Work

Okay here is another rant about dumb ass people I deal with on a daily basis.

Now, this first guy is either deaf to my voice or chooses to ignore me. I know it is the latter. He bugs me so much. He is a realtor....surprise. 
They are mostly dumb shits anyway. 

In the past few months due to COVID-19 if we were working it was empty buildings, homes etc. We worked on a hotel that was empty, a catholic school that was empty, and homes where people had moved out and were selling or they hadn't moved in yet and wanted it remodeled first.

But now that phase one has come along we have to step carefully into the residential pool. We here in VA have a mandatory mask requirement. 
Since this area of Northern VA has had a high number of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations most everyone agrees to do what has to be done. Oh of course you've got your whiners. The gov't tells them to wear a seat belt, a helmet on a motorbike, no shirt no shoes no service kind of thing. But wearing a mask so your grandmother or mine doesn't get sick is just not something they think they must not do. These morons we call rednecks around these parts. (also mango Mussolini followers)

We belong to a group of contractors and at a meeting we had, we discussed how this would be addressed with our customers. Everyone decided an email. That works for us. So when a customer books I go over all that I need to go over and then remind them of the CDC requirements and the mask. Everyone says, Oh okay no problem, would have done it anyway. But we also put it in their confirmation email. 
After the confirmation part we do this.
While continuing to meet the traditional Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements, at our visit with you, you may notice our adoption of some of the required protocols. 
For example, we will:

• Request that YOU wear a mask when letting our technician into your home. We will not enter without this. All of our technicians will be masked.
• Request that you keep social distancing from the technician while in your home.

We do not wish to get you or your family sick.
If you can't follow these for some reason let us know before your appointment. Otherwise we can reschedule your appointment for you.

Everyone has cooperated without a murmur or issue.
So that worked. 

There are only issues with realtors, other contractors and property services.
Realtors and property services are of the same ilk. 
Then we have contractors. I have one that we have worked with for over 10 years. He is awesome, respectful and does what we explain has to be done before we can do out part. He listens. I want to call his wife and thank her I am certain she made this man the great guy he is.

In the last few months,we have had several contractors and 1 realtor that just won't listen to me. Which sadly is not new. (only 1 contractor is female and she is stellar!)   Then they ask to talk to Rick. Rick was called on his cell by one realtor who didn't like my answers. Rick told him what I said was correct and if he can't work within our policies as we do with yours it is okay to go elsewhere. (oooh when I heard that I about flipped out) But instead, the asshole wrote me another email. But he doesn't listen.

I have told him time and time again, we can not schedule appointments via email. For example. If the contractor says he wants us there on July 12th in an email. I may not see the email while on the phone booking someone for the 12th. Or if I email him with a date and time that is available when I wrote to him and he doesn't respond for 30 minutes or an hour that appointment is long gone. I can't hold it in hopes he will respond in 24 hrs. That isn't fair to those who pick up their phones that are already glued to their hands to schedule their appointment. Does that make sense?  And what gets me, even more, is he emails me via his phone. So pick it up and punch in 10 numbers and we can do the booking faster and easier anyway. But nope, sends emails. Then gets mad because the date he asked for wasn't available but he didn't read his emails for 24 hrs so he told his client that date. Takes 3 minutes by phone. Imagine that.

This creepy dude has been sending business our way but he won't listen. He has called Rick's cell so Rick blocked his number after telling him 3 times that he doesn't know the schedule, please call Peggy in my office.
I tell him I can't do it this way but it's his only mode of communications apparently. Yesterday I flipped out after another email saying that I never sent him an email. (I resent it showing the original timestamp for the fool). I had to walk away. I got Izzy and we went for a short walk. I watered my flowers on my patio. I just needed to be away and calm down. 

