Yesterday I was cleaning a street which is 8weekly and one of the customers always makes me a coffee and she is really good and tries to get me extra work..
She used to be a nurse for a couple of years in England and she likes having a English window cleaner (I'm in Holland BTW)...so I do all the houses fronts in that street and then go around the back and stop in at hers for the offered coffee.
So the next door neighbour pops in and whilst were having coffee the neigbour mentions that on this and the previous 2 cleans there were white lines left on the glass on the tops...these are 3 storey town houses.
So I check from inside her house and sure enough lines...I check the wooden frames and the paint has very little shine left on them and there is white residue on them when a wet finger is wiped on them...
So back at the neigbours house I explain in my not so good best Dutch that the problem is the frames are not that good and the lines/spots will occur every time so I will not want to continue to take her money whilst she is not getting a top job...so I gave her money back and said I would try to find her another window cleaner (I will not do 3 storey off a ladder - just my choice am wfp).
So she tells me she does not want another window cleaner and that I have proven myself to be trustworthy and reliable and I do what I say I will do on the day I say I will do it.
I re-explained and then after a bit of take the money, no I cannot take it, take the money...I take the money and ask her what her charity of choice is and without thinking she tells me it is Cancer so I said I'll donate it to them...So I leave and a little while later she who is 75 is running down the street ...so I reverse and she says "I have squeegeed the offending window" and everything is fine and that I AM to come back and continue to clean her windows and that she'll donate the clean price to the Charity and that I should keep the money she gave me as I had worked for it and to top it all she'll have the house painted at the start of summer !!!
I am not trying to say I am super dooper or anything but this just made me feel good and sometimes we look for the bad in people and then at times somthing happens and it makes you think about all the good in the world.
ps the customer that spreads the word for me...got a free clean yesterday as a thank-you for her 'work' during the year.
Cheers
Dave.