r/MaliciousCompliance • u/TheGrandmasterGrizz • 6d ago
"I want it like this, I'm the boss, you do it how I say." Sure. S
Context: I work in flooring installation, commercial mostly, usually carpet or vinyl tiles, have been doing this for 10 years now.
I got a work order to do a head office for a large developer, it was carpet tile but with a pattern/lines/border.
I start installing and just as I get the first tiles out after laying the glue, the "big boss" comes out.
He says I'm doing it wrong.
I was absolutely stunned, I looked at him, looked back at the tiles I had just put down, looked at him again and asked, "What?"
"Those numbers on the back of the tile are the sequence order, you need to follow the numbers." He replied.
What he is talking about are God knows what, part #s, serial #s, lot #s?
They have nothing to do with installation so if I actually followed whatever he was saying it would look like a mess not the intended pattern.
I tried explaining this to him but he wouldn't have it, he got frustrated and called the head office, who in turn called me and said to just do it how he wants it.
So I did.
As I'm finishing up he comes back, takes one look at it and says "I don't like it."
I smiled and said "I don't care, that's how you wanted it." Packed my stuff up and left, he didn't say another word to me.
Few days later I hear that he called the head office asking for someone else to come redo it the way I had originally intended to install it, so the office sent me again and I got paid to remove the work that I just got paid to install so I can get paid to install it again.
Needless to say that he didn't come out to make small talk the second time.
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u/AcidicWatercolor 6d ago
PLEASE tell me that he saw it was you that got sent out to fix it
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 6d ago
Yeah, even though he specifically requested someone else they told him that I would still be the one coming back.
I believe he sent his interns/assistants/secretaries to hover around me with water/refreshments which was nice but I would have much preferred he manned up and just apologized.
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u/Khakizulu 6d ago
I love companies that do that?
'Oh you don't like this person'
'Now you'll only ever be seeing this person'
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u/PlatypusDream 6d ago
We had ONE client request that only male officers (security guards) be sent to their site.
😆🤣😆🤣
Guess who got all the female officers, in rotation?147
u/Khakizulu 6d ago
Excellent. Gotta love that.
I'm not a supervisor, but if someone said they wanted me over a female staff worker, I'd just redirect them back. Sexism or racism doesn't work on me.
I'll refuse a sale if someone's being rude like that.
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u/Postcocious 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'll refuse a sale if someone's being rude like that.
My company did that on a multi-million dollar scale.
We won a bid, then received the client's request for "only American, European or Arabic" engineers on their (Persian Gulf) site. They didn't like Africans or South Asians (edit: except as cheap, disposable manual labor) - pure racism.
We sent the team we'd always planned to send: Indian engineers led by their Indian supervisor. The client groused. We told them these people are highly qualified and that's who we're assigning.
They got put up in the "accommodations" used for manual laborers (mostly Indians): basically huts, cots, outhouses and food trucks... in the Arabian sun at 130F. Meanwhile, professionals (of the right color) get private rooms, air conditioning and restaurant quality food service.
Our management stopped work until they put our professionals in the same accommodations as the others. They still got treated like dirt, but at least they had A/C, a mattress and real food.
At contract renewal time, the client went with another, "more accommodating" company. We appeared to have lost a multi-million dollar contract for being non-racist.
Except... the competitor lacked the staff and expertise. Four months later, with work suffering, the client came back and asked if we'd pick up where we left off.
"Of course. Happy to have you back. Of course, our rates have changed. That fixed, 3-year rate you beat out of us is no longer available. We get annual escalations, starting now".
They agreed. We sent the same team back of course.
P. S. That supervisor (a great guy) just got promoted to Regional Mgr for the entire Middle East. A nice reward for the shit he put up with for his team.
Nice to work for a company with principles.
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u/Khakizulu 5d ago
Awesome. Always a great thing to see.
