Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: sparklebright on February 04, 2009, 04:34:00 am
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I thought for a refreshing change how about we list some of the bad things about being a w/c. We all know the good bits and talk about them a lot, how about a good whinge
No holiday.
No sick pay.
No company pension.
All those things your boss sorted out for you, well they're all down to you.
People assume you are thick, even though you have your own business.
Other windys whose sole method of getting work is to charge v v low prices
It's always funny when you're out and people ask what you do, and you tell them and they pull that "But you look so normal" face.
Extreme cold: slows you down, or stops you working = no money
Heavy rain: as above
Equipment issues: your job not someone else's
Awkward customers: we've all got them, and as much as you would like to you can't in reality tell everyone who upsets you to get lost.
Low starting wage: when you start you have to find the work. It can take months and months to build up a round that pays your bills
Canvassing: I don't enjoy it, "Well...not sure my mum's windy miles from here charges less..."etc etc ad nauseum
Running costs: Your boss used to pay them, now everything that goes wrong is your problem.
People who assume that because you clean windows, you want to do their Nan's bungalow 15 miles outside your area for £3 and will pleased about it.
No work = no money, if you don't work you make nothing, so no matter how ill you feel, off to work you go.
Early starts. today I'm starting at 4:30, for the 3rd day in a row, not easy if you want a social life.
Ah! That's better, needed that. I had more, but you know, gotta go, got to find my wages after paying that tax bill all in one lump. Oh and my back hurts, and look at these shoes, I've only had 'em 3 weeks and heel has worn right through...
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What the heck were you doing at 4.30 am?
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tell me about it.
needed a new windscreen and the retards took all day yesterday to do it. no money.
i've had it with this job.
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What the heck were you doing at 4.30 am?
looking at the snow if hes in the southest ::)
Bad thing for window cleaning is snow/ice and -1 or lower
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at times very lonely
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in a lot of cases we have to wait to get the money at a later date. customers never in and late sending cheques.
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Yup! all of those plus
(1) nextdoor neigbours who object to you parking 1cm over their drive even though they don't actually want to go out.
(2) Curtain twitchers
(3) Customers that give you the whole chapter and verse about their operation just because you poitely asked if they were OK now.
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bad payers also is very annoying
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bad payers also is very annoying
Yes and its those that theoretically have the most money are the worst.
Im owed £250 from one, with very high Royal connections, been owed it for 2 months now, but theyre loaded to the hilt.
To be honest the fact that his wife died probably got something to do with it; so I feel guilty chasing it.
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What the heck were you doing at 4.30 am?
Well, I was meant to be cleaning the glass canopies at a shopping centre, but the water just froze on the glass, so I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
Being a window cleaner is a good job sometimes, but I felt it was worth pointing out some of the problems, for the benefit of newbies reading up.
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Customers who say not today when you turn up
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Customers that won't open the door when you know the buggers are in.
customers that wave goodbye and leave without paying.
customers who leave knowing the back gate is locked.
customers that never have cash or a cheque book.
customers that don't even start looking for the money until you knock.
customers that come out and insist on paying when your in mid rinse.
customers that have no money even when they know you are collecting that evening.
customers that leave huge dollops of dog muck for you to drag your hose through.
customers that plant thorny bushes under their windows.
customers that save all their shrapnel to pay the window cleaner.
Nothing much wrong with window cleaning, it's the customers that need sorting.
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Spot on; and I thought it was only me who had customers like that ;D
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It seems it doesnt matter where you are in the country we all have the same problems with customers and work all the above moans apply to my round
Because sometimes this job can be lonely and boring you think you are the only one with these problems so glad im not the only one suffering for my art ;D
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Dai
I think you must be working my round ;D
Except mine do offer cups of tea, When you on the last window >:(
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as paul said you have just done last window and thay come out with cupa and wants to talk to you for 30 odd mins and thay go on on on on on on on on till in the end you have just fell a sleep you look at the time and think ho sh.....t time to go home . don,t you love them.dave
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Wheelie bins
Collecting
cat and dog sh##
Garden furniture
kids toys and bikes
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I was told I look to posh to be a w/c, is that a good thing?
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if its that bsd ,jack in and get a factory/office job ;D
With respect my post was done tongue in cheek.
I wouldn't change jobs, unless it involved somewhere sunny st tropez for example?
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Customers that won't open the door when you know the buggers are in.
customers that wave goodbye and leave without paying.
customers who leave knowing the back gate is locked.
customers that never have cash or a cheque book.
customers that don't even start looking for the money until you knock.
customers that come out and insist on paying when your in mid rinse.
customers that have no money even when they know you are collecting that evening.
customers that leave huge dollops of dog muck for you to drag your hose through.
customers that plant thorny bushes under their windows.
customers that save all their shrapnel to pay the window cleaner.
