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What is it with customers wanting to give me their life stories everytime they call?
Just because you trust me enough to look after your security, does mean that I want the additional trust of being your confidant/confessee/priest as the case may be. If you need to off-load on to someone, I can recommend some therapists.
Also, don't bother calling my boss (who also happens to be my father. Family businesses rock sometimes.), get advice from him, and then call me the next bloody day, only to be told the exact same bloody thing.
Case in point, had one call me today at around 6pm, on my personal phone (god knows how they got that number, but I have a sneaking suspicion). Proceeds to give back story to their problem, which is fine.
What is not fine, is you telling me that you had already spoken to "upper managment" i.e. the old man, and openly admitting that you essentially ignored the advice he had given you, for free, on a sunday.
I also don't need to hear if you have a new housemate moving in. I don't need to hear that one of your dogs is sick. I DEFINITELY do not need to hear your life story. All I want to do is grab a few details like name, address, phone number, and book you in for a service call. Then I can get back to doing whatever I was doing. Most likely blowing shit up in games to try and forget people like you.
That is it! I am not lonely for friends because I'm on call 24/7. I don't need another friend that will call at god forsaken times. Especially if the proposed friend is as whiny as you are.
And another thing, I don't care that you won't have money until such and such time. If the job is not urgent, then tell me when it's convenient for you to have me call around. If it is urgent, I am usually more than willing to make an arrangement. Usually that I will defer payment until you get paid.
Tradesmen do understand problems like that, and will try to accomodate you. I understand that.
All the above was from ONE customer, who called me this evening. ONE.
There others, but only one more stands out at the moment.
This woman, if her head wasn't screwed on, would forget how to use her brain. Actually, I think she has forgotten how to use it.
I do the usual when I get her call. Get name/address/phone and book a time. Seems like a sweet middle aged lady, if a bit ditzy.
Little did I know.
I arrive at the job, she shows me to the door she's having problems with. No worries, I spot the problem immediately, and tell her I can have it fixed quickly.
She then proceeds to assume that she caused the problem. Which, in all fairness, can be case sometimes. And lets face it, most of us would just nod and agree when SCs start blaming themselves for problems.
Side note: The problem was the house had shifted slightly due to the weather patterns we've had recently, and the locks were slightly out of alignment.
I tell her what the problem actually was (see above), she then keeps on going on about what she might have done to cause it. Rinse, lather and repeat. Several times.
I finally get it through to her. Now that I have the problem fixed, she insists on trying everything before I leave. This is something that irks me somewhat, but is usually expected. At least that way, we can definitively say when they call back that they knew that everything was working when we left.
Now, there are currently 2 locks on this door, requiring 2 hands to open it. I show her exactly what to do to open up, which is turn both handles at the same time. Simple, right?
No.
First up, she proceeds to pull quite hard on the bottom lock, wondering why the door wouldn't open. I show her again.
"Oooohhhhhhh....." she says. "That's what you do..."
She then proceeds to turn the handle on the top lock, and appears to completely forget about the bottom one. Once again, I can see the gears turning in her head, albeit in painful 1 micron movement a year motions.
So, I show her again. She finally gets it this time.
So, I tell her the total, so I can get paid and get the hell out before the brain freeze starts infecting me. I can sense it. It's not. Please tell me it's not coming...
It's the friggin life story!
Rinse, lather and repeat the relevant paragraph above.
And there's a day in my working life.
Just because you trust me enough to look after your security, does mean that I want the additional trust of being your confidant/confessee/priest as the case may be. If you need to off-load on to someone, I can recommend some therapists.
Also, don't bother calling my boss (who also happens to be my father. Family businesses rock sometimes.), get advice from him, and then call me the next bloody day, only to be told the exact same bloody thing.
Case in point, had one call me today at around 6pm, on my personal phone (god knows how they got that number, but I have a sneaking suspicion). Proceeds to give back story to their problem, which is fine.
What is not fine, is you telling me that you had already spoken to "upper managment" i.e. the old man, and openly admitting that you essentially ignored the advice he had given you, for free, on a sunday.
I also don't need to hear if you have a new housemate moving in. I don't need to hear that one of your dogs is sick. I DEFINITELY do not need to hear your life story. All I want to do is grab a few details like name, address, phone number, and book you in for a service call. Then I can get back to doing whatever I was doing. Most likely blowing shit up in games to try and forget people like you.
That is it! I am not lonely for friends because I'm on call 24/7. I don't need another friend that will call at god forsaken times. Especially if the proposed friend is as whiny as you are.
And another thing, I don't care that you won't have money until such and such time. If the job is not urgent, then tell me when it's convenient for you to have me call around. If it is urgent, I am usually more than willing to make an arrangement. Usually that I will defer payment until you get paid.
Tradesmen do understand problems like that, and will try to accomodate you. I understand that.
All the above was from ONE customer, who called me this evening. ONE.
There others, but only one more stands out at the moment.
This woman, if her head wasn't screwed on, would forget how to use her brain. Actually, I think she has forgotten how to use it.
I do the usual when I get her call. Get name/address/phone and book a time. Seems like a sweet middle aged lady, if a bit ditzy.
Little did I know.
I arrive at the job, she shows me to the door she's having problems with. No worries, I spot the problem immediately, and tell her I can have it fixed quickly.
She then proceeds to assume that she caused the problem. Which, in all fairness, can be case sometimes. And lets face it, most of us would just nod and agree when SCs start blaming themselves for problems.
Side note: The problem was the house had shifted slightly due to the weather patterns we've had recently, and the locks were slightly out of alignment.
I tell her what the problem actually was (see above), she then keeps on going on about what she might have done to cause it. Rinse, lather and repeat. Several times.
I finally get it through to her. Now that I have the problem fixed, she insists on trying everything before I leave. This is something that irks me somewhat, but is usually expected. At least that way, we can definitively say when they call back that they knew that everything was working when we left.
Now, there are currently 2 locks on this door, requiring 2 hands to open it. I show her exactly what to do to open up, which is turn both handles at the same time. Simple, right?
No.
First up, she proceeds to pull quite hard on the bottom lock, wondering why the door wouldn't open. I show her again.
"Oooohhhhhhh....." she says. "That's what you do..."
She then proceeds to turn the handle on the top lock, and appears to completely forget about the bottom one. Once again, I can see the gears turning in her head, albeit in painful 1 micron movement a year motions.
So, I show her again. She finally gets it this time.
So, I tell her the total, so I can get paid and get the hell out before the brain freeze starts infecting me. I can sense it. It's not. Please tell me it's not coming...
It's the friggin life story!
Rinse, lather and repeat the relevant paragraph above.
And there's a day in my working life.
Welcome.
OR they'll be vague like asking where paint is. What kind of paint? Water color, fabric, oil, finger, acrylic etc. 
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