Carpet Cleaning Issues - Carpet construction, upholstery cleaning, stain removal, equipment, events, etc.
Your husbands a carpet cleaner!Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 5 December 2003
A few times recently, my wifes new friends asked what does your husband do? She replys a carpet cleaner!
And the responce.... ohh! looking down 
(maybe he's subhuman). She was proud to say, but he earns good money 
She came home last night to tell me this and I said to her,
how much are your friends earning £6 an hour and she said yes.......This gets my back up.
I used to be an injection moulding technician (plasiccs) quite a sought after job with plenty of potential and much more grey matter required for programing machines and robots with many years of experiance.
I now earn twice as much(atleast as I used to) have more spare time, have as many cups of coffee as I like and as many holidays as I like. But the best I enjoy my job, with no or very little pressure.
I said to my misses, ask your friends if they can earn £200+ in one day! 
Posted by MICHAEL_GAYTON (MICHAEL_GAYTON), 5 December 2003
Be proud and loud your the man with the big stick
no foremans /managers . just doing a job that pays good.
mick
ps you cannot beat a good kip in the van go home tell the wife what a hard day you had! Posted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 5 December 2003
there is something seriously wrong with peoples values. my wifes a nurse, everyone has total respect for nurses.
Nobody can say that my job is anywhere near as important and difficult as hers, yet I earn more than double her wage, footballers earn 20grand a week for just kicking a ball.
no one will have any respect for carpet cleaners no matter how much we earn, its just not seen as a serious job.
but as long as you respect yourself, thats all that matters
MikePosted by John_Flynn (John_Flynn), 5 December 2003
Mike, that was your second BEST ever post!!
Doh, forgot what your best one was. 
Posted by Londoner (Londoner), 6 December 2003
Just say you own a small cleaning business and leave it at that.
Its true whay you say though, people do judge you by what you do.Posted by Derek (Derek Bolton), 6 December 2003
Hi
This question does pop up from time to time and I deliberately answer " I am a cleaner"
As you correctly say the faces drop and you are looked upon as the lowest of the low...Do I care...not a bit.
All that I have has been earned honestly and with a great deal of sweat
Derek
Posted by Gary_Syers (Gary_Syers), 6 December 2003
I love this one I say i'm CC and the face changes .
when they say what did you do before that I say Bank Manager. What difference in their expression . Suddenly they are interested in what i do and why.
Gary Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 6 December 2003
A kip in the van? 
Had a few of these, realy annoying when the phone rings.
I remember when I was employed, if there was a chance to go out on a trip in the company car or van, everybody would hope they would be picked!
Such a luxury being a CARPET CLEANER
JohnPosted by strakercleaning (strakercleaning), 6 December 2003
I was a Plumber 20 years ago, before getting into Carpet cleaning and I would never change my job for anything. At least if I get wet now , the water is warm and has no NASTY bits in it 
Now I tell people that I run my own Carpet cleaning business and most people are okay but some ask how many people I employ ( to take it further 
) If they get too snotty, I just say that I do all the work myself so I can keep £200- £300 a day. That normally shuts them up . They dont know what I pay out for chemicals/van/machines/fuel/parking/tools/stationary/computers/printing/advertising and headache tablets 
Posted by nick_warrenevans (nick_warrenevans), 6 December 2003
For my sins i used to be a driving instructor.
the cost of training, number of tests and exams and time taken to become a qualified instructor. the continued re testing and grading to stay qualified and all we got from most parents was "we can do that just as well" and "how much for a lesson?"
I'm used to people looking down at what i do, but know i work less hours a day, no evenings, no weekends and have lots more holidays. Oh yes and earn alot more!!
But who says money isnt everything 
lets just stick together we know we are good and proud of what we do. who wants to be a commuter going to the same place and doing the very same thing every day
NickPosted by strakercleaning (strakercleaning), 6 December 2003
Someone once said to me that money cannot buy you happiness.............................fair enough.
But I can be the best dressed misery in town
I am proud of what I do and so are my family 
DO I CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF MY JOB 
Posted by John_Flynn (John_Flynn), 6 December 2003
I just do NOT care a damm what people think about us CC's, bet they don't start work at 9.30am and are home and done before 1.30pm.
Quote "A few times recently, my wifes new friends asked what does your husband do? She replys a carpet cleaner!"
I would not go as far as calling these people friends
I Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 6 December 2003
Hmmmm, some reaction from my first post!
Yea ok we can earn good money. It takes guts to start off and take the risk of becoming self employed.
It takes a person with enthusiasm, motivation, hard work and a grey matter to be sucsesfull.
Marketing that works (learned along the way), image, training, experiance and confidence all help to be sucsessfull.
This is something that many 9 to 5 people lack.
When I left my full time job my mates at work were saying, your lucky to get out of here.
I say, if you dont take the risk, now't will happen.
John Posted by Fintan_Coll (Fintan_Coll), 6 December 2003
I always say, I am in the cleaning business, but I really dont care what anyone thinks. I worked hard to build up a business from nothing as I am sure most of you all did.Posted by DP (DP), 7 December 2003
I once told a table full of merry "ex pats" who had been boasting about their boats and villa’s on a holiday in Tenerife when asked “and what is it that you do”, I said “Im a Tax Inspector”. They all leaped off their chairs, spilling their drinks and started hurling abuse.
I expected a reaction, but not quite that bad. It took the rest of the evening to convince them that I wasn’t and an awful lot of free drinks. However the subject of money or employment was never bought up again. I don’t think they were ever quite sure after that.
Perhaps not the brightest thing I ever did, but definitely a KODAK moment. Posted by Northerclean (Alex), 7 December 2003
This hasa happened to me a couple of times, however, like Derek said "who cares"!
I work bloody hard for my money and I have a sh*$ load of customers who are happy with my results and I pay my taxes and live a nice life.
I worked as a sales rep for Hewlett Packard, after about 9 nines of crap and stress I really happy I left and do what I do now.
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