Random thoughts from Christmas and New Year's, now and in the past...
Hrm, let's start with the past, and hey, let's start with a bad memory, shall we?
Did you ever doing something you regret, years in the past, and then even just thinking about it makes you annoyed, angry...or even just laugh?
Well, I have a sort of laugh moment. It was Christmas...I think it was either 1998 or 1999. Peachtree City United Methodist Church. We had been working on a Christmas music program. We had a full orchestra assembled and performed a few services and then Christmas Eve services as well. I was tasked with solo singing what I consider to be one of the nicer Christmas songs, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." It really is a beautiful song. I was REALLY excited about it. However, I was at somewhat of a vocal intersection in my life, as my voice had started stabilizing (men's voices don't really "set" until around age 17-25) but I had not really adjusted to it quite yet.
And if you know the song, you know there is a big build in the final verse with a high note that while not impossible to reach (unlike the high note in "O Holy Night") is still rather difficult to hold for your average tenor voice. And to make it worse, the build halts on the high note, then softens immediately into the end of the song. So I've got to belt out this high note, hold it and wait for the director to continue, and immediately go into falsetto for 4 notes and then back into modal (normal) register for the the final 4 notes.
Seriously, if I had the chance to go back and reverse it, I would tell the director - straight up - I'm not going to sing this song. Why? I'll tell you why...
BECAUSE...well, because I totally blew this in ALL 3 PERFORMANCES of the song. I sang 95% of the song perfectly, everything but the 5% of the song everyone waits to hear. I had to basically scream the high note to get it out, and then my falsetto cracked like a 13 year old boy. The final 4 notes of the song were a goner, too, because each time my voice was shaking from the vocal failure I had unleashed on the high note and falsetto.
After each performance, I did a couple of practice runs to fine tune it, but nonetheless, at the successive performances, as if on cue, I did the exact same thing.
If I could have dissappeared behind stage immediately afterward it might have helped my embarassment. But NO...we had to immediately go right into "Sleigh Ride" as if nothing had happened. Sheesh....
So every time I think of that moment now, I have an instant feeling of "holy CRAP...what was I thinking?!?!???" and then I quickly just transition to laughing about it, about how funny it is to sing a song you really like and then to really blow it in front of a huge church audience at the peak of the emotional build, ruining the song immediately. I guess it would have been an even funnier memory if it had been SOMEONE ELSE beside me.
It probably goes without saying that the director didn't ask me to do anymore solos ever again.
Moving along....
This Christmas was a lot of fun. Caleb got some great gifts from Santa Claus (how cool is that?). We did our Christmas here in Dacula a few days in advance as we spent the holiday down in Your Favorite Town with our families. It's really a lot of fun watching him play with toys, and get super excited when he sees all his stuff laid out for him. And this is just the beginning...next few years are prime-time Santa years. I think it's just the greatest thing right now. I'll detail more about it in Caleb's blog sometime in the next few days.
Another funny Christmas memory from the past...
My brother Michael was about 11 or 12 years old I think. He had asked for a drum set for Christmas. That's all he asked for...no candy, no toys, no anything. And as Christmas approached, somehow he got the idea that there was zero chance of him getting his wish. On Christmas morning, he decided he just flat was NOT going to get up and go downstairs to see his Christmas gifts, because he knew there was no drum set down there waiting for him.
At least that's what he thought. But when the rest of us went down there and saw it sitting there waiting for him, we all tried to cajole him into getting up. No dice. BUT...when someone banged on a cymbal and a drum, he practically teleported into the room. Now THAT is a Christmas surprise if I ever saw one. And oh boy, was he bad at playing on that drum set. At least he got Grandma and Grandpa up (their room was about 10 feet away from the drum set). He eventually got better, but that morning he was probably one of the most enthusiastically horrible drummers I've ever seen.
