[richard groves]

Last night just getting dark and was packing up having done a few regular terrace fronts.
Woman approaches back of van as winding in hose.

" have you got time to do mine and how much ?"

she points the house out, 2 story and a small sub basement level at pavement height. Feeling generous I say I will clean it at the regular price of her neighbours as I was already in the street.
She agrees.
I clean it (wfp) and even scrub off the bird poo from the render.
When I knock, she's unhappy.

" Its not finished,  there is splashes all over the glass, its still wet !"

Oh dear, go through the whole spiel ! how wfp works blah blah, plus you saw me working, did you see a ladder ? did you see a shammy ? you stupid f***ing bint.
Look aint got time for this , another neighbour has just seen me doing yours and wants hers done too and its nearly dark.
If your not happy  , don't pay me, let them dry and decide, I will call back tomorrow and you can pay me then or not if they are not crystal clean.

So I have just called back, she's happy, apart from basement window  but did have a grill in the way, I'd even angled my brush through, looked like it had never been done ( black ) certainly looked better but not perfect.
Stupid tight arsed  bitch knocked money off because it wasn't perfect 
All this ping about for what ? the princely sum of £6. !

Neighbour on other hand, lovely, over the moon and agreed to a regular service 

[8weekly]

I always say no, I only take on regular customers. I always think an irregular should pay a lot more anyway otherwise where's the incentive to go regular?

[Cookie]

You just can't please some people!

[richard groves]

I always say no, I only take on regular customers. I always think an irregular should pay a lot more anyway otherwise where's the incentive to go regular?

Exactly, and that was the point I was trying to illustrate indirectly.
Lessons been learn t.
I try to be friendly, pride myself in my work, go out of my way and get shat on by mean tight fisted people.
No more Mr nice guy.

[Walter Mitty]

I always say no, I only take on regular customers. I always think an irregular should pay a lot more anyway otherwise where's the incentive to go regular?

No more Mr nice guy.

I'm on my tenth stint of "No more Mr nice guy".

[Spruce]

The 3 c's. Canvass, clean and cull.

You can only make an honest appraisal of your new customer's status after the first clean and payment transaction has been completed.  Now you have the info you need to make an informed decision.

If it was taken on as a once only job, then you have a small track record of what you are likely to expect if she asked to be a regular customer later.

Chances are she has treated each cleaner the same and you are just another statistic.

As you have found out, you need to sift through the trash to find the nuggets. So its good to get through the trash as another nugget will be just around the corner.

[richard groves]

The 3 c's. Canvass, clean and cull.

You can only make an honest appraisal of your new customer's status after the first clean and payment transaction has been completed.  Now you have the info you need to make an informed decision.

If it was taken on as a once only job, then you have a small track record of what you are likely to expect if she asked to be a regular customer later.

Chances are she has treated each cleaner the same and you are just another statistic.

As you have found out, you need to sift through the trash to find the nuggets. So its good to get through the trash as another nugget will be just around the corner.

funnily enough I was muttering the 3 c's to myself as I walked away but it weren't " canvas, clean, cull " 

[Smurf]

Don't you just love em "you left my windows wet brigade"

Slightly of topic but still do with custy's generosity or lack of it here is the shortened version goes as follow.

I was on a house external clean a while ago. The usual can you clear the gutter and downspouts then wash over the plastics jobby.  Spent another two hours faffing about trying to unblock a downpipe that was full of water right up to the top. Anyway after taking the swan neck off no blockage was found but the downpipe was full of water...hmm I thought there must be a blockage below ground.

I would have normally charged extra to try and sort it but as a favour I thought I would take a looksee. In the end after trying to remove/lift the whole downpipe out of the poxy drain ( the type with the silly rubber boot that goes into the ground) the bloody thing just would not come out even after removing all the brackets from the wall. So in the end I had to cut the downpipe so was left will a couple of feet of it sticking up. Stuck me guttervac small flexi pipe on and just sucked the remaining water out of it to see if that would do the trick. Like fook did it...

I had various option but did not want to try jetting the blockage free as the chap mention something about a small kids been bag no bigger than your palm of your hand that was stuck on the roof but disappeared somewhere. Turns out after using a drain auger I got the little fecker out stuck in there. When matey returned after going out to purchase a downpipe joint I then I fitted it including sawing a bit of the pipe to accommodate the new joint. Then had to put back the rest of the downpipe back on the wall and swan neck back as it should. 

So all in all I wasted like I said before 2 hours messing about trying to save the chap at least 150 squid if he had called the likes of dyno rod out. Did I get a tip for the job after doing him a big favour?  Like fook did  I. 

That just goes to show when you try and help some people out they can take advantage bigtime...Bless em

[NWH]

First thing I say is how often do you want it doing and that's before I tell them my name,in the last few years there is more people about that are a new breed of the not today brigade. Bright and chatty on the first clean etc,this is why I stay out of towns and busy areas if I get an enquiry about a job lot of people about with range rovers and no money.

[richard groves]

First thing I say is how often do you want it doing and that's before I tell them my name,in the last few years there is more people about that are a new breed of the not today brigade. Bright and chatty on the first clean etc,this is why I stay out of towns and busy areas if I get an enquiry about a job lot of people about with range rovers and no money.

To be honest I was caught off guard. The houses on this street are tiny and dead easy - gf window, ff window, door and basement window split street level with cut out recess  in pavement ( if you know what I mean ) .
I just knock em out one after the other, £8, 6 weekly, happy days.
One more walk up at the end of the day, in a happy mood, feeling generous so no gripe about double for a one off etc. and who knows ? show willing and friendliness maybe becomes a regular.
But not this woman, no she has to be the pita of all flatbreads.
As for the basement window, I did well to clean it, it had a security grill, window did not open from inside, people had thrown litter down there, no means of access to even trad it ! What on earth she was expecting who knows ?
To make me return for payment following day and knock £2 off because she's a dumb ass just takes the p.
Oh well thats my rant done