I came back to the office to have contractor #2.
He is the same as the dude above only he reminds me of simpleton trump, talks in circles never answers a question and does not listen.
His vocabulary is limited and he speaks like my nephew did at age 14.
He wouldn't allow me to speak to the homeowner regarding what needed to be done before we arrive and what she could and couldn't do in the first 24 hrs. He had me tell him and told me he'd tell her, I also sent the document to him to forward to her. All the while explaining it must be by me speaking to them so they understand the severity of some of the issues. He said no.  This #2 contractor did not tell the homeowner the info as I requested and he wouldn't allow me to speak with her. Guess what? She did all the things she wasn't supposed to. She called us and she was crying. I wasn't told anything she wailed. I asked if she was given the document that was sent in the confirmation email (her contractor told me he would forward it)  We have to do the entire job over again. He is bitching that he won't pay. I have an email trail. Oops, busted buddy. 
So guess who he is paying us again to do this all over again and it could have been avoided.  Who's fault was this? Again Rick tells him that we need to speak to the homeowner in the future so this does not happen again. We realize they add money to our bid to make more for themselves. That is okay by us we get it. That is business. But we never discuss the price with the homeowner if not paying. They have never asked but twice. I played dumb and said I am not sure ma'am and she was fine with that. Once Gary was asked while he was doing their job and Gary said, "you know I'm not sure that is worked out with the boss and your contractor." They don't ask anything further. 

We used to have one or two twits. Now the majority are twits.
So Rick and I discussed putting out a blanket email to these folks.(again)
We picked out the biggest offenders and BCC them.
Here is what I had to send.  Now, remember these things have been told to them on each job. I say it when they call and when they book. This is not new information.

If you are receiving this email it is because you are a Contractor, Property Service, or a Realtor.

We thank you for your continued support and business.  I would like to review a few of our company policies.

These policies have been in place since 2007 however of late it appears I need to revisit them.

If you would like to discuss an exception to our company policies below please call the office and Peggy will have me call to discuss with you.

We know there are times when an exception needs to be made, but our policies will continue to remain in place unless you've made other arrangements on a particular job in advance with me.

• All bookings must be done via phone and not email. There has never been an exception to this rule. The office is open M-F 8:30a - 5pm. I do not make appointments but have staff in the office who do this. Please do not call me because I don't know what dates are open and I'm really of no help to anyone in this area of scheduling.

• The office must be able to speak to the homeowner prior to the job being done. This is important because when we don't, the homeowner does not understand the severity of the issues.This just happened again because the homeowner was to be told what NOT to do in the first 24 hrs and yet she says her contractor never told her and she did everything wrong. We had to do the job again. This was completely avoidable.

• If the homeowner is not paying we need to know at the time of booking so no price is given if the homeowner asks the technician or Peggy while in their home or on the phone. We all just say we don't know. It's never been an issue.

• If the person paying is not going to be there when we arrive we will expect you to leave a form of payment with Peggy the day before. She will get the BEFORE & AFTER photos showing that it has been done. She will then charge your card, send you the photos as well as the paid receipt for your records.  The card # are shredded after the job is completed. We do not keep them on file unless requested it be kept on file. 

So this morning I get into my office and I see emails from dufus 1 and dufus 2. Both said, Oh I didn't know I had to call or I didn't know this or that. I called Rick at his job and read their emails to him and he said, "OMG what @#$!#$. I can't believe it." 
Welcome to my world, Rick.
I said, "see if I had written that they still wouldn't have read it. It came from your email so now it is good as gold." I should just sign his name to all correspondence but damn it I should not have to.

Yes, I wrote it. I sent it but signed his name because I knew the penis would get them to listen. If you are male and reading this, don't behave this way. If you think when you call to book that I am not giving you the correct information there are ways to ask to speak to a technician. 
Don't assume, "Oh, you're a girl you can't fret your pretty little head over my tile issues."  I had one idiot who kept saying grout and I had to tell him grout is what is holding your tiles on the wall, You mean caulking don't you? He didn't know. He said he doubted it was caulking. So instead he asked to speak to a man. And you're a male who won't listen to me yet you don't know the most simple of things? (it was caulking he meant to say)  Oh my, yet I'm the idiot because I am female. There are many times when the question is so technical in nature that I tell them I will have Rick call them. Rick can geek out with them on sub straits and chemical reactions etc.  I have no issue telling them I don't know. But give me a chance boys. I know more than you'd think. 

Race riots, inept leader, equality issues, and a pandemic.
I feel like it's the 60s/70s again and we haven't learned a friggin' thing.