did the general public come from?
 
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