I'm sure his memory of that morning is a little different, probably just "OMG OMG! A DRUM SET! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
A few years later, that drum set was victim of a flood in our basement, but it still sounded okay after that.
And let's not forget New Year's Eve...
Our semi-new tradition is spending New Year's Eve with Andy and Abby. We've probably done it for 4 or 5 years now (except last year, which will always be fondly remembered as the diarrhea/vomiting New Year's Eve in my household).
It's getting more complicated though...kids, dogs, so on and so on. It's nice, though, not going out anywhere and just playing games with some friends all night. We got a bunch of new Wii games for Christmas this year, gonna have to try them out tomorrow night.
Hope you all had a great Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!
12.30.2009
12.16.2009
Awww...nuts.
Random thoughts about something from a month ago...
So a few days after my birthday last month, there was this scare here at our house. Without getting into the details too much, I can say that it occurred to me that something wasn't quite right, physically speaking. And after about a half a day's consideration (and no shortage of just flat-out fear, to be honest) I finally called a doctor and made an appointment.
And again, dispensing with the details, I got forwarded from this initial doctor's visit along to another place to get some more information about the possible problem.
You see, something wasn't quite right about one of my twin boys, the beans, nuts...well...plenty of names for them. My immediate thought was "cancer" because so little else ever happens with those things, at least not anything you hear too much about. And there was definitely something there, just didn't quite know what it was yet.
Well I'll relieve any of you holding your breath at this point by saying that the doctors ruled out cancer. Good news. Great news, really.
But of course, it naturally got me into thinking...what if? You know, I've not had any major medical issue in my life. I broke my wrist once in 5th grade, but that's the only other time outside of being born that I had to spend any extended amount of time in the care of a doctor.
But all of a sudden, I'm thinking that something could happen to me. And really, I guess I never figured anything could. Not that I've always felt "invincible," just that I didn't think I had a target on me.
For those of you just hearing about this little episode for the first time, particularly those who might have expected to hear something about it from me personally rather than an Internet posting...well, I guess it's just not a real comfortable thing to talk about in the first place. In the second, I didn't like that moment of mortality that I felt, and perhaps reliving that brief emotion is just a little more than I wanted to deal with at the time.
For a whole 3 days while we waited for the doctors to give a final assessment, I kept finding myself occasionally distracted by thoughts...what would I do? What could I do? How do I have time to deal with something like this? Thankfully, I'm not in a position to consider such questions now, but the main takeaway for me has been a little bit more compassion for the multitudes of people around me and elsewhere who have found something like this becoming a major part of their life.
Oh, and about the actual problem...well, the doctors didn't figure out exactly what it is, just what it isn't. They ran some (extremely uncomfortable) tests, but in the end they prescribed me some medication and said it would probably not be an issue. So far it has proven to be true. Very happy about that one.
So a few days after my birthday last month, there was this scare here at our house. Without getting into the details too much, I can say that it occurred to me that something wasn't quite right, physically speaking. And after about a half a day's consideration (and no shortage of just flat-out fear, to be honest) I finally called a doctor and made an appointment.
And again, dispensing with the details, I got forwarded from this initial doctor's visit along to another place to get some more information about the possible problem.
You see, something wasn't quite right about one of my twin boys, the beans, nuts...well...plenty of names for them. My immediate thought was "cancer" because so little else ever happens with those things, at least not anything you hear too much about. And there was definitely something there, just didn't quite know what it was yet.
Well I'll relieve any of you holding your breath at this point by saying that the doctors ruled out cancer. Good news. Great news, really.
But of course, it naturally got me into thinking...what if? You know, I've not had any major medical issue in my life. I broke my wrist once in 5th grade, but that's the only other time outside of being born that I had to spend any extended amount of time in the care of a doctor.
But all of a sudden, I'm thinking that something could happen to me. And really, I guess I never figured anything could. Not that I've always felt "invincible," just that I didn't think I had a target on me.
