Sure, I'd love to lose my job for you!

[NecessaryCatharsis]

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?

[BrenDAnn]

Maybe he was transported in from a time where there wasn't all this new-fangled technology that lets you catch liars before the lies leave their mouths? Seriously though this would've been the perfect situation for you to have had prior permission to let loose on SC about his shit. $75 and beer... That might almost be enough to be considered a tip. Maybe. I highly doubt it though.

[MoonCat]

It probably works with shady companies, guys that work on their own out of the back of a van, or whatever. Not so much with careful, legit companies.

[Ironclad Alibi]

It probably works with shady companies, guys that work on their own out of the back of a van, or whatever. Not so much with careful, legit companies.

With a shady company, if the workers did what he wanted for $75 and beer, he would have overpaid for that work.

[Grendus]

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.

...

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.

...

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.

I think I've spotted why your boss hates paper.

[Argabarga]

Indeed, I love paperless technology, it's unrivaled in the ability to make fools out of liars.

"Oh, well, I'm allowed to be there" Then why, *clicking phone* is your name not on this copy of the rental agreement I see here?

"Oh, well, see, I didn't actually park there, you must have been in the wrong lot!" Then why, *clicking phone* does this picture I took seem to show your car exactly where I said it was?

"Well, there wasn't a sign" Then why, *clicking phone* is one clearly visible in front of your car in this picture here?

"I'll sue!" You have no grounds for that, *clicking phone* as the Borough towing ordinance says we're 100% right and you're 100% wrong, as you can read right here....

[NecessaryCatharsis]

It probably works with shady companies, guys that work on their own out of the back of a van, or whatever. Not so much with careful, legit companies.

I would think a shady company would be less likely to go for it. If they don't care about their reputation or customer satisfaction then all that is left is to make money. Seems they would be less likely to do work at a loss. Or possibly I'm over thinking it, I do that.

So I talked to salesman this morning, him and the customer did go over the extra areas in question, and the customer received a quote for $820 + tax. The customer called the salesman a crook and told salesman he could get someone to do it for less than a hundred dollars. Salesman wished him luck. I guess the customer thought I was 'someone'. Also two of the guys I had yesterday told me this morning the customer approached them after talking to me and asked them about doing the extra area. They had heard some of our exchange (and they've mostly all seen my dumb act before, and know it means the customer is trying to get away with something) and just kept telling him 'I'm not sure, she's in charge, go ask her'. So he is going to continue to need good luck to get his work done.

I mean would he go into a store and offer an employee $75 and beer to take a 800$ TV out to his car for free? I really don't think he thought this plan through.

[XCashier]

They had heard some of our exchange (and they've mostly all seen my dumb act before, and know it means the customer is trying to get away with something) and just kept telling him 'I'm not sure, she's in charge, go ask her'.

I wonder if he thought he could pull the wool over your eyes because you're a woman. So many of these idiots think that women don't know anything about construction, contracts, etc., little realizing that the woman in question is in her job because she knows how the business works.

I mean would he go into a store and offer an employee $75 and beer to take a 800$ TV out to his car for free?

Probably. What does he care if some company loses money and some poor schlub ends up unemployed and/or in jail? He got what he wanted.

[Captain Trips]

I think the smart phone has done more to change our world than almost any other recent invention. How powerful it is to have a fully-Internet-capable computer/camera/telephone all in your pocket? (Really, it's just a very powerful computer with a phone circuit and a camera chip. It's more powerful than laptops of 10 years ago!)

Too bad some people are slow to realize just HOW powerful it is.