Nothing much wrong with window cleaning, it's the customers that need sorting.
every single one of those has happened to me.... and probably all of us... cant believe , you got that so spot on dai.
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I do find it lonely.... and nearly every customer makes me jump when they say "hello".....if im working... in a world of my own...
sometimes when you are chasing a daily target, it can be hard to keep the motivation up 100%, without someone with you ,
but thats why we are all here... self driven etc.
i also tend to find when i chat to a customer... i never shut up...
because i have not spoke to anyone all day... so they get all my gabber gabber ;D
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Lonliness seems to be what gets to me...all the other things just add to the frustrations.
Dave.
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Not as bad as being trapped indoors on your own with a bad case of ciu fever!
Two days of that this week is worse than Colditz anyday!
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What the heck were you doing at 4.30 am?
Well, I was meant to be cleaning the glass canopies at a shopping centre, but the water just froze on the glass, so I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
Being a window cleaner is a good job sometimes, but I felt it was worth pointing out some of the problems, for the benefit of newbies reading up.
Might be a bad job in winter ( i don't mind it ), but what a great job in the good weather.
I start at about 4.30am aswell and finish just after lunch. Rest of the day to play.......
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Yup! all of those plus
(1) nextdoor neigbours who object to you parking 1cm over their drive even though they don't actually want to go out.
what about the ones that go mad at you for parking out side and not blocking their drive, but blocking their veiw of the road. the lady said to me you better move your van i dont wanna look at it, she went on to say that her daughter will be over soon and sheel have to park else where.
i told her its sods law, im on a public highway so i can park there
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All the above plus the one I had last year when I rested my pole gently on the fence between the house I was working on and the brush was about a foot over the neighbours property:-
Him: (All condescending) Do you mind not putting your brush over into my garden?
Me: Sorry mate, did I make you jump?
Him: No! I just don't want it on my side.
Me: Blimey - you got air space now?
Him: No need to take that tone old son.
Me: Oh, get a grip man!
Him: Huh! (And walks indoors in a huff!)
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All the above plus the one I had last year when I rested my pole gently on the fence between the house I was working on and the brush was about a foot over the neighbours property:-
Him: (All condescending) Do you mind not putting your brush over into my garden?
Me: Sorry mate, did I make you jump?
Him: No! I just don't want it on my side.
Me: Blimey - you got air space now?
Him: No need to take that tone old son.
Me: Oh, get a grip man!
Him: Huh! (And walks indoors in a huff!)
Yep you get em...
I had one the other week walking up the road
Me: Good morning
Him: Not Really
- Miserable old so and so! lol
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The custies that really grip me are the ones that wait for you to go around the back, then stealth like..... sneak out the front door and drive off without paying.
Its almost done with military precision.
Dennis
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the amount of snow that has fallen in the last three hours and its still coming down :o
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I had three in a row yesterday annoy the hell out of me, i was 2 week late because i had 2 weeks off at xmas and crap loads of snow to deal with in the last month (cut us some slack in winter??)
Anyway first one runs out and says "found someone else sorry, you havent been for ages"
I said - im about 2 weeks late, christ your eager, if id of known you were so desperate for clean windows id of charged more...
Next one i cleaned the whole house not thinking about the fact she might of turned too, then next one was a shop who decided to tell me when i was round the back after cleaning the front that they too had changed, she was a 6 weekly job (for a shop front!!) and it was 8 weeks since id last called!!! I just laughed....
They were underpriced anyway so i was just bothered about the £20 or so id lost, but then a nice lady from a huge farmhouse accross the road said those beautiful words "can you do mine" :)
Turned into a £20.00 job in the end..
I was amazed how quick all 3 neighbours turned though the guy who had found this other window cleaner didnt stop chatting to me usually, but as soon as i was a 2 weeks late! There loss, i wonder if they all wanted an excuse to stop paying to be honest! It they had had them done already it didnt look like it!!
rant over
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that is a thing that happens one person gets you for the road and they all sack you at once
but dont you find there under charged or bad jobs any way mine have been
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Customers that won't open the door when you know the buggers are in.
customers that wave goodbye and leave without paying.
customers who leave knowing the back gate is locked.
customers that never have cash or a cheque book.
customers that don't even start looking for the money until you knock.
customers that come out and insist on paying when your in mid rinse.
customers that have no money even when they know you are collecting that evening.
customers that leave huge dollops of dog muck for you to drag your hose through.
customers that plant thorny bushes under their windows.
customers that save all their shrapnel to pay the window cleaner.
