You must not be essential to the operation of where you work.

You paid a dirt guy up front? That's on you.  

I worked commercial telecom for 20 years.

Boss got the bright idea to install residential internet based phone service.  It was supposed to be in and out 15-20 min. And make fast money.

After six months, all the techs begged him to drop it.

Last straw was a lady that just could not understand she could not get the service if she had no internet.  She was convinced I was telling her she had to buy a PC and could not understand the difference between net service and a computer which was “the internet” to her.

She was yelling by the time I walked out the door.

We went back to commercial only after that.  Of course there were a few commercial customers fired over the years.

It's not limited to the trades, people are just generally more rude now than they were in the past and I suspect it will only get worse

Negative.   OP did it perfectly.  Perhaps add a Trump "You're fired!" just before he turned to leave.

and always try to stiff you on the bill....that's my favourite....

I can sweat copper line and work with not pressurized pvc drain line.

I hire:

Electricians
A/C guys
Roofers
Mechanics
Sprinkler system guys

I’m smart enough to know what I don’t know.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowing what you don’t know is close second.

This
I do just about everything...if I'm paying a dude, he has my respect.

The wife was handling the work, unfortunately I'm on the road too much to deal with the contractors most of the time. Yeah I agree dumb move. It's a bitch finding good contractors around here.

The guy was recommended by the the company that was erecting the pole barn and had done good work for them in the past. He got several other people at the same time on other projects.

Plumber had the nerve, the Nerve I tell you, to ask for my help removing the old water heater off of the pedestal. I then helped him carry it to his truck. Next was helping place the new heater on the pedestal. From there I stayed the heck out of his way unless he needed anything else. Did my best to make sure he was the happiest man on my street. Well, except for the guy that might be getting a hummer from his wife.   Didn't ask for any kind of discount and paid the bill before he left.

trying to get a garage door repair in north/mid WI
called several and emailed as well   ZERO response
one guys voice mail says "it the busy season (this was mid winter)  and if you are not a contractor, we wont be taking your work."

Sometimes it goes the other. Was having work done  done on my car. Had an appointment, left the car there. I've been going to this mechanic for 20+ years. Never hassled him.   I call the mechanic says can't finish today is tomorrow OK. I said no problem.  That happened 4 more times. The guy over booked and I drew the short straw. Parts were readily available so that wasn't the issue. Finally got fed up paid for the work he did and took my car to another garage. I asked the mechanic why have appointments if you're not going do the work in that period of time.

I would have thanked him for letting me know up front that he’s the type of customer I turn down.

its almost like lockdowns and a unknown shot, injected into us, with unknown side-effects is causing issues....

mostly

Good for you, OP!  I work with contractors a lot and they are great at their jobs, glad to have them "on my side"

 
I have two who are a married couple, as neighbors - liberal as all get out and dumb as bricks.  It doesn't stop them from being condescending tho'.  Your friend is right, but I don't see a need to wait for a bad day.

or maybe... the guy has had a few bad experiences with contractors. I know I have. But he was rude right up front so he gets what he gets, nothing.

Doctors and Lawyers seem to be some of the worst.   Even if they know nothing about it a lot of them think they are experts because they are experts in their field.

I HATE electrical work. I cannot express how MUCH hate. Plumbing etc?  No problem.

I was VERY lucky in finding a guy that left Fox services and started his own one-man operation. All his work is by word of mouth, you must be referred by a current customer.

He said he did this because of the people described in this thread.


When I built the shop I had him install the panel and wire the whole thing. He did it ahead of time and exactly when he said he would and the estimate only went over by $5.

I really hope he does not move.

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Or industrial.

I always treat skilled tradesmen with respect.

It looks easy because they have done it a million times and know how to do it. I pay them for that reason: they can do it correctly and far quicker than I can(assuming the person in question has a good track record of work).

Being rude to them is stupid.

Good walkout..... I was raised to ALWAYS respect anyone who does an honest days work, especially trades. We were poor, so honest hard work was something everyone could do regardless of station in life.
Honest trades; mechanic, electrician, GC etc... do not just grow on trees....

I tell any contractor up front that I use that I will be a PITA.  I'm easy to get along with as long as everything is done right.  I will be picky, so price it as if it was your own house you were going to work on.  I'm equally picky when I'm doing the work and I don't expect less when a professional is doing the work.

Any tradesmen working on my house always get offered a Diet Coke or Gatorade. If they do a nice job and clean up, I slip them at least $20 and say lunch is on me.

Good customers get treated well.

Very much this.

It is everywhere, after covid the roads around here are like thunderdome..

Fortunately, the only person it really affects is me since it's just me and one part time employee

Yep I do one of the following say nope or charge an outrageous price hoping they go away

Years ago I had some work on on my hvac in my attic and the guy asked me to stay up there to hand him tools and assist if I wouldn't mind.
Last winter I had some work done on the other furnace and used a different company and asked the guy if he needed me to stay or leave him alone. He says you can stay if you want. I not so jokingly say "I don't want to honestly, and will let you get to work. Just wanted to make sure you didn't need me to get you anything". He goes well, you can go and flip on and off the thermostat when I yell for you to. So that is how I become a helper every time I hire someone.

Do Tradesmen want you to stick around and help? Seems like it would just be getting in the way.

Maybe I should stop offering because I don't want to get in the way, but i also don't want to look lazy. But I really feel awkward standing around.

