Hello again
Got my first job via a free web listing a short while back, thought you might find this amusing in some sick twisted fashion.
It started one early afternoon with a call asking me if I could clean a carpet and how much would it cost, at the time I guessed the caller to be Chinese (my wifes Chinese) and his English wan't so hot.
Anyway I agreed to visit the address later that afternoon. It turned out to be a student campus, a very secure gated campus and yes he was Chinese. (as it seemed was everybody in there)
After calling the customer again on his mobile he came to meet me at the gate and we went inside - to the 3rd floor to be exact. As we walked up the 3 flights of stairs I made some friendly conversation and he continued to nod knowingly, I asked if there was a lift to which he replied yes and smiled, 'are you sure theres a lift' yes again (bigger smile) we reached the third floor walked along a corridor and finally he opened the door (TO LUCIFERS DEN) of his accomodation.
The first thing I noticed was the stench, a mixture of soy sauce, bbq chicken and other rotting food, it was an open plan kitchen - lounge split 50/50 and as I looked down to inspect the carpet I realized there was no carpet to see!! the floor was literally covered in rubish, empty food packaging, fast food cartons, and lots of rotting food!!!
Hmmmm this is fantastic I thought to myself a real challenge (or similar thoughts anyway
)
I explained that I needed to see the carpet to inspect it and give him a price, this part of the conversation bounced forward and backwards several times before it became fairly obvious he didn't know what the hell I was talking about.
I couldn't ring my wife who is a nurse and was working, but I finally got through to him that he needed to bag up and get rid of all the rubish and I would come back in 1 hours time, he nodded saying yes with that now familiar smile upon his face, I went to get something to eat.
As agreed I returned 1 hour later, again he came to open the gate and we went to his appartment, he opened the door ..............and.... you guessed right!! the room was still exactly the same, not one bbq wing had disappeared.
I was a little anoyed by now but I was determined to remain the utmost professional, I grabbed a bag and phsically showed him what to do, he then dissapeared for 5 minutes and returned with 2 other guys (all Chinese) who quickly went to work tidying the room. I took this time to go and find the lift......you know what??? yeah, there was no lift.
Ok to move the story along they cleared the room , lots of food staining, didn't waste my time trying to explain I would try my best to get the stains out but couldn't guarantee there removal as I knew they wouldn't understand a word of it, I quoted (way too low I now realise) and spent what seemed like an eternity getting all my equipment up the stairs (powrflite pfr1350 perfect heat HWE, (the size of a wheelie bin and as heavy as 9 dogs for those of you not familiar) cleaned the hell out of the cheap no pile crappy carpet, sebo duo etc threw everthing at it, maxed out the PSI and finally.......to my amazement the carpet was spotless. (all green chems too!! one step fineline & zip it)
I cleared away all my kit and asked the customer as I left ' Do you like to get naked, cover yourself in honey and roll around in sesame seeds while listening to the electric light orchestra?......he smiled and nodded, yes. (ok that part was a lie)
It also took me 20 minutes to find the caretaker to open the large compound gates to let me out again.
Yes the job was a nightmare, and I made zero for all the effort, but I was proud of the job...I now had real confidence that I can clean anything, so for me it was a valuable lesson.
Any other nightmare jobs, so i can laugh at your misfortune.
Cheers Paul