I like it 8)
I might just include it in the welcome pack under customers who won't meet requirements and who would be subsequently dropped! ;D ;D ;D
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Not as bad as being trapped indoors on your own with a bad case of ciu fever!
Two days of that this week is worse than Colditz anyday!
that made me laugh ;D
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I've got good one!
Before Chrimbo, went to a new custy's house, cleaned the front no problem went round the round back, now bearing in my she did tell me she has 2 dogs "no poblem I have 2 of my own".
Anyway I'm cleaning the top windows and being extra careful not to tred into dog shi*, because the back yard was covered in it.
Anyhow the stupid bloody women decides to let her delightful little puppies out, one being a jack russell and the other being a great big horse (great dane) and the bloody thing jumped up at me and knocked me over, straight into the dogshi*. It's gone everywhere, all up my jeans, jacket and hat, to say i was pi**ed off would be a understatement.
Then the woman said to me it's only dog poo, dont worry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've told her under no circumstances that she lets her dogs out while I'm there and to clean up her garden otherwise find another mug, to clean her windows.
Now every time I dog doo, I get a cold shiver all over.
Rant Over :(
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that is a thing that happens one person gets you for the road and they all sack you at once
but dont you find there under charged or bad jobs any way mine have been
Yeah no great loss really !!
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Go and see him do em for nothing and get all the houses in the road lol. ;D
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riverking, ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
o m g how bad is that .
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I think I would be tempted to stick the applicator in the poo and do her patio doors with, and when she complaines laugh and say its only dog poo. ;D
Stupid cow.
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I think I would be tempted to stick the applicator in the poo and do her patio doors with, and when she complaines laugh and say its only dog poo. ;D
Stupid cow.
Just put it under her car door handle lol,that way she`ll get it right under her finger nails. ;D ;D
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Nutters passing by when you are working. Had an old dear start shouting at me today, because she said my customers tree needed cutting back. ::)
She reckoned it pulled her hat off every time she walked under it... ;D
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I've got good one!
Before Chrimbo, went to a new custy's house, cleaned the front no problem went round the round back, now bearing in my she did tell me she has 2 dogs "no poblem I have 2 of my own".
Anyway I'm cleaning the top windows and being extra careful not to tred into dog shi*, because the back yard was covered in it.
Anyhow the stupid bloody women decides to let her delightful little puppies out, one being a jack russell and the other being a great big horse (great dane) and the bloody thing jumped up at me and knocked me over, straight into the dogshi*. It's gone everywhere, all up my jeans, jacket and hat, to say i was pi**ed off would be a understatement.
Then the woman said to me it's only dog poo, dont worry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've told her under no circumstances that she lets her dogs out while I'm there and to clean up her garden otherwise find another mug, to clean her windows.
Now every time I dog doo, I get a cold shiver all over.
Rant Over :(
i should laugh but cant help it ;D ;D
I've already had the jokes from friends like "hey shi* happends!" but you live and learn doing this job....... don't you :)
Warning to all you guys, if a custy has any dogs and they decide to make a bee-line for you, hit them over the head with your pole and throw them in dog doo! See how they like it. ;D
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Ha, all the above are all too familiar, plus my pet hate- new customers, who, after I've spent half a lifetime scraping years of accumulated grime off their poxy windows, pay me and then say "thanks, oh, my windows don't get very dirty, give me your number, I'll call you next time they need doing" AAARGH!
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…that sometimes it is really difficult to believe that your hose is inanimate.
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…that sometimes it is really difficult to believe that your hose is inanimate.
I'm sure mine isn't, the way it's attracted to wheelie bin wheels, it can be a foot away and still can pounce without warning, I still don't know if my hose tries to throttle them or mate with them, but it sure as hell can't leave them alone.
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bad point is cleaning a bathroom window which is open ,just after someone has had a dump >:( >:(
not if your using wfp it aint, get with the times ;D
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I have 660ft of hose fully unreeled whilst I'm working in a small village and out of sight of my van. What annoys me is when some prat parks their car tyre on my hose and disappears for some time visiting a friend. I have to go back to my van, find my car jack, lift their vehicle just to get my hose free from under their tyre.
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i hate it when they see me pull up, from inside the house.... then go out, without paying...and leave windows open...
and a neighbour comes over while i am washing the windows... and asks " are you a window cleaner?"
( by the way i dont let them drive off without asking for the money).... but they try. ???
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I have 660ft of hose fully unreeled whilst I'm working in a small village and out of sight of my van. What annoys me is when some prat parks their car tyre on my hose and disappears for some time visiting a friend. I have to go back to my van, find my car jack, lift their vehicle just to get my hose free from under their tyre.
