Tuesday, November 4, 2008

God bless the plumber...

When I saw this sign, I cringed, thinking about all the nightmare jobs plumbers deal with. Maybe it was an omen. I have, after all, had my fair share of tradespeople coming and going these days -- the treadmill repair guy, the furnace man, an electrician who put in an extra panel for me.

Fast forward a week and here I am, with a plumber ripping apart a wall upstairs, looking for a leak that's making its way from the main floor down into our basement.

I feel sorry for tradespeople who work with the public. Honestly, I do. A painter we recently hired told me one woman wouldn't let him use her bathroom, even though she lived 10 mins from the nearest town and he worked at her house for three days straight. "Happens all the time," he said. Last week, the electrician said one guy wouldn't let him use his phone, even though there was no cell service in the area.

I don't understood people who hire someone and then treat them like garbage. What's the logic? Ego? The need to feel powerful and in control? It's demotivating and completely unnecessary, and if I worked for someone who treated me like that, I'm quite sure my mouth would get me fired faster than the job would get done.

Okay, there's my rant for the day. I'm off to offer my plumber a cup of coffee and get back to work on chapter twenty two. Have a good one!

P.S. We had 318 kids show up for Halloween, by the way.

13 comments:

Travis Erwin said...

318 kids. Wow.

Janet said...

Treating tradespeople badly is not only bad social skills, it's bad business sense. Who is more likely to get a good job done, the lady barricading her bathroom, or the one offering coffee and cookies?

318? Oh my... I guess that speaks to the safety of your neighbourhood.

Ramona said...

Holy crap, Batman!
318 kids is insane.

Oh, and I agree.
Plumbers rock. I happen to be dating one too so how's that for backing the little guy?!

Angie Ledbetter said...

Treating service people badly is not only rude, it's stoopid. I mean, whose to say one of them might not get a little revenge for having to hold his water for 8 hours and throw a little monkey wrench into the plumbing? :)

Holly Kennedy said...

I agree with Janet and Angie, but I'm also a firm believer that we all deserve to be treated with respect, no matter what it is that we do for a living.

Pretentious/arrogant people are one of my pet peeves.

I believe it speaks to a person's character when you watch how they treat...oh, I don't know...a waitress or a hotel bellman or the maid who cleans their room, don't you think?

Janet said...

I am sorry if I gave the impression that one should treat others well in the hopes of getting better treatment back. You should do it just because it's right.

But even if you're entirely self-centered, it still makes no sense to treat tradespeople badly. So in that case, it's stupidity as well as nastiness.

Adam said...

I spent 3 summers working for a roofing company and a lot of the people were great but there were some who'd quickly raise anyone's blood pressure, usually those with lots of money. Made me wonder what they'd be like if they lost it all and were left with nuthin but their skivvies.

Anonymous said...

I'm still locked onto the 318 kids. Ugh! I just cannot imagine. You poor thing.

Victoria said...

I waitress weekends and I get some real schlepps I'd love tah dump a beer or two on!!

ORION said...

Gee I have that sign on my toilet...
but I let ANYONE use it lol!

Melissa Amateis said...

I don't think I could be a plumber. *shudder*

Sandra Cormier said...

Don't forget coffee goes through him pretty fast, so you'd better let him use the bathroom, too.

We had ZERO kids. Chocolate, anyone?

Verification word: emoped - is that an electric moped or an emo bicycle rider?

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