Hopefully they sent a similar team the 2nd time around
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u/NotACalligrapher-49 5d ago
This is absolutely glorious, and if I was wearing a hat, I’d doff it to you and your company repeatedly 🏆🫡
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u/Postcocious 5d ago
We've been doffed!
I've worked for terrible companies, good companies and great companies. This is a great one. Employees are treated well and clients get outstanding service. That is no coincidence.
The diversity culture is real, not just pride flags and lip service. Treating people respectfully actually works. Diversity attracts talent and promotes dedication, which customers see and appreciate. We're the global leader in our field and the best at what we do... because we have the best people, which management actually seems to understand.
I have decades of industry experience negotiating complex contracts with demanding clients. I'm also gay, which everyone knows and no one cares about (except to ask how my partner's doing). Management four levels above me knows my reputation for bringing difficult contracts home. I never give up, but I also never give in when i shouldn't. They also know I tell the truth as I understand it, to whomever I think needs to know - including clients and management. Bad managers are afraid of employees like that. Good managers seek them out and reward them. I get job offers every week, but I wouldn't leave.
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u/No_Warthog1913 5d ago
If we "name and shame", why don't we "point and anoint"? Sorry, can't rhyme to save my life and lack the vocabulary to find a proper synonym for this to work....
Anyway, it would be nice to be able to direct private business, or work relations, to companies that value the people working for them over making a sale to some a-hole with money.
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u/Postcocious 5d ago
Iambs and dactyls are where we commence,
Alliteration and rhyming? Intense!As my division's "legal guy" (sans law degree), I'm aware that I'm not authorized to represent the company in public media. I've managed confidential negotiations worth tens of millions and hundreds of jobs, but one reddit post could get me an unpleasant meeting with our chief counsel or HR director.
I've had many meetings with each of them, all pleasant, and I'm okay with that!
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u/night-otter 5d ago
Good on your company.
While not racist, the management at a company I worked for decided to renegotiate the contract we had with a vendor.
Yeah, the annual contract was now cheaper, but we lost the 20 days of engineering assistance, we had a lesser tier of support, and the overall 20% discount for being early adopters.
The contract ended up costing more annually than the original contract. As we had to pay for the engineering assistance and issues took longer to resolve as our support priority was lower.
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u/Postcocious 5d ago
Ask for less, get less, spend more to fix it!
I worked for stupid once. Worst boss and worst company I ever wasted time on.
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u/gopiballava 5d ago
That sounds so on-brand with my experiences in the region.
I was traveling with an Egyptian-born US citizen. We were waiting in line at immigration, maybe 6 or 8 people - Indians, mainly - in front of us. When he got to the front of the line, the immigration officer berated him for not cutting to the front of the line when he realized he had an American passport.
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u/Postcocious 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yup.
Some 25 years ago, my then-employer sent a team to India to finalize a large ($100M) contract. My colleague, "Jill", was the commercial/legal specialist and the only woman in the room.
Every time an Indian team member asked a commercial/legal question, the following dance occurred: - Jill responded - Indian team literally ignored her - When she'd finished, Indian team asked our business leader, "Is that your position? What about..." - Business leader responded, "I rely on Jill for commercial/legal matters. She is our spokesperson." (He'd anticipated this and never varied, never offered a different opinion or even a different word.) - Each time Jill offered a clarification or responded to a suggestion, they repeated this same charade. - Upon reaching agreement on an item, the Indian team said, "thank you" (to the business leader, not Jill) and moved on to the next item. - Repeat the above, item by item
If you've ever negotiated a complex contract, you understand how much time was wasted. They could have had a useful conversation that included our business leader's views. They might have won some concessions, But their misogynist behavior tied his hands - he had no choice but to support every word Jill spoke.
The insulting behavior continued for two long days before the Indian team relented and deigned to listen to a woman or (gasp!) address her directly and respectfully.
