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A surgeon came into my store today.
He came in with a sweater made of very fine, hairy yarn that was damaged. He'd snagged it on a nail and pulled one of the stitches way out, and he wanted to know if I could fix it. Looking at it, I saw that it was going to be a time-intensive job, because the yarn was thin, and all those little hairs would catch on each other, but if I were to tug too hard, I'd run the risk of snapping the yarn. I guesstimated it'd take me an hour or two, so I told him I'd do it for $20. He hesitated, then agreed.
(If he'd turned me down, I wouldn't have lowered my price -- I simply wouldn't have done it. For commission work, I tend to charge people the least amount of money that I feel is necessary for me to be willing to do the work.)
Anyway, a moment later, he started complaining about the price. He did the usual SC thing of throwing in the random factoid that he was a surgeon, like that's supposed to impress me. If he's such hot stuff, why can't he fix his own damn sweater?
I explained to him about how careful I'd have to be with the sweater in order to do the job right, and how it would probably take me between one and two hours. While I'm explaining this, the owner came out of the office. She overheard the tail end of it, and overheard him saying that he was "joking" when he was complaining. (He SO wasn't joking!). The owner then joins with this guy mocking me for being "too serious".
EXCUSE ME?! He's entrusting this valuable piece of clothing to me, and laughing at me for taking the repair work seriously? The owner of the store is paying me to be the manager, and laughing at me for taking my job too seriously? WHAT THE HELL?! What, should I completely ruin the sweater by spraying it with silly string? Should I stop coming to work because I'm hung over from partying all night? What?
Grr. That happened pretty early in the day, but I never managed to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I work hard because I enjoy being good at what I do. I understand that there are people who aren't that way, and that's fine with me. As long as their work ethic doesn't inhibit mine, I don't care. I'm old and wise enough to have realized that not everyone is the same, and that's okay. But it really ticks me off when people get defensive and start belittling me for taking my work seriously-- I mean, I don't ask for praise, I just ask that I not be taunted for it. I don't bitch at them for slacking, nor would they want me to. What gives them the right?
(I fixed the sweater, BTW. It took about an hour and a half, and it was INTENSE work that gave me a splitting headache. You can't even tell the repairs were done at all -- they're perfect.)
He came in with a sweater made of very fine, hairy yarn that was damaged. He'd snagged it on a nail and pulled one of the stitches way out, and he wanted to know if I could fix it. Looking at it, I saw that it was going to be a time-intensive job, because the yarn was thin, and all those little hairs would catch on each other, but if I were to tug too hard, I'd run the risk of snapping the yarn. I guesstimated it'd take me an hour or two, so I told him I'd do it for $20. He hesitated, then agreed.
(If he'd turned me down, I wouldn't have lowered my price -- I simply wouldn't have done it. For commission work, I tend to charge people the least amount of money that I feel is necessary for me to be willing to do the work.)
Anyway, a moment later, he started complaining about the price. He did the usual SC thing of throwing in the random factoid that he was a surgeon, like that's supposed to impress me. If he's such hot stuff, why can't he fix his own damn sweater?
I explained to him about how careful I'd have to be with the sweater in order to do the job right, and how it would probably take me between one and two hours. While I'm explaining this, the owner came out of the office. She overheard the tail end of it, and overheard him saying that he was "joking" when he was complaining. (He SO wasn't joking!). The owner then joins with this guy mocking me for being "too serious".
EXCUSE ME?! He's entrusting this valuable piece of clothing to me, and laughing at me for taking the repair work seriously? The owner of the store is paying me to be the manager, and laughing at me for taking my job too seriously? WHAT THE HELL?! What, should I completely ruin the sweater by spraying it with silly string? Should I stop coming to work because I'm hung over from partying all night? What?
Grr. That happened pretty early in the day, but I never managed to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I work hard because I enjoy being good at what I do. I understand that there are people who aren't that way, and that's fine with me. As long as their work ethic doesn't inhibit mine, I don't care. I'm old and wise enough to have realized that not everyone is the same, and that's okay. But it really ticks me off when people get defensive and start belittling me for taking my work seriously-- I mean, I don't ask for praise, I just ask that I not be taunted for it. I don't bitch at them for slacking, nor would they want me to. What gives them the right?
(I fixed the sweater, BTW. It took about an hour and a half, and it was INTENSE work that gave me a splitting headache. You can't even tell the repairs were done at all -- they're perfect.)
"You'd feel a Hell of a lot better if you'd just rip into the occasional customer." 
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