For those of you just hearing about this little episode for the first time, particularly those who might have expected to hear something about it from me personally rather than an Internet posting...well, I guess it's just not a real comfortable thing to talk about in the first place. In the second, I didn't like that moment of mortality that I felt, and perhaps reliving that brief emotion is just a little more than I wanted to deal with at the time.
For a whole 3 days while we waited for the doctors to give a final assessment, I kept finding myself occasionally distracted by thoughts...what would I do? What could I do? How do I have time to deal with something like this? Thankfully, I'm not in a position to consider such questions now, but the main takeaway for me has been a little bit more compassion for the multitudes of people around me and elsewhere who have found something like this becoming a major part of their life.
Oh, and about the actual problem...well, the doctors didn't figure out exactly what it is, just what it isn't. They ran some (extremely uncomfortable) tests, but in the end they prescribed me some medication and said it would probably not be an issue. So far it has proven to be true. Very happy about that one.
10.15.2009
I had an accident
So I'm driving into Atlanta on Monday for the weekly Touchdown Club of Atlanta meeting. Tons of rain, traffic everywhere, slow going for the most part.
Caleb is normally in the car (drop off with grandma) but since it's Columbus Day, Hilary is at home and Caleb stays there for the day.
Driving our new(-er) car, the Saturn. Heading south on I-85, just a mile or so north of Spaghetti Junction. In one of the far left lanes.
Traffic in the right lanes is nearly stopped due to accident backing people up trying to access I-285. Guy driving a truck in the lane to my right decides my lane is moving quite quickly, decides to enter it in front of me. Tries to, anyway.
Slamming on the brakes, my car stops and gives his truck a big, fat high-five.
No airbags, no OnStar...not really a major accident. Just enough impact to freak everyone out and cause (what turns out to be) about $2,500 in damage to my car. Don't know about his car's damage. Don't know how much his citation ends up costing, either.
We get over, get out in the pouring rain in a flooded out emergency lane and trade insurance (yes, he has insurance!) and generally check everything out. Nobody's hurt (his kid in the car with him is okay, too). Police are called, arrive, assess and write up the report.
The guy is nice enough, very apologetic. Grateful for a nice guy hitting me.
Grateful for the nice part, not the hitting part.
His insurance company sets me up with the repairs and a rental car. Rental is set to be a comparable vehicle to my Saturn (an SUV). It's a 2010 Ford Edge. Nice enough car, but as it turns out, the interior and storage isn't really much more than our Toyota Corrolla. Considering a trade up in the next day or two.
Thankful for:
Hrm...definitely going to want to trade up to a bigger car.
Caleb is normally in the car (drop off with grandma) but since it's Columbus Day, Hilary is at home and Caleb stays there for the day.
Driving our new(-er) car, the Saturn. Heading south on I-85, just a mile or so north of Spaghetti Junction. In one of the far left lanes.
Traffic in the right lanes is nearly stopped due to accident backing people up trying to access I-285. Guy driving a truck in the lane to my right decides my lane is moving quite quickly, decides to enter it in front of me. Tries to, anyway.
Slamming on the brakes, my car stops and gives his truck a big, fat high-five.
No airbags, no OnStar...not really a major accident. Just enough impact to freak everyone out and cause (what turns out to be) about $2,500 in damage to my car. Don't know about his car's damage. Don't know how much his citation ends up costing, either.
We get over, get out in the pouring rain in a flooded out emergency lane and trade insurance (yes, he has insurance!) and generally check everything out. Nobody's hurt (his kid in the car with him is okay, too). Police are called, arrive, assess and write up the report.
The guy is nice enough, very apologetic. Grateful for a nice guy hitting me.
Grateful for the nice part, not the hitting part.
His insurance company sets me up with the repairs and a rental car. Rental is set to be a comparable vehicle to my Saturn (an SUV). It's a 2010 Ford Edge. Nice enough car, but as it turns out, the interior and storage isn't really much more than our Toyota Corrolla. Considering a trade up in the next day or two.
