Why is something so much more expensive or takes so much longer?

[speedog]

For the past month or so, I've been pretty much exclusively doing cabinet service work - mostly because I can think outside of the box, can coordinate with customers well and as such, reduce the workload of the office coordinators and I'm older, the younger guys just don't have the patience even though it pays the same.

One thing I have noticed and am quite amused with is the number of people who apparently have so much knowledge of how little time or how little money stuff can be done for. Current task is to recolor all cabinetry in a new condo, customer figures 8 hours max when in reality it is easily a 3 day job if not more.

Of course, reality TV shows are the factor here where magical transformations occur practically overnight and for many customers it quickly becomes quite an eye opener when it becomes apparent to them how much work and time is involved. It doesn't occur to them that I am now doing a fairly major change in a lived in space high means constant clean-up is added into the process. Can't cut in the condo, have to do it three floors down, have to remove my tools every day, have to mask off everything, bla, bla, bla. At least this current customer has cleaned out their cabinets - some places I have had to remove and put back everything and then they're pissed if I leave behind a pack of saw dust. Pissing around with the contents of some person's vanity drawer is the ultimate, I've been told to put back everything as it was - so pictures of everything and then they wonder why extra hours are added to their job. Cell phone pictures are truly becoming my saviour, how sad is that.

Fo those of you in other customer facing positions, how much do you run into this here as the magic of reality TV is not really reality? Even web site construction/maintenance or computer construction/maintenance would be quite similar IMO - used to do some web site stuff in the past and for out of that because everyone was either expecting very thing for pretty much free or were so critical of the time it might take. Same thing with computer maintenance/troubleshooting - my god, so many people think it's a no brainer job that can be done by morans with one arm tied their back. Thank god I've got every family member and friend now trained to not call me any more with their computer problems as it's just not worth my time or effort.

[zhao]

Collision repair/body shop angle: not too many backyard bodyman internet experts who 'know' how easy everything is (I feel for the mechanical world), but that just eliminates people arguing about how easy it is. no one understands how labour intensive or complicated fixing a car properly is and grossly underestimate the cost of doing things. Fortunately insurance pays 99% of the bills now as it's come to the point where anything owner pay I actively try to discourage them from fixing it.

I'm also having a problem with customers having unrealistic expectations. Stuff like we should give them a full tank of gas cuz we drove the car 1km, or pay for their rental insurance won't cuz they were too lazy to pick the car up until a week after it was done. One lady complained to the owner about me being condensending cuz I was explaining why her tire wasn't punctured that she was sure it was.

[ExtraSlow]

Yep, why do people who buy that service once in thier lives not have a better understanding of all the steps required? Stupid customers.

[speedog]

Yep, why do people who buy that service once in thier lives not have a better understanding of all the steps required? Stupid customers.

I don't expect these customers to have a better understanding because how could they, it's their attitude that they fucking know it all already that's annoying.

Here's a good one, a couple of individuals figured this custom TV unit was a 30 minute job - only took two of us over 2 hours to assemble in another suite and then four of us to move into another suite to mount on the wall of a show suite and at that, we had to scavenge the site after hours for enough materials to get the thing built because the proper materials weren't supplied, good thing I had some extra shit in my truck. Then the customer's rep was upset because we actually had to use screws to mount the whole assembly on the wall and then questioned why we also were using silicone to help it adhere to the wall - I guess it's all magic. They also didn't like the fact that we had 4 braces in place over night to keep the thing from tearing away from the wall while the silicone set up...

81314

I guess I shouldn't complain as we did get free pizza in exchange for pulling a couple of company's asses out of the fire with a 17 hour straight shift (multiple custom pieces assembled/modified and mounted in several suites) but even at that, the free pizza took a lot of bargaining even though we were expected to remain on site until this unplanned last minute job was done. How the designer figured mounting a different floating open shelf unit that weighed over 150 pounds and measured 6 feet wide by 5 tall could be a one man job is beyond me - how the thing is still hanging on the wall into steel studs including floating cabinets above and below still amazes me.

Anyhow, silicone is the boss - once it sets up it will never be the weak link.

[zhao]

Yep, why do people who buy that service once in thier lives not have a better understanding of all the steps required? Stupid customers.

That's not the problem; the problem is they know nothing and expect their made up knowledge to be reality. Do you walk in to a show home and expect to pay $50000 for a penthouse downtown, or expect to trade you 1988 mercury topaz and some used stereo equipment for a new Lambo? Would you then get mad when your outrageous ideas on how things work turn out to be very far from reality after reality is explained to you in a nice customer service hold your tongue tone?

It's like dealing with spoiled children nowadays.

Here is an example from this weekend: I'm training a new hire to run the office on the weekend so I was working Saturday. I get a call at 10 a guy needs a estimate on his collision and his car is definitely nondrive cuz of reasons! So he needs a rental. I'm on the phone with him for 20 minutes explaining the process (should take 30 seconds but he's mentally slow in the uptake going in circles) And that he may not be put in to a rental as it needs to meet criteria but we'll take a look when he comes in and he needs to come in at 1130 at the latest as enterprise closes at 12. He says he'll be there at 1130. I tell the new hire I bet this guy shows up at 1158.

So 1157 rolls around and guess who pulls up. I look at his car, and ya it's technically drivable but putting him in a rental is totally justifiable. Well it's too late now lol, cuz enterprise is closed. Guess who thinks that is unacceptable? Mr couldn't bother to show up while they were open. So he's on the phone calling other shops or insurance or who knows (literally no one can anywhere close) trying to see who can put him in a rental and I hear him say ya they won't put me in a rental and I see they have tons of rentals in their parking lot.

literally zero of those cars are rentals, they are cars we are fixing lol. Enterprise does not leave cars everywhere and they are closed so even if those were rentals there is no one that works for enterprise to put him into a rental which I explained to him already more than once. He doesn't know wtf he's taking about and he's making shit up. I have no idea how in his world anything he expected was reasonable to think would happen.