"Proffessionals" Why is it

[BaronVonBoll 0]

Why is it whenever I am hired to do a job for a "Proffesional" (Like lawyer doctor etc) They almost always seem to want to tell me how to do the job. For example last week I put in a driveway for a lawyer. He was there the whole time telling me how to muck rake and finish the concrete. On another job last month I was installing a flagstone retaining wall for a marketing executive and ha followed my progress for three days with a two ft. level! If I go to a dentist I dont tell him how to pull the tooth he is extracting, or tell a lawyer which papers to file in which court! I am amazed that these people cannot grasp the concept that I am as professional at my work as they are at thiers. If it is about what they want done I have no problem, but to stand there and tell me how to do something I have been doing for the past fifteen years gets annoying. sometime I feel like just picking up my tools and leaving (Side comment of "OK you do it").

Sorry I had to rant its getting pretty annoying.

[downwardspiral 0]

Try getting a haircut and shaving every once and a while.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[Belgian_Draft 0]

It's a conspiracy to get you mad.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[Coreece 190]

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sometime I feel like just picking up my tools and leaving (Side comment of "OK you do it").

I know guys in the carpet and roofing business that left jobs because of things like this...but most of us don't have that luxury.

My current profession isn't physically labor intensive so it makes it easier to deal with picky customers, but it's still very annoying and slows things down....especially when they have know idea how to perform the job.

But I'm also guilty of being picky...I usually change my own oil, but sometimes I go to the shop just to save time. I'm always nervous when someone else works on my car so I'm usually watching them like a hawk....some places don't like it so they say that I have to leave for insuranve reasons....maybe you can say the same thing.

I also had a lady throw me out of the barber shop for "being too picky..." (in all honesty...the haicut was crooked")

I think many of us have things that we're picky about and just want to make sure it's done right to avoid problems like my engine that fried because those oil guys f'd up the oil pan plug.

I've found that soild communication helps solve problems, but I'm always gonna keep an eye on those oil guys...sometimes it's better just to DIY....like you said.

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[Coreece 190]

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It's a conspiracy to get you mad.

Yes, this too....some people are just picky pricks like that.... always testing people n' shit.

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[vortexring 0]

Why not reply to the suggestions by saying: 'Duh...Yeth Buth' every time? Who knows, you might even cause them to start a FIGHT!

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[Andy9o8 2]

Part of it has to do with some people having very detail-oriented, and somewhat obsessive-compulsive, personalities who tend to micro-manage everything. I used to be that way when I was younger, but my wife has little tolerance for it, and over the years she's gotten me to tone it down quite a bit. My sister is still that way: when she's over at our house and I'm doing the cooking, I have to keep her out of the kitchen because she just can't STFU and always has a "better idea", and I'm ready to throttle her.

The other part is that you may be a good contractor, but there are enough horror stories out there of contractors doing shitty work that customers have gotten very hyper-cautious.

Anyhow, sorry you've had bad experiences.

[vortexring 0]

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My sister is still that way: when she's over at our house and I'm doing the cooking, I have to keep her out of the kitchen because she just can't STFU and always has a "better idea", and I'm ready to throttle her.

It's 'cos you're not paying her enough attention. Give her a simple task, like grate the cheese; chop the parsley or something - I do it with the kids - works a treat! Further more, you can criticise her to death back!

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[kbordson 8]

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If I go to a dentist I dont tell him how to pull the tooth he is extracting, or tell a lawyer which papers to file in which court!

Sorry I had to rant its getting pretty annoying.

You might not tell your dentist what to do, but daily I have patients tell me what to do. Most of the time, I listen and try to accommodate, but sometimes (like those that try to insist that they "need" another ultrasound) it gets frustrating for us too.

You're in customer service. If you want to keep customers, you have to try to keep them happy

[Andrewwhyte 1]

I've seen packer Reggie in Eloy fire a customer for being too picky.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Part of it has to do with some people having very detail-oriented, and somewhat obsessive-compulsive, personalities who tend to micro-manage everything. I used to be that way when I was younger, but my wife has little tolerance for it, and over the years she's gotten me to tone it down quite a bit. My sister is still that way: when she's over at our house and I'm doing the cooking, I have to keep her out of the kitchen because she just can't STFU and always has a "better idea", and I'm ready to throttle her.

The other part is that you may be a good contractor, but there are enough horror stories out there of contractors doing shitty work that customers have gotten very hyper-cautious.

