Ferengi Rules of Business: 1. Once you have their money ... never give it back.
When he finally returned the 100 pound floor roller on Wednesday May 29, 13 days after originally promising to bring it right back to Home Depot on the afternoon of May 16, Darren called me and offered to cover all the excess rental charges. Since I had originally rented the roller for $22, and $78.59 was being charged to my card, he would owe the difference. I quickly but slightly erroneously calculated this as $55 over the phone. I should have calculated $56.59. Darren said he couldn't pay the money right away as he was calling me on Wednesday May 29. But he said he would come over on Friday to make the payment. He sounded eager to make this settlement.
Of course, he didn't show up on Friday. I got no calls, no unwarned visits (thank goodness), and no money appeared under the mat. I was home until about 4pm, the time he would know I needed to go to work. Somehow I thought he said he was coming in the morning but I couldn't remember for sure. I should have figured based on previous experience it would go this way, as when all the 3 previous promises to return the roller right away were similarly unkept.
After being texted about this on Friday afternoon, a friend suggested I call Tom. After I got to work on Friday afternoon, I decided to wait until Monday before calling Tom. There was still a chance that Darren would come by on Friday evening and leave a note or leave money under the mat. I should give him that chance, I thought.
I decided I wouldn't bother to call Darren in any case, so as not to hear more of his disgusting fake apologies and promises for a 4th time. But I would call Tom. But then when Monday rolled around, after having thought about it for 3 more days, and that endless worrying and future interaction rehearsal which is the most stressful part of dealing with a bad contractor, I simply called Home Depot and verified that the tool had been returned. That call took about 15 minutes, most of which time I was listening to a very loud and obnoxious Home Depot sales pitch on the phone. But the staffer was kind enough to verify the charge on my card as $78.59. Somehow I thought Darren had said "about $77" probably because that fit with the $55 refund we agreed to.
I was going to call Tom mainly for social welfare purposes. I would rather not wait yet another day for Darren to show up, or not, and deliver the money, or not. It isn't worth all the worry and stress and loss of morning sleep. I was worried what I'd say when Darren would ask if I still felt like hiring him for future projects. I was thinking about how I would respond to that question from the moment he called me on Wednesday onwards. And how would I respond to other questions he might ask. I was thinking of saying things like "Probably Not", or maybe just "No, but I want to remain on good terms." Nothing seemed quite right.
So by Friday night the worrying shifted from what I would say or not say to Darren on Friday when he came by to deliver the money to what I would say to Tom when I explained the whole affair to him on Monday. Would I tell Tom I didn't want Darren on any future projects? Would I tell him I wouldn't want Darren unless he was being supervised, and not left on the premises alone. The latter didn't sound nice, but given the experience that I've had, a sensible person might want that.
Would I tell Tom I no longer wanted the money delivered, since I didn't want to loose any more sleep, but that Darren could send it to me as a postal money order? Would I then agree to cover the money order fee, the postage, and the delivery confirmation fee? I could not imagine that someone like Darren would get this right, no matter what I said. He might go for Express Mail, since it does include envelope and delivery confirmation, adding something like $15 when it could cost as little as $1 for first class mail with delivery confirmation. It seems to me that going to his local post office and buying and sending the money order would take far less time and gas than driving all the way to my house with the cash. But somehow, in my mental model of contractor thinking, they would not ever do this. They could not pay the post office $1 for the money order, because that's a cost, and contractors find every possible way to reduce or eliminate costs--money going to other people--if possible. Driving to my house--that's business, even if the gas cost is far greater than $1, let alone the value of the time. On the other hand, it's also business to stiff the customer and not make the drive, and that's another way to save time as well.
I was thinking I might tell Tom I wasn't in the business of being a day care center for kids who haven't learned the value of keeping their word. I was thinking the matter should be brought to Tom's attention. He should know what his nephew was failing to do.
But by Monday, my desire to do the right thing and call Tom simply to let him know about Darren, but not actually caring anymore to collect the money, especially if that would involve another visit or call from Darren, had simply vanished. I didn't care anymore and I just didn't want to think about it anymore. I was thinking that in addition to my not being a day care center, I'm not a corrections officer or a bill collection agency either. So if I don't care about the money anymore, why bother? I was thinking I had a social responsibility opportunity here in helping to shape Darren into an honest person. But I'm now feeling that I've already done my bit. Anything more I do might even invite some form of retaliation.
So I'm just writing it off. I'm adding another F or two to the mental score I'm giving Darren. But whatever. I'll mention the $55 to Tom if I call him again about the door installation. I'm thinking I might not even bother to call Tom anymore either, then I wouldn't even have to talk about Darren, and I have some feeling that Tom should have known Darren might cause me some trouble and should have warned me about that, so Tom has some residual culpability in this story. And Tom isn't necessarily an angel either, I just don't think he'd rip me off in such a childish way. It was curious about the way Tom complained when I asked him to pick up the furring strips he suggested I purchase at Lynwood. He told me I could get them there, I somehow expected he could pick them up after I payed for them. OK, that was really just a misunderstanding on my part, but he seemed to react pretty negatively to my first suggestion of his having to pick up those parts himself, though it only took him a minute of sighs on the phone to agree to pick them up, and he actually did so without any problems or additional complaints.
So while there is some grounds to be wary of Tom as well, he should probably not get a black mark from this episode. It seems he was just trying to do right by his nephew, and his nephew can do reasonably good work in most cases. It might have all turned out OK, if I had not trusted Darren with the roller. I might not have been happy with Darren's job of installing thresholds, but that could have been fixed on the next visit, and it was really a small part of the hallway remodel which I consider a great success.
