Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Sunshine on April 16, 2005, 09:42:14 pm

Title: Its not just about the money
Post by: Sunshine on April 16, 2005, 09:42:14 pm
Not sure if this is the right place for this or even if its relevent....but here goes.

When we first started up, we did the usual leaflet drop and had some results.
Our first phone call was a guy who said he was interested and could we call and give him a quote. Needles to say we did and he was happy with it and we got his business.

We always made him our first call once a month in the morning.
Even if we got him out of bed he would always put the kettle on and make us a cupa and stand outside and pass the time of day with us. Come rain or shine. He would tell us a little bit about what he had been upto over the last 4 weeks and asked how we were doing and if the business was growing etc. We did not spend all day chatting, but it always struck me as kind of nice that he took time out to pass the time of day.

He always told us to keep the change, from the money he gave us.
At Christmas, he did not have any money on him when we had finished, we said it really did not matter and we would catch up with him next month. He asked us where we would be going next. We told him we would still be in the same street as we had a few in the street to clean.

20 mins later, he had gone to the cash machine, driven round to find us and presented us with the payment for his windows, plus a large tip.

It is with great sadness that we recently learned that he had suffered a massive heart attack and had died where he sat, one saturday afternoon whilst watching football. His wife told us he did not even make it out of the chair.

We sent a card to his Mrs to say how sorry we were for her loss and that our thoughts were with her in this difficult time.

Sitting here tonight, I cant help but think that I owe a debt of grattitude, to that kind man who gave us chance to get our business off the ground and took the time to make our lifes a bit easier, with a welcome smile and a warn cupa and words of encouragement.

We will miss him greatly. But I guess I feel kind of honoured to have met this guy.

Sunshine

 

Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: gaza on April 16, 2005, 10:13:05 pm
This has replenished my faith in human nature
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: s.hughes on April 16, 2005, 10:29:54 pm
I have many customers like him and at times we all loose money over chatting and not working. But its good to remember that its people that matter they are our business and for people like him I am sure we would all go the extra mile
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 16, 2005, 10:39:43 pm
We also have some terrific customers.

I'm sure most window cleaners have and that is one part of the job that is especially great.

Sunshines posting is both sad and heart warming.

Cheers

Ross
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: thewindowcleaner1 on April 16, 2005, 11:03:02 pm
Lets face it customers are our bussiness and when you've been going to that pesons house once a month for several years a relationship does develope, and it's sad when something like this happens as you lose a friend not just a customer.

Last year I went to one of my customers cleaned the windows as usual then played with one of the little lads (about 3 yrs old)for a while this has become a habbit they come out every time since they were able to walk, when the mother came out I jockingly asked were the other half of the twins were (sent him to his grandparents for some peace I jocked) she looked at me and went into tears the other lad had died in his sleep the week before.
This news stunned me so much I could not work for a couple of days.
We argue with them, smile with them,help them, because they are like family, and we miss them as we would family.

Why God Made Families

When creation was finished, each star in its place,
God cradled the earth in His thoughtful embrace,
And knowing that there would be problems to face,
His wonderful plan came to be…

For he wanted His children to learn to be strong,
And not become frightened if things should go wrong,
So He placed in each heart a desire to belong
Somewhere they felt needed, yet free…

Then he added acceptance and patience and trust,
Love that was selfless and caring and just,
Where questions were welcome and laughter a must…

And He called His great gift…
“FAMILY”.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: Simon Carter on April 17, 2005, 08:34:26 pm
My God, I've just read this. How fantastic. I've printed it off so I can keep it.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: gordonswindows on April 18, 2005, 08:43:58 am
all very heart-warming and yes its nice to be nice but the real question here is?...........................
had he paid in advance
and did u keep the account with his missus

only kidding i am scottish
cheers
gordon
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: Simon Carter on April 18, 2005, 08:53:38 am
If you are Scottish, you're not kidding !

Only kidding.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: www.mrgutters.co.uk on April 18, 2005, 09:53:06 pm
i went canvassing last week monday met a lovely old dear prob about 70 or so she was so nice realy friendly and happy with the price and i agreed to back to her on fri she said her husband is not very well so they are in all day alwyas ..so didnt matter what time i pitched up .. we got there friday morning and started the windows when her husband came out and said can we just do the front his wife just passed away the day before of a heart attack ..

shawn
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 18, 2005, 10:28:01 pm
This occured last summer.

We'd alway done this old boy's house every month and believe it or not, he was 98 with all his faculties and still mobile. I was shocked when he told me his age (with some pride) as I had him as around the 70 to 75 mark. He had bought the property when he retired in 1966 when England won the world cup

He'd never came to the front door though. He always opened an upstairs windows as he had a strange 3 bedroomed detatched house where most of the rooms were upstairs as it had a double garage downstairs.

