What do you expect?

When you ask someone for something what do you expect?



A while ago someone bought something 'surplus-unissued' and raised holy hell about the storage marks on the item. The way the buyer carried on made me think I should have sold him a ticket to the Eastern Wall of the Old CIty of Jerusalem, otherwise known as the Wailing Wall. The gnashing of teeth was heard well into the darkness.



Of course, the item was just as advertised, it was unissued and it was surplus. It had most likely been sitting around in a government warehouse being moved around from time to time and in the process got a few storage marks on it, nothing worth mentioning that would effect the use of it.



I suppose the guy was expecting 'retail-new' which means the item was in perfect shape in every way and came wrapped in bubble wrap.



That's hardly fair at all. Unissued surplus means just that. Did the buyer think he was going to get something pristine when he was paying 25% of new retail?



The same holds true when you contract for services. Your expectations have to be real.



I just had 4 trees removed a while ago and when I did I came home to find a little chainsaw dust around the area which is to entirely be expected. I live in a normal house in a normal plan and not some kind on manicured estate with a Rolls out front. I figured that after I mow the lawn a couple of times the sawdust would disappear. It did.



The guys did a job worthy of the neighborhood standard. The trees were gone, there were no branches kicking around and the area had been raked. I was happy. The job was about what I expected.



Enter the woman down the street that can't seem to find anyone to do anything for her because she expects to pay what I pay and in return have the crew out there with tweezers picking up every single grain of sawdust. It doesn't work that way. You get what you pay for.



For some reason most of the very few people I hire from time to time seem to like working for me because I make it easy for them. I tell them what I want in clear terms and pay them when they are done. My expectations are reasonable.



Over the years I have had a couple of guys try and give me the once over but I calmly just explain that I am not a chump and expect them to do their job as we had agreed on. I've only had one that got in a hurry and I give Mrs Pic credit because she simply told them to either make it good or she was going to hold out the last payment on them.



When the guys tried to make an issue out of it, she simply stuck to her guns and held out the last payment. Of course, I wound up doing the rest of the job but that's another story.



The truth is that these clowns didn't live up to reasonable expectations. Their basic work was First Class but their cleanup work was much to be desired. I wound up raking and reseeding a lot of ground. Of course, these guys were the exceptions.



Most businessmen want repeat customers and give fair measure.



Still, both parties have to have reasonable expectations.



Anyway, I am going to be pretty busy for a while and the next several days maybe my posting will be sporadic.



Take care, and God Bless.



Pic, out



my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/