When he finally returned the 100 pound floor roller on Wednesday May 29, 13 days after originally promising to bring it right back to Home Depot on the afternoon of May 16, Darren called me and offered to cover all the excess rental charges. Since I had originally rented the roller for $22, and $78.59 was being charged to my card, he would owe the difference. I quickly but slightly erroneously calculated this as $55 over the phone. I should have calculated $56.59. Darren said he couldn't pay the money right away as he was calling me on Wednesday May 29. But he said he would come over on Friday to make the payment. He sounded eager to make this settlement.
Of course, he didn't show up on Friday. I got no calls, no unwarned visits (thank goodness), and no money appeared under the mat. I was home until about 4pm, the time he would know I needed to go to work. Somehow I thought he said he was coming in the morning but I couldn't remember for sure. I should have figured based on previous experience it would go this way, as when all the 3 previous promises to return the roller right away were similarly unkept.
After being texted about this on Friday afternoon, a friend suggested I call Tom. After I got to work on Friday afternoon, I decided to wait until Monday before calling Tom. There was still a chance that Darren would come by on Friday evening and leave a note or leave money under the mat. I should give him that chance, I thought.
I decided I wouldn't bother to call Darren in any case, so as not to hear more of his disgusting fake apologies and promises for a 4th time. But I would call Tom. But then when Monday rolled around, after having thought about it for 3 more days, and that endless worrying and future interaction rehearsal which is the most stressful part of dealing with a bad contractor, I simply called Home Depot and verified that the tool had been returned. That call took about 15 minutes, most of which time I was listening to a very loud and obnoxious Home Depot sales pitch on the phone. But the staffer was kind enough to verify the charge on my card as $78.59. Somehow I thought Darren had said "about $77" probably because that fit with the $55 refund we agreed to.
I was going to call Tom mainly for social welfare purposes. I would rather not wait yet another day for Darren to show up, or not, and deliver the money, or not. It isn't worth all the worry and stress and loss of morning sleep. I was worried what I'd say when Darren would ask if I still felt like hiring him for future projects. I was thinking about how I would respond to that question from the moment he called me on Wednesday onwards. And how would I respond to other questions he might ask. I was thinking of saying things like "Probably Not", or maybe just "No, but I want to remain on good terms." Nothing seemed quite right.
So by Friday night the worrying shifted from what I would say or not say to Darren on Friday when he came by to deliver the money to what I would say to Tom when I explained the whole affair to him on Monday. Would I tell Tom I didn't want Darren on any future projects? Would I tell him I wouldn't want Darren unless he was being supervised, and not left on the premises alone. The latter didn't sound nice, but given the experience that I've had, a sensible person might want that.
Would I tell Tom I no longer wanted the money delivered, since I didn't want to loose any more sleep, but that Darren could send it to me as a postal money order? Would I then agree to cover the money order fee, the postage, and the delivery confirmation fee? I could not imagine that someone like Darren would get this right, no matter what I said. He might go for Express Mail, since it does include envelope and delivery confirmation, adding something like $15 when it could cost as little as $1 for first class mail with delivery confirmation. It seems to me that going to his local post office and buying and sending the money order would take far less time and gas than driving all the way to my house with the cash. But somehow, in my mental model of contractor thinking, they would not ever do this. They could not pay the post office $1 for the money order, because that's a cost, and contractors find every possible way to reduce or eliminate costs--money going to other people--if possible. Driving to my house--that's business, even if the gas cost is far greater than $1, let alone the value of the time. On the other hand, it's also business to stiff the customer and not make the drive, and that's another way to save time as well.
I was thinking I might tell Tom I wasn't in the business of being a day care center for kids who haven't learned the value of keeping their word. I was thinking the matter should be brought to Tom's attention. He should know what his nephew was failing to do.
But by Monday, my desire to do the right thing and call Tom simply to let him know about Darren, but not actually caring anymore to collect the money, especially if that would involve another visit or call from Darren, had simply vanished. I didn't care anymore and I just didn't want to think about it anymore. I was thinking that in addition to my not being a day care center, I'm not a corrections officer or a bill collection agency either. So if I don't care about the money anymore, why bother? I was thinking I had a social responsibility opportunity here in helping to shape Darren into an honest person. But I'm now feeling that I've already done my bit. Anything more I do might even invite some form of retaliation.
So I'm just writing it off. I'm adding another F or two to the mental score I'm giving Darren. But whatever. I'll mention the $55 to Tom if I call him again about the door installation. I'm thinking I might not even bother to call Tom anymore either, then I wouldn't even have to talk about Darren, and I have some feeling that Tom should have known Darren might cause me some trouble and should have warned me about that, so Tom has some residual culpability in this story. And Tom isn't necessarily an angel either, I just don't think he'd rip me off in such a childish way. It was curious about the way Tom complained when I asked him to pick up the furring strips he suggested I purchase at Lynwood. He told me I could get them there, I somehow expected he could pick them up after I payed for them. OK, that was really just a misunderstanding on my part, but he seemed to react pretty negatively to my first suggestion of his having to pick up those parts himself, though it only took him a minute of sighs on the phone to agree to pick them up, and he actually did so without any problems or additional complaints.
So while there is some grounds to be wary of Tom as well, he should probably not get a black mark from this episode. It seems he was just trying to do right by his nephew, and his nephew can do reasonably good work in most cases. It might have all turned out OK, if I had not trusted Darren with the roller. I might not have been happy with Darren's job of installing thresholds, but that could have been fixed on the next visit, and it was really a small part of the hallway remodel which I consider a great success.
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