While your first explanation is definitely in play, the reality is that contractors have a pretty poor level of professionalism. So much so that if they show up when they say they will, you're pretty happy.

[BaronVonBoll 0]

Just so it is understood I give all clients a written garantee about the quality of the work. Before, I start. depending on the type of work it is good for five years even for incedental repairs. Some kid comes up with a sledgehammer and breaks something, i'll repair it for free!

[Jayruss 0]

I'm a professional and the one thing I like about working for other professionals is that they understand being billed by the hour!

Clients that are W-2 employees never understand why it takes me 3 hours at $200 an hour to get what they want done. Of all of my professional clients, none ever question a reasonable bill.

__________________________________________________
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

[jerryzflies 0]

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Why is it whenever I am hired to do a job for a "Proffesional" (Like lawyer doctor etc) They almost always seem to want to tell me how to do the job. For example last week I put in a driveway for a lawyer. He was there the whole time telling me how to muck rake and finish the concrete. On another job last month I was installing a flagstone retaining wall for a marketing executive and ha followed my progress for three days with a two ft. level! If I go to a dentist I dont tell him how to pull the tooth he is extracting, or tell a lawyer which papers to file in which court! I am amazed that these people cannot grasp the concept that I am as professional at my work as they are at thiers. If it is about what they want done I have no problem, but to stand there and tell me how to do something I have been doing for the past fifteen years gets annoying. sometime I feel like just picking up my tools and leaving (Side comment of "OK you do it").

Sorry I had to rant its getting pretty annoying.

Maybe they've had experience (like I have) of tradespeople cutting corners and doing crummy work when not being supervised constantly.

If you can't fix it with a hammer, the problem's electrical.

[Skyrad 0]

Most likely because one simply can't find good help these days, far to many cowboys.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[grimmie 186]

Yeah, but packer Reggie only lost 6 bucks!

that's why I like being a fireman. No one tells us what to do except the chiefs. We just ignore them!

[nerdgirl 0]

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You might not tell your dentist what to do, but daily I have patients tell me what to do. Most of the time, I listen and try to accommodate, but sometimes (like those that try to insist that they "need" another ultrasound) it gets frustrating for us too.

You're in customer service. If you want to keep customers, you have to try to keep them happy

Uh-uh … I may have been that patient.

I had an ASC-US Pap in 2002. When I came in for the bioposy, the doctor had a layman’s article for me to read in the waiting room. I brought articles from NEJM & the Lancet with me. When I was told “atypical squamous cell” and “bioposy”, I didn’t wait til the day of my appointment to do some research. . Watched the colposcopy … “what are you doing now?” “why?”
The primary care physician I first went to see when I got to Atlanta was very paternalistic for lack of a better descriptor. Recognize that works very well for some people - that's the customer service aspect you noted above. She & I did not work well, however. Found another PCP, in the same building, who’s much more collaborative in his approach to medicine than the first one to whom I went.

/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[kbordson 8]

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You might not tell your dentist what to do, but daily I have patients tell me what to do. Most of the time, I listen and try to accommodate, but sometimes (like those that try to insist that they "need" another ultrasound) it gets frustrating for us too.

You're in customer service. If you want to keep customers, you have to try to keep them happy

Uh-uh … I may have been that patient.

I had an ASC-US Pap in 2002. When I came in for the biopsy, the doctor had a layman’s article for me to read in the waiting room. I brought articles from NEJM & the Lancet with me. When I was told “atypical squamous cell” and “biopsy”, I didn’t wait til the day of my appointment to do some research. . Watched the colposcopy … “what are you doing now?” “why?”
The primary care physician I first went to see when I got to Atlanta was very paternalistic for lack of a better descriptor. Recognize that works very well for some people - that's the customer service aspect you noted above. She & I did not work well, however. Found another PCP, in the same building, who’s much more collaborative in his approach to medicine than the first one to whom I went.

/Marg

Personally, I like an active role by the patients and I didn't mean to indicate that patients shouldn't be involved in their care. But he had mentioned that he didn't tell the dentist what to do... and I was just countering with the fact that many of my patients are interactive in their care.