Thankful for:
- No injuries
- Caleb not in the car
- Guy has insurance!
- Hilary telling me to drive the SUV (otherwise, I'd have been in the Corolla, and probably would have wound up underneath this guy's truck tires, assuming I could have even used the brakes with all my equipment loading down the car)
- Not my fault
- Having the awareness to not swerve around this guy into the lane to my left, where I would have been the one causing an accident
- Free rental
- Did I mention no injuries?
Hrm...definitely going to want to trade up to a bigger car.
10.07.2009
Fall is Autumn is Fall
Cut to the chase....random thoughts on the seasons (and the current season)
I hear a lot of people say fall is their favorite time of year. When it's fall.
When it's spring/summer/winter, I hear the same thing (well, maybe not so much with winter). I enjoy all the seasons for what they are, but if I was asked to prioritize, it would be in this order:
BUT!
...I'm serious, winter is better than spring for me. Some pros/cons between winter and spring...
Winter - PROS
Winter - CONS
But fall is now, fall is special. Pumpkins, leaves, football, Oktoberfest, camping, festivals, carnivals...plenty of things going on all the way into Thanksgiving, America's biggest food holiday.
Never mind that fall is when I tend to have the most business. For 2-3 years now, I've had limited business in the first half of the year and blowouts all during the fall months. Dunno why, but I guess there's something to be said about consistency.
Football...not a special year if you're a UGA fan like me. No matter, can't win 'em all, and even thought they're not one of the top games in the country this year, they're still playing good football. And even a bad day of football beats a day of working.
Oh yeah, since I never update my blog anymore, I should mention this....Hilary and I paid a visit to the bro-in-law Blake up in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. Never been to Chicago before, but really a very nice town. Probably the nicest big metropolis style city you'll ever see. Makes it all the more interesting as to why Rio de Janeiro picked up the 2016 Olympics over Chicago. From what I know of Rio, it is everything that Chicago isn't (and I don't mean that in a good way). Not to be down on Rio, but it seemed like a strange choice. Guess we'll see how it plays out in about 7 years.
But Chicago...great town. Apparently every restaurant recommendation there is made based on whether or not President Obama has eaten there. Ask for a good pizza place, you'll be told about a place and then "...and Obama always eats there." Guess that's how it rolls when the POTUS is a hometown man.
Probably went the same way when Carter was in office and all those people went to tour Albany, GA. Oh, wait.....probably not.
Caleb is getting big. He's in like the 89th percentile on height. Runs everywhere, walks only when asked. Best part of it all....whenever he sees something red and black, or sees a UGA "G" logo, or really even a large G of any kind, he says "Georgia." Love it, now we gotta work on his passing skills.
Goodbye.
I hear a lot of people say fall is their favorite time of year. When it's fall.
When it's spring/summer/winter, I hear the same thing (well, maybe not so much with winter). I enjoy all the seasons for what they are, but if I was asked to prioritize, it would be in this order:
- Summer
- Fall
- Winter
- Spring
BUT!
...I'm serious, winter is better than spring for me. Some pros/cons between winter and spring...
Winter - PROS
- Christmas time
- A chance of snow, which means a chance of not being able to leave the house or do anything (which can be refreshing)
- Getting to use the nice coats for a few weeks before they get mothballed again
- Family time, LOTS of family time during the winter months
- No yard work
- Warmer weather
- Pretty flowers
Winter - CONS
- Cold...I mean, C-O-L-D. Even our mild Georgia winters are too much for me. Gimme the heat
- Lack of physical activity, sports (football's over, and basketball does nothing for me)
- Pollen
- Yard work
- House cleaning
- Pollen
- POLLEN!!
- YARD WORK!!!!
But fall is now, fall is special. Pumpkins, leaves, football, Oktoberfest, camping, festivals, carnivals...plenty of things going on all the way into Thanksgiving, America's biggest food holiday.