One month we called round and there was no answer. As all that week we were in the same area we called back every day as he was always in.

On the third day (I think) there was a police car parked in his drive and the copper said his home help had found him dead 2 or so weeks before and of of natural causes and they were trying to find any clues as to next of kin. The coppers asked us if he'd ever talked of sons or daughters and so on which he hadn't.

I don't know if they found out if he had any next of kin.

What is sad is that he was such a gentleman and had a really proper sense of old fashioned values in the way he spoke and what he expected and he was a bit lost with todays way of doing things.

The place has now been sold on to someone and the last time we went past there all the old style aliminium frames were now double glazed and the garden has been ripped up and replaced with decking and all that stuff that new owners do.

I wonder if they ever consider (or even know) the history that went before their purchase and the kindly well spoken old man who had lived there with dignity and who had experienced both world wars and whose brother had been killed at The Somme in WW1?
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 19, 2005, 12:07:28 am
Sure Graham

The past has no place in the present does it?

Ross
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: dai on April 19, 2005, 06:49:50 pm
I cleaned windows for one old couple, The old boy was on strong seditives for some mental complaint. I was working two doors down, The old girl came out of the house and called me.
" Please can you help me! my husband has fallen and I can't get him up"Of course I went over right away, we got the old guy up and into a chair.
The thing that really moved me was that the old girl only had her vest on, she was totally naked from the waist down.
Her love for her husband made her own personel dignity irrelevent. I'm not ashamed to admit it, I walked away with a tear in my eye.
No it's not all about money, Dave
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 19, 2005, 11:48:24 pm
Hi Graham

Are you Dr Spoke in disguise?

Having feelings is human and compassion is natural.

I bet you've never had children?
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 21, 2005, 08:23:42 pm
So you are from Vulcan then.  ;D
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: windows_chepstow on April 21, 2005, 08:36:07 pm
Quote from: rosskesava on April 21, 2005, 08:23:42 pm
So you are from Vulcan then.  ;D

No, I think he's from planet 'bell-end'.  A big shiny Coldstream Guardsman's 'bell end'.  Sometimes also known as the 'Cheese ridge'.

Chavs come from the same planet.

Some people show no respect, because they are intellectually backward!  Does a thingyroach (ruddy spell check) c-o-c-kroach have any compassion?
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: bluesteve on April 21, 2005, 09:15:47 pm
the past is what makes us , it affects how we think about things and how we do things.
  If you dont learn from the past or you ignore it you re going to make the same mistakes, if you study history the people who choose to ignore the past made the same mistakes as people before i.e hitler ignoring Napoleons invasion of Russia.
  This bloke whos a Vulcan my guess he' s still quite young.
Probaly living at home with his mum and no girlfriend.
 
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: AuRavelling79 on April 21, 2005, 09:32:51 pm
Sometimes what happens to folk is that they've trusted someone wholeheartedly and been let down so badly that it affects them profoundly.

Then, because they are so fearful of being let down again they latch on to a false sense of security (such as money or a promiscuous lifestyle) or something they perceive they can control.

Often they come across as abusive, overly-critical, harsh and objectionable. Inside they are very frightened indeed and should be encouraged to seek professional help. They should never be mocked - it is unkind to do so.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 22, 2005, 12:25:13 am
Hi Graham

I can see why you're not a psychoanalyst but for different reasons.

You're like everyone else on this forum, a window cleaner.  ;D
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: AuRavelling79 on April 22, 2005, 05:47:16 pm
Eva and Adolf! What a pair of role models!
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: windows_chepstow on April 22, 2005, 09:22:01 pm
Quote from: rosskesava on April 22, 2005, 12:25:13 am
Hi Graham

I can see why you're not a psychoanalyst but for different reasons.

You're like everyone else on this forum, a window cleaner.  ;D

Graham's not like everyone else on this forum.  He's a fake Burberry baseball cap wearing Chav.

See here:

http://freespace.virgin.net/chav.scum/

In 'real' life, we've all met his sort.  They're the type that has to be contrary to everyone else to prove they're some sort of 'special person'.  Special needs more like.

I hate Chavs!
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: thebouncingbunny on April 22, 2005, 09:49:58 pm
good thread.makes me remember many good customers that have made me smile over the years and sometimes the shock when you turn up expecting the usual banter to find them gone.quite often with nobody to tell you what happened......
i often think that many of my elderly punters look forward to seeing me turn up with a smile to share a quick cuppa with em cos for some of em i might be the only person they speak to all day!
bunny
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: windows_chepstow on April 22, 2005, 10:25:07 pm
Quote from: thebouncingbunny on April 22, 2005, 09:49:58 pm
i often think that many of my elderly punters look forward to seeing me turn up with a smile to share a quick cuppa with em cos for some of em i might be the only person they speak to all day!
bunny

I've a couple that tell me that!  Luckily I've got 'Wor Lass' who does the 'customer relations', while I clean.