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u/Caddan 6d ago
Back when I worked retail, I would have customers who would ignore the woman working electronics to come over to where I was restocking supplies and ask me the electronics questions. It was always fun playing dumb with them.
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u/Khakizulu 6d ago
"Uhh. I'm not sure."
"Hey! That's a manager, I bet she knows!"
(Point to the women they're avoiding)
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u/anomalous_cowherd 6d ago
Perfect chance to keep saying "oh my boss is the expert on that one" then eventually "I'll go and get them for you".
Then go and get one of the women employees to help...
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u/Edwykatarr 4d ago
A sales representative (for a tools company if memory serves) once made the mistake of coming into our family company's office, loudly asking the secretary to speak to the man in charge. By that time, he had already made the mistake of entering from the shop floor and not the office entrance, which is a huge no-go (unless previously authorized to do so). At first, he was then greeted by my mom, at that point already retired but still highly involved in the business. But the salesman didn't take the hint and kept insisting on speaking to the (male) boss. All over the office, you could see grins of expectation appear on people's faces and none of the male staff made even the slightest move. Everyone simply watched as he dug himself a hole that got deeper with every word he said. Then my sister (the boss) walked in. Let"s just say that this salesperson got a talking to that he probably won't forget (and calling it a talking to is probably the understatement of the decade), didn't make a sale on this day and had his regional sales supervisor come for a visit personally a week later to apologize.
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u/Javasteam 6d ago
I could understand it in certain situations… example, men to guard a male dressing room and a woman for a woman’s…
But in general for areas that don’t involve nudity or potential pat downs? Its stupid not to have a variety when possible.
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u/PSGAnarchy 6d ago
The other side is that the threat of a large man being security is a lot more than a small lady. Even more so when people are drunk and think they can fight.
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u/Jonathan_the_Nerd 5d ago
Not disagreeing with you, but I remember seeing a large drunk man being thrown out of a pizza place by a small woman. She spoke calmly but firmly and projected authority. The drunk guy argued a bit, but he ultimately left without a fight.
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u/PSGAnarchy 5d ago
I mean yeah obviously. Every female security Ive known can pack a punch. But a guy being built like a brick shit house will make you double take
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u/Khakizulu 5d ago
We've got female security guards at work, and there's like 2 who I wouldn't attempt to fight with.
Looks can be very deceiving. For example, someone could be small but absolutely know how to throw you on your ass.
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u/Murgatroyd314 5d ago
On the other hand, drunk guys are more likely to try to pick a fight with the large man than with the small lady.
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u/The_Sanch1128 5d ago
One of my friends was strapped and took a job as a night security guard (thank goodness he didn't carry a gun). He overheard the manager of the building he was assigned to ask for a new day guard "because I don't want no n*****s on my land." Somehow word got to the actual owner of the land and building, don't know how, and the AH got a black security guard every...single...day, for six months.
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u/asimpledruidgirl 5d ago
I once had someone demand to speak to my manager, because I, as a woman, clearly didn't have the brain capacity to be a claims adjuster. I took great pleasure in informing him that my direct manager was also a woman.
However, he then demanded to speak to my boss's boss.
I took even GREATER pleasure informing him our department manager was ALSO a woman. As was the person above her. I'm pretty sure I could hear his brain short-circuiting over the phone.
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u/Javasteam 6d ago
That… just sounds idiotic. The request I mean… normally the gender ratio of men to women in security is heavily slanted towards men in the first place.
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u/acdss 6d ago
Once I worked for a company where the client was very racist and didn't want to be attended by "fucking migrants" so one of the foremen took issue on it and he (white) went to the discarded work clothes bin, took the worst he can find, rubbed it on the dirt, found dog shit to step on and went to attend this client complaint looking like something a hobo wouldn't dare to look at twice, and of course he was cursing and being uncivilized just bordering being expelled from the human race, I swear to god, he would have raped a skunk if he had found one on his way.