Never mind that fall is when I tend to have the most business. For 2-3 years now, I've had limited business in the first half of the year and blowouts all during the fall months. Dunno why, but I guess there's something to be said about consistency.
Football...not a special year if you're a UGA fan like me. No matter, can't win 'em all, and even thought they're not one of the top games in the country this year, they're still playing good football. And even a bad day of football beats a day of working.
Oh yeah, since I never update my blog anymore, I should mention this....Hilary and I paid a visit to the bro-in-law Blake up in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. Never been to Chicago before, but really a very nice town. Probably the nicest big metropolis style city you'll ever see. Makes it all the more interesting as to why Rio de Janeiro picked up the 2016 Olympics over Chicago. From what I know of Rio, it is everything that Chicago isn't (and I don't mean that in a good way). Not to be down on Rio, but it seemed like a strange choice. Guess we'll see how it plays out in about 7 years.
But Chicago...great town. Apparently every restaurant recommendation there is made based on whether or not President Obama has eaten there. Ask for a good pizza place, you'll be told about a place and then "...and Obama always eats there." Guess that's how it rolls when the POTUS is a hometown man.
Probably went the same way when Carter was in office and all those people went to tour Albany, GA. Oh, wait.....probably not.
Caleb is getting big. He's in like the 89th percentile on height. Runs everywhere, walks only when asked. Best part of it all....whenever he sees something red and black, or sees a UGA "G" logo, or really even a large G of any kind, he says "Georgia." Love it, now we gotta work on his passing skills.
Goodbye.
8.11.2009
Poor choice of words...
Right now we're getting some work done at our house, general upkeep type stuff and a few "upgraded" items. So I've been contracting various professional tradesmen for the tasks at hand. One in particular just seems to have every warning sign going off, and yesterday was really sort of the end of the line.
THE SETUP
So I came across this guy as a referral from one of the other contractors who was providing an estimate on a related job. I gave him a call, and he came out and talked over everything for a little bit then left. I was told I'd have an estimate in an hour or two, but didn't hear back until the next day. His wife had a c-section the next morning and so obviously he'd been busy that day with the birth of his 2nd child. As heartless as it may sound though, I still didn't know why he hadn't shot me an e-mail after leaving my house, so instead I'm waiting a little longer. He mentioned he had his laptop at the hospital and he'd get me the estimate in a day or two.
THE DELAY
....or 3, or 4 or 5. Okay, so who knows what sort of fun birth-related things he was dealing with, but it took a while longer and another e-mail from me before I got a quote (and not a formal quote, but just whatever he had time to put together real quick). Regardless, I finally got some numbers about a week and a half ago. Everything looked okay, but he was still unable to provide proof of insurance at this time (a standard request for any general contractor). I'm told he'll get something sent off in an e-mail that night or early next day.
....or 3 or 4 days or so. Okay, I finally hear back from him a few days later, and he says he'll get the insurance info over to me sometime Monday morning, and he'll be here after lunch on Monday.
THE FAIL
....or not. I'm waiting all day, got all the furniture moved out and around so he can do his work, and when I don't hear from him, I give him a call about a quarter to 3pm yesterday. "Where ya at? What's going on?" Well, turns out he doesn't have insurance, he "forgot" to renew it, and he's working on getting it reinstated but it will be a day or two. Or three. Maybe next week. Why he didn't bother calling? Oh, he says he sent me an e-mail about 30 minutes earlier (it was 15 minutes). I let him know that a phone call is pretty normal when you're going to be late, or if you're cancelling the job...especially if it's already a few hours after start time.
Oh, another thing to note...the project he's doing must be completed before some other little jobs are done, so we're rescheduling these other guys all the time to accomodate this guy. He knows this, but still continues to push things back for what turns out to be no good reason.