660ft of hose :o
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I have 660ft of hose fully unreeled whilst I'm working in a small village and out of sight of my van. What annoys me is when some prat parks their car tyre on my hose and disappears for some time visiting a friend. I have to go back to my van, find my car jack, lift their vehicle just to get my hose free from under their tyre.
660ft of hose :o
Hello Ian,
Village has limited parking spaces being a very desirable location for celebrities and well off people. Place is always full of builders doing renovations, extensions, so need to get my parking space by 8am before the builders and once there I don't move until I've finished all the houses. 660ft is just enough to get me done in 4 directions parking on a cross road parking space. Trolley would be too slow and backpack would need to be filled 25 times (no thank-you). Only other alternative is to park up on the beach and pray the tide don't come in and leave me stranded before I've completed my work.
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People that think the window is a rubbish bin and throw all kinds of stuff out of it including chewing gum and hair which then gets stuck on the window or ledge. Once had a customer who pulled the accumulated hair out of the plug hole in the bath and poked it out the window, masses of hair to remove each time. :P
Simon.
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Yeh you could be standin there with a W/C jacket on holdin a mop & squeegee next to a bucket and they still ask if your a windowcleaner???
And dont get me started on bloody washin lines.........laters
Is it just me, or am i going insane after 26 years of windowcleaning?
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When things get tight one of first things people cut down on is...window cleaning, I am down £700 a month in turnover since December. :o
More than half of that is from one main 'bread & butter' job that I do.
Nothing else new to add, just like this topic, and thought it might be useful to people thinking of starting window cleaning.
It's not as easy as we make it look!
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moderator just removed my post asking for positive things that have happened today just shows they want us to be negative on here gets you talking i suppose still i tried :-[ :-[ :-[
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moderator just removed my post asking for positive things that have happened today just shows they want us to be negative on here gets you talking i suppose still i tried :-[ :-[ :-[
??? this one http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=71035.0 ???
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moderator just removed my post asking for positive things that have happened today just shows they want us to be negative on here gets you talking i suppose still i tried :-[ :-[ :-[
What are you on about choice clean? It's still there! Look more carefully next time! ;D ;D ;D
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When things get tight one of first things people cut down on is...window cleaning,
It's not as easy as we make it look!
I disagree entirely with this, are you saying that people cancel their window cleaner before the holiday, new conservatory, house move, new car, new patio, TV?
IMO THOSE are the first things to go.
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I agree with sparklebright, people may cancel holidays and put back new patio's, but when they are looking to economise and reduce their weekly/monthly outgoings then window cleaning features high on the list of things to go, lets face it, we are not exactly a necessity are we?
Ian
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When things get tight one of first things people cut down on is...window cleaning,
It's not as easy as we make it look!
I disagree entirely with this, are you saying that people cancel their window cleaner before the holiday, new conservatory, house move, new car, new patio, TV?
IMO THOSE are the first things to go.
well I'd rather have a holiday than clean windows ;D
but seriously I agree with your point, clean windows is'nt nescessarily a luxury for people, when you break it down its a couple of quid a week for say a regular 6 weekly clean for an average houshold.
Plus most customers are usually homeowners and would have seen a considerable drop in their mortgage repayments.
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I agree with sparklebright, people may cancel holidays and put back new patio's, but when they are looking to economise and reduce their weekly/monthly outgoings then window cleaning features high on the list of things to go, lets face it, we are not exactly a necessity are we?
Ian
There's another side to that coin mate. My old man used to sell plants and flowers on a market stall. He said "don't matter about how bad it all gets, people may be in the poo but flowers have a certain feelgood factor" I think this is true in our trade. I have a couple of custies where the old man has lost his job. She hates cleaning her windows and WILL keep us as WC. By the way, Gurmuns work by appointment only ( they book you for day / time" and have in and out done every time, so it isn't cheap but bareable.
Don't really think the private side has been hit over here yet but who knows?
Cozy
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When things get tight one of first things people cut down on is...window cleaning,
It's not as easy as we make it look!
I disagree entirely with this, are you saying that people cancel their window cleaner before the holiday, new conservatory, house move, new car, new patio, TV?
IMO THOSE are the first things to go.
I guess it varies from person to person, some people will do the maths and think 'things are tight what can we save on?' and then trim all sorts of things including us, and then they will cancel holidays etc. But others will keep you on til the bitter end.
I have had a number of commercial contracts cut the work right done to save money
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the worst thing is that there is not as much job security as people seem to feel there is + when you're ill you have to graft or you get no dough :'(