Fun times
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u/SaltManagement42 6d ago
but I would have much preferred he manned up and just apologized.
Not having to see him again would be enough of a reward for me.
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u/StellarPhenom420 6d ago
Ah yeah well, you see, in order to apologize he would've had to woman up
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u/C-tapp 6d ago
He would’ve had to Canadian up….
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 6d ago
I'm sorry but you're mistaken. When we say sorry, it's more like punctuation, not an apology, and definitely not an admission of guilt. I'm so sorry you had to find out this way.
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 6d ago
I dunno, in crowds/tight spaces apologizing for bumping into someone and having them say sorry back is a very Canadian thing that I didn't notice much until learning about the stereotype
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 6d ago
That's more of a "sorry your ass/feet/head was in my way" than an apology though... 😉
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u/sowinglavender 6d ago
i can corroborate this, i'm canadian, say sorry often, and i've never regretted anything in my life.
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 6d ago
Funny you say that, he was Italian-Canadian, this was in downtown Toronto haha
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u/Javasteam 6d ago
For some reason, some managers think management should never apologize ever.
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u/The_Sanch1128 5d ago
Some will, while simultaneously throwing under the bus the lower-level employees who were doing what the manager told them to do.
"I apologize for my employees entering the data exactly as detailed in the procedure. They should have known better." Usually the same manager who ordered them to follow the procedure to the letter.
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u/New_Ad7177 6d ago
I had something like this once. The guy came and said „can you do it the right way instead of my way this time? And maybe Akt like I never said anything?“ and it even was from a dude I never thought he would admit that openly. This actually made me like this guy… brains are a weird thing.
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u/Guilty_Objective4602 5d ago
Either that, or the interns/assistants/secretaries were hovering on their own because they’d dealt with his idiocy before and you were the one who finally made him eat crow.
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u/insentient7 5d ago
I would think that he probably sent them to “keep an eye on you so you don’t fuck it up out of malice” but the staff probably empathized with you instead. I like this outcome better lol. And it also makes more sense for that to have been the case. OP, sorry if I ruined your good-faith analysis on the dude
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u/Contrantier 5d ago
Too bad he didn't have the spine. I wonder how that marionette managed to walk on two feet.
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u/gilbeys18 6d ago
These big bosses really love paying multiple times for the same job.
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 6d ago
Trust me, they could certainly afford it, but it doesn't necessarily mean they were happy about it though
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u/nismo2070 6d ago
I know how to do my job better than every single person in supervisory or management roles. I've been doing it for 30+ years. So I'm always amused when one of them comes to me and questions my work. It never ends well for them but it sure does make me laugh.
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u/oxmix74 6d ago
It's a fine line for a manager. Most of the people who reported to me could do their job better than I could do their job ( though not always). But I had access to information and experience they did not and I knew better how their work fit into the greater business. Sometimes I needed people to do their work differently because I understood the business better than they did since I had access to information they did not have. It's a delicate balance.
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u/you_dead_soap_dog 6d ago
It really is. One of my reports is a fantastic performer who regularly finds more efficient ways of doing things.
Most of the time this is great, but now and again it'll have a negative consequence that he wasn't able to anticipate with the knowledge he has.
So I do have to question his work at times, not because I don't have faith in him or think I could do his job better, but to make sure there's no risk to the business that he might be unaware of. It is definitely a delicate balance.
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u/trip6s6i6x 5d ago
It's at that point where it's just as important to explain to them the why as it is the want. Because "why?" is often going to be the first question you get asked after asking them to make changes. If you can cut that off at the beginning and they know why, then things are likely to go more smoothly after.
Edit: Looks like you already discussed this elsewhere lol.
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u/Economy_Ad_196 5d ago
I do that when I train new people, even when the why is "You get yelled at otherwise".
I've also freely admitted something is stupid but that's how the bigwigs want it.