THE CHANGE OF PLANS
So we have our phone conversation, he apologizes, gives excuses, and I cut him off. I let him know in a genuinely nice yet short way that this is all unacceptable. We leave it that we'll try to get something decided the next day (seriously giving this guy the benefit of the doubt) and that's that. Meanwhile, I spend a couple of hours finding other contractors who can come out and give an estimate and maybe get this stuff done. I find a good one, they come out, quote the job (for less money, I might add) and say they'll start work next day (an hour or so from now, in fact).
THE NOTIFICATION
So I shoot the original guy a phone call, he doesn't answer (per usual) and I leave a message saying another guy is coming to do the work, and I'll keep him posted on some other potential projects we had discussed. I apologized that it hadn't worked out, circumstances between us being what they were, and said no hard feelings, we'll try again next time. Am I a nice guy or what?
THE STUPIDITY
So with all my accomodation and niceties with this fellow, here's the e-mail (not phone call) he sends me a short while later. I've added my comments for your reading pleasure.....
"I got your message and was disappointd to hear this information. I felt that I made a promise to you (now your promises mean something?) to have the work finished tomorrow and it was left at that. But no hard feelings. Just for future reference it may be helpful not to ask for so many prejob requirements (beggin' your pardon, ma'am???). If it had not been for this (the request for proof of his insurance) your job could have been completed over this past weekend (...except the plan was to do it many days before then). I know you are just trying to play it safe (let's refer to it as "due diligence," shall we?) but I only have one in fifty customers ask for insurance (good to know that I am more intelligent and better prepared than 98% of your customers). References though are a more common request (and less useful in the event of a job site disaster). Anyways, I can still do the other work but unfortunatley I can not offer the same price (perhaps he feels that I am due a discount for my troubles...?). My initial estimate was more of a package price and since we have already cut that back quite a bit along with this additional work not being done I simply cannot do the other work for those prices (hrm....maybe he's NOT thinking of a discount.....). If you would like for me to requote the remaining items please let me know. Good luck tomorrow (can't be much worse, can it?)."
THE FINAL ASSESSMENT
Okay, so I had plenty of red flags and should have cut this guy out long ago, but I just felt like giving him a shot. As for his lack of business saavy...well, a lot of skilled tradesmen are excellent workers and horrible businessmen, so nothing new there. But this guy is either just having a really bad month, or he has an amazing combination of poor communication, lack of respect and failure to respond to customer requests. Regardless, anybody should know better than to tell a client that he asked too much. If I asked too much of you, dear sir, then why didn't you tell me so sometime before the job was supposed to begin? It is not my position to know what you are and are not capable of doing, it is your position to tell me. If I am too picky of a client for you, then either charge me more for your troubles or decline the work.
I did send a response to his message, but I still remained pretty upbeat with him. I told him where his train ran off the tracks, but I didn't nail him to the wall (which I probably should have). Oh well.
I guess I'll let you know how the next guy turns out....
THE SETUP
So I came across this guy as a referral from one of the other contractors who was providing an estimate on a related job. I gave him a call, and he came out and talked over everything for a little bit then left. I was told I'd have an estimate in an hour or two, but didn't hear back until the next day. His wife had a c-section the next morning and so obviously he'd been busy that day with the birth of his 2nd child. As heartless as it may sound though, I still didn't know why he hadn't shot me an e-mail after leaving my house, so instead I'm waiting a little longer. He mentioned he had his laptop at the hospital and he'd get me the estimate in a day or two.
THE DELAY
....or 3, or 4 or 5. Okay, so who knows what sort of fun birth-related things he was dealing with, but it took a while longer and another e-mail from me before I got a quote (and not a formal quote, but just whatever he had time to put together real quick). Regardless, I finally got some numbers about a week and a half ago. Everything looked okay, but he was still unable to provide proof of insurance at this time (a standard request for any general contractor). I'm told he'll get something sent off in an e-mail that night or early next day.