I've even tried the "Let me know if you need anything " route, but they always say "Well actually,  if you could go do this and that, I'll be done quicker". So off I go becoming the apprentice for the day.

Its not that we are scared of brooms, its just we dont like how the fuzy handle end fits in our hand, and the skinny stick end never does a good job on the floor.

Dude is/was an asshole. Good walk out.

That guy is an asshole. Fuck his wife

I hired a guy a few weeks back to build me a set of new front steps. Time and date was set. Only Home Depot couldn’t get the lumber on site for another week.  
“Fine, I have my F-250 sitting right there, I’ll pick it up.”  

Not only did I meet him at HD, but we sorted through the lumber picking out the shit sticks they gave us and pulling select off the shelves.  We loaded it all up, I parked my truck where he could work out of the back so it wasn’t handled again and I even let him keep the $75 delivery fee that my wife was bitching because I didn’t demand it was rolled off the top because I picked it all up.  

The guy was busting his ass getting this done in a weekend.

Edit:  I even hauled off the old rotted lumber for him since my truck was right there and the dump site is 5 miles down my street.

Yeah, that sucks. I never pay subs upfront.  They have no reason to show up when you do.

I’m an asshole customer in a different way.

I can do a lot of the work, sometimes better, many times worse.

I also like it being done when I get home.

I also understand the work required to get it done. Which I appreciate.

I often stick around and want to learn the process and the approach of the tradesman.

I also learn nobody wants a backpack.

Couldn’t do it as a living, thanks to those who can!

This x10

Oh that sucks.  Sorry to hear that, man.

This is wisdom.

Good walk out.  

It's inevitable that you hit the "rude" lottery once in a while.   Just move on.

These guys above get it.

My wife said one of the reasons she thought I was a keeper is because I treat everyone, including little kids with respect.

I just had a new roof put about 6 months ago.  Local company, well reviewed.  Sales guy who came out was personable and nice.  I asked if the crew was theirs or subcontractors.  He said their employees. There are some complications that made my roof job not a normal cookie cutter job and I asked if there would be a supervisor on the job who could keep me up to speed on any issues they run into, he said "their best".

It was a fucking nightmare.  I won't bore you with long version but the short version is nobody on crew spoke english, if there was a supervisor, I couldn't figure out which one it was. They couldn't tell me because they couldn't understand me, or at least acted like they couldn't.  The ability for me to communicate with the people actually doing the work on my house was complete zero. The complications did result in issues, the exact ones I brought up that might, but were not addressed and shit was short cut, half assed and in one case, the sales person recommended and installed a feature that the same company later told me was wrong and should not have happened.

I ended up writing a lengthy email to the owner detailing everything.  All work was stopped and I was told the lead supervisor would come out the next day.  He did and they agreed that part of the work that was done needed to be torn up and redone.  I asked that "lead supervisor" if he would be at my house on the job the next morning when that was scheduled to happen.  He said "not only will I be here, I will do it myself".

The next morning the same non-english speaking crew came back.  Mr. I will do it myself never appeared and shit got done wrong again, but they finished it.  Again I wrote the owner of the company, explaining what I was told would happen and that it didn't happen, with pictures of the fucked up results.  I still have no response.  

The whole process was a mess of poor communication, with the customer and internally, mistakes on their part and just plain lies.  

I paid my bill in full because I am just fucking tired of fighting contractors to do what they said or keep their word.  Some of it is in writing and I could push the issue via court.....but I am just so fucking tired of it all....and the truth is that contractors know it and they know they can make money hand over fist right now...so they keep doing it.

I later found out the sales guy that I had is family of the owner, cousin or some such.  I was the second job he had ever bid.

I am no shit so tired of it that I am honestly thinking about selling my old high maintenance house and just renting for few years.  I am that fucking tried trying to find someone who is honest and doesn't want to fuck me over because they know they can.  I am very sure there are good honest contractors in this world who want to do right....but for the homeowner, finding them is like trying to navigate a minefield.  Reviews are not a map of that minefield either. The best a laymen homeowner can do is guess and hope....or just be blissfully ignorant when we step on one.

Unacceptable behavior from those entitled cunts. You should not have to deal with that at all. You did the right thing by leaving without a word. Such myopic and cruel persons are not worth your time.

$25/hr to watch. $50/hr to help.

OP got 5 pages from 1 post.  Not a single reply from him.

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Hell, I paid a guy to paint the living room just so I didn't have to. He showed up when he said he would, and was finished in the timeframe he quoted, for the price he quoted.
It would have taken me twice as long and looked half as good.
When I hire someone to do a job, no matter what that job is, they are treated with respect, but I expect the results promised.

I hired an electrician when one of the two fuses behind our service popped (old house). He diagnosed the problem in about 30 seconds and said "You can do this with one trip to Lowes" I said I have zero issues paying you for your experience, please proceed.
Same with the plumber we found. He fixed a toilet and only looked at our cobbled-together water heater install. The NEXT day the water heater started leaking. He never laid a hand on it. I called him to fix it and he immediately went "I never touched it" I cracked up and promised him I knew it was nothing he did. They uninstalled it, I loaded it into my truck, got the replacement and they did the install and brought everything up to code.

I've noticed it a lot while driving. Its like people just do what they want. If you call them on it, theres no shame, they act like they didn't do anything wrong.