No job too small

So what without people like them you would be out of business

I'm so please I will never have to have to call someone like you who shows so little respect for there customers

'Tis kind of amazing how 'un-practical' some folks are....

Fellow came round the other day to fix the ride-on mower for me - I'd managed to 'mow' a lump of stone - and the bolt that holds the rotary blade had sheared.

He seemed to be quite delighted that I'd managed to get the cutter deck off the mower so that all he had to do (!) was take the deck away, extract the sheared stud (left-hand thread), and sharpen the blades.

I get the impression a lot of his customers simply stand there say 'it's broken' - and leaving him to do all the difficult stuff (like undoing five clips and dropping the deck off....

Maybe it's a 'necessity' thing. My parents in their early 30's moved from Slough to Cornwall, and then promptly built a 3-bed extension onto the bungalow they purchased - doing most of the work themselves (not a lot of choice on a teacher's salary in those days!)

Adrian

How's about snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com ?

Or maybe he'd learnt the hard way what you will learn tomorrow when you get the phone call saying that her gas cooker has blown up and it's your fault because you were the last person to work on the plumbing.

There are reasons why children don't do jobs for their parents.

Owain

Or tzen again maybe he has an intimate knowledge of Murphy and is well aware that any attempt to do such a "5-minute" job will result in the discovery that (a) the plug you bought is either too big or too small for the hole and they don't make an intermediate size any more, and/or (b) the attachment on the sink is (1) missing, or (2) has too small a hole for the diameter of the link, or (3) is for a bobble-chain and you bought a link chain or vice-versa.

Chris

I wonder whether he judged you in the same way?

My dad was a GP in a mining community during the 70's and, although he was a true craftsman as regards his own DIY, he made sure that if there was something basic that needed doing like putting up wallpaper he employed someone local to do it.

He knew that employing someone's skill was more than just a monetary transaction - particularly when times are challenging.

So, what did that cost him then?

David

I think he was indicating a mong, rather than a philanthropist

So clearly you turned down the job, telling him he was a Gormless looking lump.

Didn't you?

Is the "mid 40's" significant? Do you have age limits for your customers?

Dunno about you, but when I were a lad, a "mong" was someone with Down's syndrome and although he may have been a "gormless looking lump", I doubt that TMH would have been quite so brutal if the son had the characteristic signs of trisomy 21 .

Look, sorry (ish) I see that we've we've ganged up on you

It is mostly your fault, not ours; but it's only a bit personal. Just don't be a complete tit when it comes to intellectual ability.

Yeah but it's been somewhat diluted nowadays, hasn't it

He's right though. Whereas in the past, youngsters would have a go. Watch tradesmen who visited the house or simply experimented for themselves - sometimes a costly way of learning - now too many kids expect everything to be done for them.

A relative of mine recently bought her daughter's 18 year-old boyfriend a bike, which came in bits. "Oh I'll get my dad to put it together for me". How does he think his dad knows how to put the bike together? Either he experimented or he read the instructions. A less resourceful lad would be hard to find and I really wish she's find someone else.

The 40 year old has cost his mum money, for something he could have easily accomplished himself. All this s*it about being non-judgemental, is just that, PC s*it. Without judgement, there is no right and wrong.

He wasn't the customer - his mum was. She called me & paid me, he was simply a by stander. Hence my use of the phrase "Got a call from an old lady today".

No, she was 86. For some reason a lot of elderly people insist on telling you how old they are.

So a thicko who cant/wont help his mum, when a customer is a wonderful chap?

Peter

So everybody's happy then. You were on your way home anyway, 86 year old has found a handyman she can rely on.

You must've just missed the feller they paid to pull the plug out to let the dirty water drain from the sink before you got there.

He's probably very skilled at being gormless. He didn't show you his study, all the books he's reading, and the guitar he plays for hours a day? My father 'couldn't' do anything around the house - if he tried, he made sure he mucked it up. When I was a teenager I'd spend the weekends up a ladder hanging wallpaper whilst he slept in his chair or watched wrestling on the telly. I have a friend, a parish priest, who is 'hopeless at anything practical'. His wife cleans the house and does all the washing and cooking for him and acts as his secreteary. Parishioners clean the church, arrange all the repairs and tend the gardens. He spends his time visiting, eating biscuits and drinking tea, going for quiet contemplative retreats and walks, and reads more books than anyone else I know. I'm trying and hoping to become as gormless, but it a little late since I've let the cat out of the bag by showing I'm competent at too many things. Fortunately I'm reaching an age where I can now start playing the 'going a bit too old and senile' card and I'm getting shot of this busywork rubbish asap.

Toom