....or 3 or 4 days or so. Okay, I finally hear back from him a few days later, and he says he'll get the insurance info over to me sometime Monday morning, and he'll be here after lunch on Monday.
THE FAIL
....or not. I'm waiting all day, got all the furniture moved out and around so he can do his work, and when I don't hear from him, I give him a call about a quarter to 3pm yesterday. "Where ya at? What's going on?" Well, turns out he doesn't have insurance, he "forgot" to renew it, and he's working on getting it reinstated but it will be a day or two. Or three. Maybe next week. Why he didn't bother calling? Oh, he says he sent me an e-mail about 30 minutes earlier (it was 15 minutes). I let him know that a phone call is pretty normal when you're going to be late, or if you're cancelling the job...especially if it's already a few hours after start time.
Oh, another thing to note...the project he's doing must be completed before some other little jobs are done, so we're rescheduling these other guys all the time to accomodate this guy. He knows this, but still continues to push things back for what turns out to be no good reason.
THE CHANGE OF PLANS
So we have our phone conversation, he apologizes, gives excuses, and I cut him off. I let him know in a genuinely nice yet short way that this is all unacceptable. We leave it that we'll try to get something decided the next day (seriously giving this guy the benefit of the doubt) and that's that. Meanwhile, I spend a couple of hours finding other contractors who can come out and give an estimate and maybe get this stuff done. I find a good one, they come out, quote the job (for less money, I might add) and say they'll start work next day (an hour or so from now, in fact).
THE NOTIFICATION
So I shoot the original guy a phone call, he doesn't answer (per usual) and I leave a message saying another guy is coming to do the work, and I'll keep him posted on some other potential projects we had discussed. I apologized that it hadn't worked out, circumstances between us being what they were, and said no hard feelings, we'll try again next time. Am I a nice guy or what?
THE STUPIDITY
So with all my accomodation and niceties with this fellow, here's the e-mail (not phone call) he sends me a short while later. I've added my comments for your reading pleasure.....
"I got your message and was disappointd to hear this information. I felt that I made a promise to you (now your promises mean something?) to have the work finished tomorrow and it was left at that. But no hard feelings. Just for future reference it may be helpful not to ask for so many prejob requirements (beggin' your pardon, ma'am???). If it had not been for this (the request for proof of his insurance) your job could have been completed over this past weekend (...except the plan was to do it many days before then). I know you are just trying to play it safe (let's refer to it as "due diligence," shall we?) but I only have one in fifty customers ask for insurance (good to know that I am more intelligent and better prepared than 98% of your customers). References though are a more common request (and less useful in the event of a job site disaster). Anyways, I can still do the other work but unfortunatley I can not offer the same price (perhaps he feels that I am due a discount for my troubles...?). My initial estimate was more of a package price and since we have already cut that back quite a bit along with this additional work not being done I simply cannot do the other work for those prices (hrm....maybe he's NOT thinking of a discount.....). If you would like for me to requote the remaining items please let me know. Good luck tomorrow (can't be much worse, can it?)."
THE FINAL ASSESSMENT
Okay, so I had plenty of red flags and should have cut this guy out long ago, but I just felt like giving him a shot. As for his lack of business saavy...well, a lot of skilled tradesmen are excellent workers and horrible businessmen, so nothing new there. But this guy is either just having a really bad month, or he has an amazing combination of poor communication, lack of respect and failure to respond to customer requests. Regardless, anybody should know better than to tell a client that he asked too much. If I asked too much of you, dear sir, then why didn't you tell me so sometime before the job was supposed to begin? It is not my position to know what you are and are not capable of doing, it is your position to tell me. If I am too picky of a client for you, then either charge me more for your troubles or decline the work.
I did send a response to his message, but I still remained pretty upbeat with him. I told him where his train ran off the tracks, but I didn't nail him to the wall (which I probably should have). Oh well.
I guess I'll let you know how the next guy turns out....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