I was mainly citing my frustration from those that just want testing for the sake of pretty pictures or to see/confirm again if it's a boy or a girl (which is not a MEDICAL indication for an ultrasound cuz I take care of female fetuses EXACTLY the same as the male ones)

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Why is it whenever I am hired to do a job for a "Proffesional" (Like lawyer doctor etc) They almost always seem to want to tell me how to do the job. For example last week I put in a driveway for a lawyer. He was there the whole time telling me how to muck rake and finish the concrete. On another job last month I was installing a flagstone retaining wall for a marketing executive and ha followed my progress for three days with a two ft. level! If I go to a dentist I dont tell him how to pull the tooth he is extracting, or tell a lawyer which papers to file in which court! I am amazed that these people cannot grasp the concept that I am as professional at my work as they are at thiers. If it is about what they want done I have no problem, but to stand there and tell me how to do something I have been doing for the past fifteen years gets annoying. sometime I feel like just picking up my tools and leaving (Side comment of "OK you do it").

Sorry I had to rant its getting pretty annoying.

I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they'll do the right thing but I've found that to be too painful in terms of the effort I spend to cleanup after their messes and what's coming out of my wallet.

Once you've worked for me before and done a good job, I'll assume that will continue and leave you alone.

Before that happens I'm going to be proactive since the average person is incompetant regardless of education level and salary. Some people are lazy liars which is worse since you can't even tell them to do the right thing.

This applies to _EVERYONE_.

I've had to tell doctors who'd feed me 120mg of hydrocodone a day for nerve pain that they really should try something different, so this sort of thing just isn't limited to people in the trades.

I've had to clean up after muppets with master's degrees and PhDs taking two days to two weeks of my time to redo and finish what they failed to get right in two months.

Accountants have neglected one section of a unified 1099 with the time I spent seeing why their numbers didn't match my estimates being a lot more than if I'd done the returns myself for $450 less.

One mechanic didn't do a pressure test when I had a coolant leak. I asked the next one to and he claimed they did but didn't find anything. The next two did pressure tests and found the same pin-hole leak (I skipped over shop number 3 because it looked like they were inflating the time estimates, which shop number 4 confirmed with real numbers from the book).

Contractors have neglected to hang doors so they close (c'mon, a little time with a block plane is all you need) and bolt down toilets (I even provided longer than standard bolts to reach through the wood flooring so that wouldn't happen).

[rasmack 0]

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Why is it whenever I am hired to do a job for a "Proffesional" (Like lawyer doctor etc) They almost always seem to want to tell me how to do the job...

Well, we have all heard horrible stories about carpenters/masons/mechanics/whatevers screwing the not-so-savvy over. It might simply be that they want to make sure that everything is by the book. I know people who have lost tens of thousands of dollars because of shoddy construction work that had to be fixed by somebody else. How are they going to make sure it doesn't happen again? By being exactly that annoying customer you are referring to.

From your posts you are probably a stand-up guy but your customers don't know that. In fact the aforementioned apartment disaster was perpetrated by a guy who came highly recommended.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[Andy9o8 2]

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Just so it is understood I give all clients a written garantee about the quality of the work. Before, I start. depending on the type of work it is good for five years even for incedental repairs. Some kid comes up with a sledgehammer and breaks something, i'll repair it for free!

I've no doubt. But if a contractor becomes insolvent, and has no "errors and omissions" insurance covering the quality of his/its work, a written warranty is, as a practical matter, virtually worthless.

[BaronVonBoll 0]

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Just so it is understood I give all clients a written garantee about the quality of the work. Before, I start. depending on the type of work it is good for five years even for incedental repairs. Some kid comes up with a sledgehammer and breaks something, i'll repair it for free!

I've no doubt. But if a contractor becomes insolvent, and has no "errors and omissions" insurance covering the quality of his/its work, a written warranty is, as a practical matter, virtually worthless.

I guess on that point I could concede . My sense of self worth wouldnt allow it. Id fix what ever the cost to me personally. Luckily for me I am bonded.

[BaronVonBoll 0]

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Just so it is understood I give all clients a written garantee about the quality of the work. Before, I start. depending on the type of work it is good for five years even for incedental repairs. Some kid comes up with a sledgehammer and breaks something, i'll repair it for free!

I've no doubt. But if a contractor becomes insolvent, and has no "errors and omissions" insurance covering the quality of his/its work, a written warranty is, as a practical matter, virtually worthless.

I guess on that point I could concede . My sense of self worth wouldnt allow it. Id fix what ever the cost to me personally. Luckily for me I am bonded.