Called a business that had an insert in our local paper to get a quote
for getting our lawn rolled. Gave them all the usual information, plus
e-mail address, then asked when somebody was likely to come and check
the place out. Reply: "We don't need to send somebody there: we get all
the information we need from satellite imagery."
Perce
I was impressed when one of the roofing companies I contacted did the
estimate from satellite imagery. The computer spits out the estimate. I
didn't hire them and I'm glad I didn't. They did one of my neighbor's and
the crew consisted of Mexican Nationals. Nothing against Mexicans but I want
one or two English speaking guys on the crew.
Point is: It's the final job that matters. :-)
On Apr 23, 11:57=A0am, "Percival P. Cassidy"
wrote:
I guess for the majority of new clients that might work. I know that
the (Google) images of my house are going on 3 (4?) years old so if
that's what they use, they'd see a different landscaping layout.
From a lawn rolling perspective, I think they'd be "close enough" with
the old images, but I'd certainly want to discuss the final numbers
with them since there is less lawn to roll than the images show.
8k$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...
Oh boy, here we go...
re: "Nothing against Mexicans but I want one or two English speaking
guys on the crew."
What if they all spoke Dutch? or German? or the Queen's English?
re: "Point is: It's the final job that matters."
Apparently not. What seems to matter, at least to you, is what
language they speak.
My wife speaks some German and she's Hispanic.
So communication isn't important to you? If I had a translator it wouldn't
matter.
FWIW: That particular company didn't have a real good rep locally. They were
based out of another city too. That was the reason I didn't pick them. I try
to ask anyone that does work on my house to have at least one English
speaking person. I don't think that is unreasonable or racist. It can easily
be a Mexican that speaks English. I grew-up, and spent most of my adult
life, in Southern NM. I don't carry any hard core resentment of Mexicans.
I'm just being practical. If that bothers you I don't know what to say.
What "bothers" me is how you said it. Granted, you can't really tell
"tone" in a NG post, so I'll just tell you how I read it...
When you say that you didn't use them because the crew was all
"Mexican Nationals" and you want "one or two English speaking guys on
the crew" you make it sound like those two things are mutually
exclusive.
When I was in the service in Germany, we had many German Nationals
that worked side by side with us on base. They *all* spoke English. In
fact, they were "ahead" of us in that regard, because very few of us
spoke German.
Did you verify that none of the crew that worked on your neighbor's
house spoke English? If you didn't, then it appears, at least to me,
that you didn't hire them because of their nationality - or at a
minimum, you didn't hire them for a reason that might not have been
justified.
re: "That particular company didn't have a real good rep locally. "
Now that is a very valid reason. However, the wording in your earlier
post certainly didn't indicate that reputation had anything to do with
your decision, especially when you strung together these three
sentences in one paragraph:
"I didn't hire them and I'm glad I didn't. They did one of my
neighbor's and the crew consisted of Mexican Nationals. Nothing
against Mexicans but I want one or two English speaking guys on the
crew."
Again, it just *sounds* like you feel that if they are Mexican
Nationals they must not speak English, which some might consider to be
somewhat of a prejudential generalization.
Like I said, that's how it came across to me, so that's why I
responded as I did.
IMHO I believe I directly addressed your point and merely explained
how the wording in your post came across to me.
"predisposed beliefs"?
====
You assumed I'm a rabid racist because I said "Mexican National". WTF?
I'm just going to fall back on: "I don't know what to tell you."
Yeah, living here in Central TX you learn that pretty quickly.
I got Wilson Roofing (Austin). They did excellent work and they have the
reputation of being one of the best. There were a bunch of guys up there.
But there was a articulate and educated person there at all times. Started
at about 7am and ended about 7pm. Pro all the way. Cost a little more but
worth it. I highly recommend them.
re: "You assumed I'm a rabid racist because I said "Mexican
National".
Wow! If that doesn't prove my point that you can't read tone in a NG
post, I don't know what does.
WTF? I agree.
Why? Can't they tell the area well enough from a satellite image? What
else do they need to know to give me a price?
I have their quote already and, although I have no other quote with
which to compare it, it's less than I was figuring it could be.
Perce
re: "You assumed I'm a rabid racist because I said "Mexican
National".
Wow! If that doesn't prove my point that you can't read tone in a NG
post, I don't know what does.
WTF? I agree.
===
Okay...Let's say I understand what you said but since I removed all doubt
with my second post; what's the point? Does it make you feel self-righteous?
To me that's worse than racism.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt if you stop harassing me. If you do
I'll just assume you're on your high-horse. It's your choice. Good Day!
Jim
Percival P. Cassidy wrote the following:
My neighbor had his house re-roofed. It was a two roof house about
60x30.in size. The spanish speaking crew came early in the morning and
started ripping off the old shingles.By supper time, they were done, and
before leaving, they cleaned up the mess too. The only potential problem
was the constant hammering of 6 or 8 guys, but I was doing construction
on my house at the time, so the hammering and the salsa music on their
radio didn't bother me. I don't think they even took a break, except for
lunch.
When I need my house re-roofed, I will give their company a call.
I think I mentioned this in another group. Here in Alabamastan,
many of our politicians barely speak English, it's Hillbonics
or Ebonics and some of them are almost impossible to understand
especially since most of what they're saying are lies anyway.
*snicker*
TDD
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