The Crazy

This morning I got an email from a customer who's email read sexyslut @ something or another. That reminded me of when Rick was in HR and he would get resumes with inappropriate emails. He was always puzzled how they could apply for this executive position with an email to respond at sexy slut or worse. I too can't fathom why someone would even use that kind of email moniker for a job search.  To me, that is just plain stupid when email accounts are free. Try getting one just for your career search. Rick never hired those folks because he felt if they weren't smart enough to know not to use this he didn't want them in the position they were applying for.

I also remember a resume that Rick showed me. This person was male and was applying for an outside sales position. He wrote his likes. Yes, his likes, as though he was on a dating site. He actually wrote how he liked walks on the beach, wine and it went on and on like this. Rick found it humorous as hell but he didn't want to date him and didn't hire him either. Yea, people are crazy.

Speaking of crazy... I hired a company to repair our portico and paint it. I wasn't the only one who saw the rotting wood on the side of our portico, our nazi like HOA saw it too and made sure we were having it repaired.

They came out in the winter to do an estimate.  I got a copy. The estimate shows a photo of the portico and outlines in detail what will be done and the color it will be painted. It must be painted colonial white or my HOA will have a hissy fit on cue.

They schedule this for April when the weather was warmer.
I called the office yesterday and told them I needed to leave today for a couple of appointments and could they give me a time frame of arrival.
She called me back and said that they would be here between 8 - 8:30am

They arrive promptly at 8:30am. They are barely speaking English and are completely confused.  Or that was an act but, boy they are good actors because they sure seemed befuddled by this whole small job.

While these men were on time, they didn’t have the right color and didn’t know what they needed to paint. How is that even possible?

Now, I certainly understand reviewing the job with me, the customer,  to be sure we both understand the job in front of us. That is important to do and I get that.

However, that is not what took place.

He asked if I only wanted the portico painted.  NO! I want the damaged area replaced with PVC molding to look exactly like the wood one. Then the new piece would be painted to match. He looked confused and I pointed out where the damage was and he said, “OH.” As though this is the first time he was aware of this. Do they not look at the estimate and the nice photo attached?  

I admit at first I just assumed he was upselling but it became clear to me that wasn’t the case.  I asked at this point if he needed to see my estimate.  He adamantly said no.

Then he brought a can of Benjamin Moore towards me standing on the porch. One could see as he was walking to the house this paint was a very yellow white. I said, "You are to use Colonial White." I need to have this match for the HOA.  He replied, “Well, let’s see if this will work because I don’t have Colonial White on the truck.”  WHAT?

I showed him on the estimate where it states to use Colonial White and again explained there is no room for play because this is not up to be, but my horrific HOA.  Oh but he insisted on trying his old can of paint anyway and he was hoping it would match. I think he was really hoping I wouldn’t notice. He put it up against what was there and he said, “No it’s too yellow.” No shit sherlock. Then he said, "no big deal ma'am I'll just go buy some"

How does this company's team go out on a job with the estimate in hand that reads, Colonial White and not have it on the truck?  Or the molding as well.

So now he tells me he’ll be back in 45 minutes or so to buy the pvc molding and the colonial white paint. He is not prepared.

Why would this not be on his truck the night before and have all the supplies he needs for the following days job?

What a complete waste of my time and their time, I imagine they get paid by the hour vs. the job if they waste time like this.

I imagine the work itself will be fine if he returns with the correct molding and the correct color. But I wanted to leave.

Now I can’t make my appointment because who knows what he’ll come back with if I’m not here to see it first.

I certainly don’t have a comfort level now having seen what was going on earlier.

I know if I wasn’t here telling him his can of paint was too yellow it would have been used instead of going by the estimate. Then I would return home and have to deal with the HOA and this company to get it done properly.

I find this extremely unprofessional and a waste of my time. I now have to hang around here for this job to be finished and for them to return with the correct items.  I was told by Ana in their office that he was going to be here between 8 – 8:30 to start the job.

He was here at 8:30, but who knows when he will actually return with the correct supplies and start the job.

While the estimate looks great in theory I don’t know if it all will be done as stated. I am quite doubtful.

If this is more than quoted, which I fear will be his next trick, there will be an even bigger issue.

There were 2 men here this morning to do one small portico repair/replace.

It requires one man since only one can fit on my “porch” with a ladder. So all of this is fascinating to me. I can also see that they must get paid by the hour instead of by the job. Because why else do you show up at 8:30 and drag this 2/3 hr job into 6/8?

As I type this it is 10:30am.  They have not returned. If we ran our business like this we'd have no business. If our men behaved this way, not ready for the job, not prepared, don't have supplies, they would be fired on the spot. No exceptions!

I did get a call from their office telling me he couldn't find the pvc molding at Home Depot so he was going to have to go to another one to find it.  

I'm sorry but all I can say is Fuckin' Unbelievable. 

The man running this franchise should also be fired.

His response to me when I called him (he's the general manager)

Oh well, they will eventually get there and I'll look into it.

Sure you will, but I won't hold my breath. :-)