not sure if this happens to anyone else but I seem to have run into a couple of customers lately who do not seem to want to listen to me. Have one that has begun to strip lead base paint on a porch remodel that I am doing and is doing it with a torch and no personal protection. The chips are let to fall into the grass and gravel and flower beds. On this job I have effectively quit and asked for my check for services rendered since I do not want to be associated with this issue. I am not sure what my liability could be since I actually took a picture of the homeowner with a torch and scraper in her hand doing the work and one of the work site. Guess it could be stated as a staged picture and I did the work but who knows.
Second thing that has happened to me is I have a lady who seems insistant on running the job for me. She has told me that I need to do certain things at a certain time. The problem is that it is things like paint the dining room walls today and we will do the ceiling in a couple of days. We have dinner guests coming and we want them to see the new wall color. If it was only one room I could take it. But she has asked for things like do the baseboards first since the house keepers will have all the furniture moved out for me, then they put it back and next week when it is all move out again I can paint the walls. I so far have just ignored her for the most part and talked to her repeatedly about sequence of painting. Finally got thru a bit when I told her it was like making a cake, if you don't follow the recipie you don;t get the results you want.
So my examples are just my own customers. I know we are supposed to do what we can to please the customer and that the customer is often right. Sorry but awlays is not a term I like to use. Both of these jobs are for past customers who I know are strong headed but this time it seems a bit over the top to me. And both jobs were already started and going when this stuff started coming up.
Anyone else get frustrated by customers like this? Or you never run into this stuff? If you do how do you handle the ones who only want it done their way? I feel my approach with the 2nd lady may end up with it beign said that I don't listen to what they want done even if the job turns out well. So not sure that approach is a good one also.
Second thing that has happened to me is I have a lady who seems insistant on running the job for me. She has told me that I need to do certain things at a certain time. The problem is that it is things like paint the dining room walls today and we will do the ceiling in a couple of days. We have dinner guests coming and we want them to see the new wall color. If it was only one room I could take it. But she has asked for things like do the baseboards first since the house keepers will have all the furniture moved out for me, then they put it back and next week when it is all move out again I can paint the walls. I so far have just ignored her for the most part and talked to her repeatedly about sequence of painting. Finally got thru a bit when I told her it was like making a cake, if you don't follow the recipie you don;t get the results you want.
So my examples are just my own customers. I know we are supposed to do what we can to please the customer and that the customer is often right. Sorry but awlays is not a term I like to use. Both of these jobs are for past customers who I know are strong headed but this time it seems a bit over the top to me. And both jobs were already started and going when this stuff started coming up.
Anyone else get frustrated by customers like this? Or you never run into this stuff? If you do how do you handle the ones who only want it done their way? I feel my approach with the 2nd lady may end up with it beign said that I don't listen to what they want done even if the job turns out well. So not sure that approach is a good one also.
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