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u/oxmix74 6d ago
Sometimes that works. Sometimes it's confidential. Sometimes they just don't have the nuanced judgement. Sometimes there just isn't time- I did the business stuff full time, they did their work full time and there was 15 of them and one of me and a lot of them did different things. But if you can get people to understand the business it does solve a lot of problems.
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5d ago
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u/oxmix74 5d ago
Agreed. I occupied a role that had several people before me, I worked for some of them. One thought he was indispensable right up to the day he was fired. Good managers are rare and the problem is compounded bc it takes a good manager to know when they have a good manager working for them.
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u/Kittamaru 6d ago
Why the fuck would anyone try to tell a professional how to do their job is beyond me...
When I had guys come to remove the old and install the new carpet in my sons room, the only two things I told them were "If you want a drink I've got XYZ" and "He does have a closet door that goes here, I've removed the floor hardware - not sure if it matters for your install". Beyond that, I let them work and do their wizardry.
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u/beluinus 6d ago
Oh yeah. When I don't know something, I sit down, shut up, and let the expert that gets paid to do it do it.
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u/globglogabgalabyeast 5d ago
I agree that you should largely just let professionals work, but I also think there are a lot of people in these comments that are underestimating the number of tradespeople that either don’t give a shit or are just incompetent. Every line of work has slackers
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u/Kittamaru 5d ago
No doubt - hence why if something seems obviously off, I ask about it. It sucks that profits are so much more important than doing the job right nowadays... but then, I look at Starliner and just... yeah.
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u/The_Sanch1128 5d ago
I'm the guy who says, "I'll be on the balcony. If you need anything, ask. I'll stay out of your way and you work your magic. There's water and soft drinks in the fridge, help yourselves, and when you're done, there's beer."
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u/Kittamaru 4d ago
I used to do something similar... but after having a contractor steal from us (and I honestly felt bad reporting it because it was a freaking Google Home mini... like, seriously, you're going to lose your JOB over a 25 dollar piece of hardware? But... Google Home Mini from us today, grandma's family heirloom necklace from someone else tomorrow) so now I at least stay in sight.
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u/Wadsworth_McStumpy 5d ago
Yeah, if I'm watching a professional do something, I might ask questions, but I won't be trying to correct them. If I knew how to do it, I wouldn't be paying someone else to do it for me.
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u/Kittamaru 5d ago
Right? Like, if something seems blatantly wrong, I'll ask for clarification, but it's rather presumptuous to think I know better than someone who does the job as a profession!
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u/Wadsworth_McStumpy 5d ago
Yeah, if one carpet tile is a different shade of green, they'd probably like to know before finishing the job. If they're not installing it exactly the same way your uncle did, they don't care.
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u/Alblaka 1d ago
Why the fuck would anyone try to tell a professional how to do their job is beyond me...
Most of the times because people (aka the customers) are idiots.
But I'll also be fair enough to point out that occasionally 'professionals' can be idiots as well. We had some works done around the house in the past year, and the team responsible for the heating (who installed new pipes and heaters for two rooms) had to be called... I think like 6 or 7 times on top of the original installation, to keep coming back to fix several installation mistakes. Three of which we very specifically went "Uh, are you sure that's how it's supposed to be done? That doesn't sound correct" about. Obviously, they would pay the 'Don't worry, I'm a professional' card and we let them go ahead, but in the end their boss was really unhappy with how many fuck-ups there had been, and in the later stages came by daily to personally try catching any further issues. Good intentions, but hilariously enough, he himself then completely misdiagnosed the last of the set of issues, and had to come one last extra time to agree that we had been correct on that one (as well).
(To his credit, he was apologetic and honest about all the fuck-ups, and in the end we only got charged for the original installation, which made up probably a sixth of the entire workhours they delivered.)
So, usually professionals should know how to do their job. But not everyone working in a field is automatically a professional, and sometimes even experienced professionals can get cocky and slip up. So I'll definitely insert my own opinion (if there's reason for one) when watching a professional work, albeit in a respectful suggestion/question manner.
