Working construction, all our customers get quotes, which they have to sign back (it's now a contract) before we start work. The salesman handle all of the contracts, pricing and customer relations until the crew shows up. My boss hates pieces of paper with a strange but very real loathing, so the site supervisors all have smart phones. When we are assigned a job we are given (on our phones) a copy of the contract, and we use our phones to do timesheets for the crews, inventory, check off scope of work completed each day etc. All the customer sees is the super standing around, talking to the crew (answering questions, showing them what else needs to be done, checking their work) and playing with a phone (like pretty much everyone does all day everywhere anyways) so they often don't realize how informed we are. Then today....
Sucky Customer : So are you doing option 1 or option 2 with area?
Me: We aren't doing area, I wasn't told anything about it.
SC : Yes, I talked to salesman about that, he wasn't sure which way was better, he was going to talk to the installers and let them decide. Maybe he forgot to ask you? Which do you think would be better?
Me: Well option 1 would be cheaper, but if you are planning on living here for more than 4 or 5 years option 2 is going to work better for the long term.
SC: Okay, so lets go with option 2.
Me: Okay, well salesman didn't say anything about that, I'll just call him and get a price for you
SC: No, no, we talked about it, he included it in the price, he probably just forgot to mention it to. Don't worry about, it's included already.
Me: Okay, let me just check the contract
SC: No, don't bother him to get the contract
Me: That's okay, I have a copy *checking phone* oh, here it is, nope doesn't say anything about area
SC: Oh, it probably isn't the final one, we were talking about it after he visited the first time
Me: Well it is the one you signed *shows him phone* so that's all I can go by. If you think it is the wrong one I can have salesman call or come by to go over the job again. I want to make sure you get the work you wanted.
SC: No that's okay. How about 50$?
Note, he's talking about us doing about 750$ worth of extra work. And yes, I was playing dumb for him, I knew exactly what he wanted.
Me: I'm not sure, I don't really deal with pricing, I can just call salesman for a price and get a change order made for you to sign.
SC: Well, I really don't want you to have to bother salesman, I could probably just give you 75$
Me: Well I'm really not sure on pricing, I would have to call salesman and see if that is the right price before I did the change order.
SC: I have beer!
Me: That's very nice.
SC: I could give you beer.
Me: We are not actually allowed to drink at work.
SC: Well you could take it home with you.
Me: That's nice, the guys will appreciate that.
SC: So you can do area?
Me: Sure, just let me call salesman to get a price, and I'll get that change order made for you to sign.
SC: No, but I'll give you beer. And 75$!
Me: Well I'm not sure on the pricing, I'll need to talk to salesman for that, but I'm positive that boss won't let us take beer for payment.
Seriously, this guy wants me to steal the companies time and material, do work for basically nothing (75$ and beer! to split with 5 guys) lose my job for theft, and he thought this would be a good idea how? And this after he insults my intelligence by trying to lie to me to get free work. If he was somehow successful I really would have been fired for incompetence to give away that much stuff for free. How do people even think this will work?
Sucky Customer : So are you doing option 1 or option 2 with area?
Me: We aren't doing area, I wasn't told anything about it.
SC : Yes, I talked to salesman about that, he wasn't sure which way was better, he was going to talk to the installers and let them decide. Maybe he forgot to ask you? Which do you think would be better?
Me: Well option 1 would be cheaper, but if you are planning on living here for more than 4 or 5 years option 2 is going to work better for the long term.
SC: Okay, so lets go with option 2.
Me: Okay, well salesman didn't say anything about that, I'll just call him and get a price for you
SC: No, no, we talked about it, he included it in the price, he probably just forgot to mention it to. Don't worry about, it's included already.
Me: Okay, let me just check the contract
SC: No, don't bother him to get the contract
Me: That's okay, I have a copy *checking phone* oh, here it is, nope doesn't say anything about area
SC: Oh, it probably isn't the final one, we were talking about it after he visited the first time
Me: Well it is the one you signed *shows him phone* so that's all I can go by. If you think it is the wrong one I can have salesman call or come by to go over the job again. I want to make sure you get the work you wanted.
SC: No that's okay. How about 50$?
Note, he's talking about us doing about 750$ worth of extra work. And yes, I was playing dumb for him, I knew exactly what he wanted.
Me: I'm not sure, I don't really deal with pricing, I can just call salesman for a price and get a change order made for you to sign.
SC: Well, I really don't want you to have to bother salesman, I could probably just give you 75$
Me: Well I'm really not sure on pricing, I would have to call salesman and see if that is the right price before I did the change order.
SC: I have beer!
Me: That's very nice.
SC: I could give you beer.
Me: We are not actually allowed to drink at work.
SC: Well you could take it home with you.
Me: That's nice, the guys will appreciate that.
SC: So you can do area?
Me: Sure, just let me call salesman to get a price, and I'll get that change order made for you to sign.
SC: No, but I'll give you beer. And 75$!
Me: Well I'm not sure on the pricing, I'll need to talk to salesman for that, but I'm positive that boss won't let us take beer for payment.
Seriously, this guy wants me to steal the companies time and material, do work for basically nothing (75$ and beer! to split with 5 guys) lose my job for theft, and he thought this would be a good idea how? And this after he insults my intelligence by trying to lie to me to get free work. If he was somehow successful I really would have been fired for incompetence to give away that much stuff for free. How do people even think this will work?
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