Let go
Posted on June 12, 2008 - Filed Under Business |
From the beginning GrassGuy has been part of the show. Every two weeks, I could count on my grass being cut and looking good. Never a second thought. Each month I’d receive a bill and every month a check would automatically be cut from the checking account.
That is until 2008.
GrassGuy told me his son, who speaks English really well, had joined the family business. Junior was the guy. I suppose there’s some fatherly pride involved, when the son picks up the reign of the family business and takes over. Now GrassGuy can do what he does best: cut grass.
This year I’ve had to call six times, practically insisting that the grass get cut. And when the grass gets cut, not all of it gets cut. The area where the car is parked is always forgotten and that requires a follow-up phone call with “yeah yeah tomorrow”.
This has become too tiresome. For the moment, the karma streak is laying low. But coming home, see the neglected grass and weeds has just gotten to me.
Am I forcing too much drama into this situation? He charges $45 per month to cut my grass. A measly $45. Maybe if I hadn’t become accustomed to this great level of service before, this new service model wouldn’t affect me so. But it has.
I’ve been told in this business hired help usually lasts about two years. Then the hired help becomes complacent, lazy or gets an attitude. GrassGuy has never given me attitude nor has his work ever been anything but extraordinary. But getting him to work has become another time consuming venture and that’s something to avoid at all costs. Especially these days.
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Ah… Another casualty of the death of customer service…
It seems that this is a trend almost everywhere now. It’s pretty sad… When we go out to eat or out shopping where we need some level of service we get really excited when someone actually does their job… That’s pretty pathetic considering back when customer service was my profession we were held at a high level of service.
Now it’s how quickly can we get the customer out the door before they realize how much we really don’t care…
I’d like to think that it’s getting better, but it seems to be a slippery slope…