I've a couple of war veterans too (being ex-army myself) who're are a right pain in the bottom.  I get a fresh 'swing the lantern and pull up a sandbag story' every month!

But, Bunny, you're dead right.  There's more to window cleaning than just leaving the windows clean.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: rosskesava on April 22, 2005, 11:17:16 pm
Hi Graham

Just why do you do it?

One of my daughters at the moment, aged 14, is seeking attention by being contraversial, contradictory, emotional, arguementative and anti anything that is said.

With her, it's hormones.....  ;D plus pmt......

Cheers

Ross
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: texas girl on April 23, 2005, 04:45:30 am
Ross,

You are always so elloquent and good. Who knows what people really mean sometimes by what they say?

In any case I respect their right to express themselves.  We can judge for ourselves the compassion or lack thereof shown by some towards others.

I feel sorry for those who are so insensitive and noncompassionate that they seem to miss the mark in life.

And then again there is good and there is evil. This life is a battle of principalities; goodness versus evil.

If you have any doubts, just listen to your mind every day. Always tempted to do what feels good. Always the easiest.  Easy to turn our back.

The road is wide for distruction.  It is narrow for the  compassionate and to  take action based on love and kindness and correctness.

Life is not about the money. It is about goodness and character and integrity and loving each other.

Part of life is accepting others opinions and when we disagree let them have their say anyway.

Even if it is wrong.

Hugs,

Texas girl :-* :-*
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: Ian_Giles on April 23, 2005, 10:20:42 am
Graham,
You really annoyed me (and several others by all accounts) when you first came on the forum, I don't think people 'got' you.

When I see you have done a post I just have to click on it to see what you have said thats going to wind people up, I've began to look forward to the replies yout comments generate ;D

Within this thread you are most certainly in the minority....a minority of '1' so far ;D
This is a good thread, I too have had customers who love a natter, who like to share their memories with you.
Some of the old folk have some great tales to tell, and they keep smiling and struggling on in the face of sometimes great hardship.
Ok, there are some you almost pray won't be in when you clean their windows, you'd rather wait for the cheque in the post :o

I had one gentle old fella who fought in ww2, sometimes he would talk about the war, actually hearing someone describe pulling the trigger on an enemy soldier that gets shot in the face, or machine gunning people just a few yards in front of you, or the temptation you would feel to simply shoot a bunch of the hated SS that had surrendered to you rather than take them as prisoners of war.Or to be talking to a mate and the top of his head disappears. its so morbidly fascinating you don't want him to stop.

This old fella wasn't talking to impress or shock us, he was talking in an almost pleading, but matter of fact way. His eyes would fill with unshed tears, he'd shake his head and then tell us more; Of the fear you felt when your gun jammed, of trying to stab a man to death with your bayonette before he did it to you with his.
All this and more from the pleasant old chap in his flat cap, tending his garden, or sitting at the kichen table with a steaming cuppa and a couple of  rich tea biscuits and your eyes as big and round as the saucer your cup is sitting on.
So surreal, he didn't talk about the war often, but once he started you just sat real quiet, scared you would break the spell and bring him back from the past to the present.

Oh no, window cleaning isn't just about the money, you meet so many diverse people, you listen and you learn, there are tales out there waiting to be told, wanting to be told, all you have to do is spare your customers a little time now and then......

Ian
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: texas girl on April 23, 2005, 03:26:53 pm
Hi Ian,

Isn't it great to be free to express ourselves!  We have this freedom because of the sacrifices many made since the beginning of time.

The elderly deserve the utmost respect because many of the battles that have given us our current rights were fought by them.

I have a weekness for elderly; Instant 20% discount. Respect.

 When I am at their house I always offer to do anything they might need help with (change lightbulb, rearrange something on a tall shelf, dust above cabinet, etc)

For free. ;D

When I am old I hope to be treated with respect also. It would hurt my feelings if I was discriminated against just because I was old.

 Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Hugs :-*
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: Barry Pearce on April 23, 2005, 04:37:27 pm
Sunshine
I doubt you will get in the guiness book of records, but if you feel good about it, great, it rather puts  to shame the CCs who won`t start their van up for less than £100.
Barry
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: Simon Carter on April 23, 2005, 04:45:45 pm
What goes around, comes around. We'll all be old one day, thank's to The Working at Heights Directive.
Title: Re: Its not just about the money
Post by: c w window cleanin on April 27, 2005, 11:12:15 pm
so many of my customers have died over the years...you really get to know some nice people in this job....its like losing close friends or family ,it really upsets you.definately not all about the money, these people come to be good friends after a while ,who are genuinly bothered about you when you call round. theres a load of old characters i had the priveledge of geting to know in this line of work , are gone now, definatley gets to you when they die...