[Roy Cauldery]

A sad start for the day
A customer/friend of mine passed away last week and his wife phoned me last night to invite me to his funeral service.
Its hit me for six really,I have known this man for 20 years and he and his wife have been customers of mine in whatever business I have had.
Sometimes customers do cross the threshold from just being a number and you build a relationship with them that exceeds the boundaries of work.
He was a true'old style'gentlemen and was always immaculately dressed and he was so smartly turned out for his days in the members pavillion of Kent cricket club.He had looked after and supported his polio stricken wife and disabled son with dignity and courage and he was never beaten down by what life had given him as a set of cards.
I was lucky enough to sit with him for 10 minutes or so three weeks ago and it was so sad to see how cancer had ravished this distinguished gentleman.
It was one of my favourite calls and I always spent more time than I should have every time I cleaned for them(and he always gave me an excellent bottle of claret at christmas)
Somehow I dont feel like canvassing today as planned............

Regards
Roy

[Ian101]

Very sad mate 

however Im sure he would still want you to canvass ... get canvassing and dedicate todays efforts to your friend and any proceeds from these canvassed customers can be paid to a cancer / hospice charity ... just a thought ?

[Granny]

Hi
That's really touching.
I know some say they're only 'Custys' but some are great people with great lives lived.
Chatted with a lovely woman customer yesterday - they gave me a start when I had nothing.
Husband got dementia - taken away by paramedics - in a fit - now in a home.
Her all upset because she has never cooked for 1  in 61 years and the house is all quiet and empty.
G.

[james peters]

I have had similar feelings over the years....its awfull to see customers grow old, and see one of the pass away.
it becomes worse when you have parents in the same boat or lose a parent, because you start to have more sympathy for them...
life is wonderfull most of the time , but we all have to face this predicament at one time or another

[Splash 4 Cash]

what is even worse when you the one growing old.

[Total shine cleaning services]

Same-went to clean for one of my customers, arrived and she is sitting in the back garden crying, asked what was wrong and her mum had died 3 hours earlier, mum was also a customer for one offs, I stayed and did the clean and tried my best to cheer her up and then refused payment and asked her to put it towards some flowers for her mum, she seemed overwhelmed by the kindness from a window cleaner, but we are all decent eh..?

Graham

[Londoner]

Yes it does affect you. I am often shocked at the suddeness with which they go. They pay you off on the doorstep, little chat etc and they are fine. When you go back you hear they have died.

One lady earlier on in the year was telling me about her plans for the summer. Three weeks later I got a phone call from her niece.

[Ian Lancaster]

Unfortunately this is one of the downsides of our trade.  We do a few of the 'sheltered housing' types where the people live in separate houses/apartments with a warden on site.  There is inevitably a higher 'turnaround' than on other types of housing.  One particularly bad winter, I was going round one complex in Minster, Isle of Sheppey every month to find that another two or three had succumbed.  I gave the survivors a letter, the gist of which was:

"Some of you have developed a tendency to die in between my visits, with no consideration whatsoever for the inconvenience it causes me.  In future I will require an application in triplicate at least two weeks before you intend to depart, and please note you will have to defer the event until you receive my written approval.  I thank you for your co-operation in this matter"

Having been their window cleaner for several years, I knew them all very well and they all had a good laugh at it.

[russ_clark]

Excellent reply as usual Mr.Lancaster.
I was going to say something along those lines.
Bloody inconvenient them popping their clogs when the windows are due.
Bit like the people who have an accident in their car and block the road when
we are driving along the same road.

[Perfect Windows]

I suspect that our facing up to people's mortality in our daily work is one of the reasons why so many threads on here talk of window cleaners who are suffering from depression.

Vin