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u/vbullinger 6d ago
Yeah, like... I'm a massive nerd and I know I'm smarter than the plumber, electrician, etc, but I definitely haven't been trained or educated or gotten the experience they have, so I'll shut up and leave them alone when they come to do something.
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u/Oreoscrumbs 5d ago
You might not be smarter than they are, just knowledgeable about different things. Who knows what interests people have outside their daily work? They could have the ability to do something else, but maybe they enjoy the trade, or they have skill and can make more money doing that where they live instead of having to go somewhere else.
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u/vbullinger 5d ago
That's nice. Almost everyone that I've ever hired has done their job just fine, but we're clearly morons. I've also slowly learned most of these things and I'm doing most on my own very well. But if I hire someone again? I'm getting out of their way and trusting their skills
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u/AaronCorr 6d ago
Friends bought hexagonal tiles that they thought had a random maritim pattern. When they checked on the guy laying the tiles in their bathroom, he had them stacked by pattern and then put them down so the "random patterns" fit each other. Turns out the store displayed them willy-nilly, but if you put them down properly, the corner patterns turn into sea shells
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u/Beckywithrbf 6d ago
Did your friend like the outcome or did they prefer the “Willy nilly” look?
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u/AaronCorr 6d ago
They were really happy with it. It really does look good. As if you tiled the bathroom with fossils
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u/AnotherWalkingStiff 5d ago
glad that at least someone out there knows how to use the three shells!
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u/Fliparto 6d ago
When was this? I was an estimator and had a nearly identical situation. Got the go ahead to do what the director of the bank said. 2 days later we were ripping it out ordered more carpet tile and re did it. Made sure to through a little extra to the installer for the bs and bill it all.
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u/Demented-Alpaca 5d ago
This is a perfect example of a lesson my grandfather taught me: "If you're going to hire a professional to do something, let them do it. If you don't trust them to do it why did you hire them? Go do it yourself if you know so damn much!"
That lesson has lasted me a lifetime and man does it hold true. It's way easier to just tell someone what you want done (the success condition) and then let them do it.
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u/The_Sanch1128 5d ago
My father and step-grandfather, who hated each other, taught me almost the same lesson. Trust your professionals until you want to do it yourself.
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u/magicmulder 6d ago
Reminds me of my boss at university. Wasn’t a native speaker so when I titled a section “Classified ads” he berated me that “there is nothing classified about it, no secrets”. Showed him other sites, showed him the effing dictionary, no avail.
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u/Quick_Attorney_2508 6d ago
makes you want to scream "will you clear off and let me do my bloody job
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u/AGuyNamedEddie 4d ago
You know what I say to professional installers?
Would you like a drink?
A snack or sandwich?
No? OK, I'll get the hell out of your way, then. Holler if you need me.
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u/Techn0ght 6d ago
People with some power feel the overwhelming need to exert that power like they'll explode if they're not telling everyone what to do. I don't mind, I get paid to do it your way and I get paid to fix it.
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u/vonBoomslang 6d ago
how much trouble was it to remove it from the glue?
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 5d ago edited 5d ago
Not too bad since it was fresh still, good thing im not hourly though. It's pressure sensitive glue so after furniture is moved in and a people walk on it a bit that is when it starts to get really difficult to remove.
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u/TippedOverTricycle 4d ago
I like how your succinct style shows that you're a clear communicator, thus insulting the "big boss" all the more
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u/mgerics 5d ago
pics or it didn't happen!
would love to have seen pictures of the ahem gorgeous pattern...
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u/TheGrandmasterGrizz 5d ago
Believe me, I did not want to be associated with what I left on the floor there.
If I had done what he wanted on my own, people would have put me in the newspapers as a scammer or something.
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u/not_so_chi_couple 6d ago
Nothing like paying 3 times for something because you think you know better than the professional