Friday was actually my day off. We work strange days. But, bright spark that I am, I left my phone somewhere on Thursday and had to go to the office on aforementioned off day to retrace my steps through various appointments of the day before, phone anybody I might have seen and try to get the missing phone back. Luckily, I do have amazing clients and my phone was returned early in the morning (before I even got there) by a person at whose house I had left it. Apparently, the strange noise (my phone ringing from people trying to find out if I'm still alive) confused the crap out of the household, until they finally found the phone UNDER a bed somewhere. No, I did not kap 'n quick snooz. I was on the job, working hard. Really. No, really.
While at the office, getting my phone back, one of my fitters comes around to fetch a carpet that he had to fit for us that day. I bent over backwards for this client. Did everything at very short notice. Got the carpet in, sorted out the fitter, everything ready in less than two days. Normally, it takes around four days. Anyway, we couldn't release the carpet, because we had not received proof of payment. So I set my colleague on the blower to try and find the client and make him pay us, so that the fitters can get to laying the carpet. No answer. Voicemail. We phone, literally (and I mean literally, not like Americans use literally, proper literally, the opposite of figuratively), every five minutes to track this guy down. No luck. The fitters eventually get opstropelis and decide they would rather leave. "Let him phone us and we'll see when we can fit him in next week", they tell me. I decide that it's time for me to go and enjoy my day off, away from work, but I would swing by the client's house to let them know that we're still waiting for that payment. Fitters, hang on.
And? You guessed it. Nobody's there! Well besides the painter and some builders and garden people, but the owners aren't there. According to the painter, they just slipped out for a while, they would be back soon. So I tell the painter, "dude, tell this guy that he needs to pay us, my fitters are getting difficult and we want to get this job done. He must just let us know that the payment has been made and all willl be fine." The fitter says he'll tell him. I leave. A few hours later, my colleague phones me about something else and mentions, "oh yes, that guy with the carpet says we can leave it, he doesn't want us to fit anymore, we're wasting his time."
... We....are wasting....HIS....time???
EXCUSE ME???!!!
WTF have I been doing (on my off day you b*stard)? I have done everything in my power to make this go smoothly and you tell me I am wasting your time?
You know, sometimes I get really angry. Thank goodness I was speaking to my very sweet and innocent, relatively new, colleague. I did not end up killing anybody. But I tell you, it was close. People can be so bloody thick sometimes, you just want to grab them by the throat and shake some sense into them. Aaarghh!!
They don't seem to realise that the world does not always revolve around them every second of every day. They don't think. They don't bloody listen. People really need to get over themselves and listen. At least sometimes.
Luckily my colleague, bless his heart, managed to convince client and fitter that Monday would be a good day to do the fitting. We have received the payment and all is well.
TFLNOTD:
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