*click* Hello. This is...

Less than a week to the election, and know what I'm hearing a whole, whole lot of?

"If I get one more of those automated calls from somebody running for office, I am going to scream!"

The FCC did away with automated sales calls a whole long time ago. That's a good thing--they're annoying, time-consuming, and ineffective marketing. I have no idea why political candidates think they're a smart way to get the word out and collect votes. 

Does anybody even listen to the whole messages??

I'm going on the record as being in favor of a ban on all automated phone calls--sales, vote-getting, charity soliciting, and otherwise. At the very least, I'm in favor of candidates using some common sense and avoiding the dastardly things. If you want my vote, show me you can think a little bit.

Raise Your Hand If You're Not Here

I swear this is true.

I just got a letter from the US Postal Service confirming my change of address/mail forwarding information. The last line of the letter is:

"If you do not speak English or do not understand this letter, please take it with you to your local post office for assistance."

And they wonder why we joke about the post office...

Time

I screen contractors carefully. I ask for references, post about them on listserves, and check Angie's List and the local Better Business Bureau before I hire anyone. Generally, that gets me good quality work.

It's not getting me a lot of respect, though.

I'm having hardwood floors refinished this week. Three days ago, the guys left samples of colors on the floor. Two samples. Gee, thanks. We didn't like either. 

Yesterday, the sales guy was supposed to meet me at the house at 8 to see more colors. Mind you, I don't live there yet. So I went over, turned on the heat, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Shortly after 9, I called him. "Oh yeah," he said. "The guys aren't there yet?"

Uh, no. Besides which, you were supposed to meet me. Not your guys. You and I were getting together to look at colors. 

Around 9:20, he pulled into the driveway.

I realize an hour and twenty minutes isn't the end of the world. But it's time I could have used to pack more stuff, make some money, or work on other things. Besides which, it shows a complete lack of respect to schedule an appointment and just not show.

Shockingly, the phone number he used to make sure I'd sign the contract would have worked to reach me to say he wasn't coming. You know?

It's really a turn-off, this kind of shoddy customer service. The floors look beautiful, but guess which company I won't recommend? 

This Pesky Recession Thing

First, CNN, we get it. No more pictures of on-the-verge-of-tears brokers on the pit floor, OK? We've seen them. Very dramatic.

Second, I'm going to ask you all to go out and do something that seems counter-intuitive with the current headlines coming from every major news outlet. Hear me out.

Go spend money.

Yes, I'm serious. Go spend. Go to dinner. Buy a sweater. Enjoy a movie. Pay a toll. Get out there and put a little cash into the economy.

Here's the thing: hysteria breeds financial trouble. It's an emotion-driven system. The economy hiccups, we panic and hoard our cash, and the economy falters. We hoard more and start cutting back on things like cable and dinners and sweaters, and less cash hits the big picture. Businesses fail, people lose jobs, welfare spikes, the system can't handle it, reserves are tapped, and boom. Disaster.

I told someone yesterday that I wish people like Donald Trump, T. Boone Pickens, H. Ross Pierot (remember him?), Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and other mega-wealthy would invite the news crews to follow them to the stock floor and film them buying and buying and buying. Things would boost a little, we (the little people) would get a shot of confidence and optimism watching them throw their money in the ring (buying low, by the way), and maybe we'd be more likely to either invest a little or stop yanking our money out of the system and putting it under our mattresses. 

Crisis...just maybe...averted.

I'm asking you no to panic. Don't go crazy, of course. You don't need a luxury car right now. But live your life. Help the economy go. Preserve some jobs. Go out there and spend a reasonable amount, and keep doing that. 

And don't touch your 401(k). No matter what.

Quality

One of the guys I didn't hire to finish the hardwood floors called me today. He has a special next week, see, and wanted to know if I would be interested.

"We went with someone else," I said, feeling bad but not wanting to waste any more of his time. DH is in sales; I know how valuable every call is.

He paused. Asked me why.

Here's the thing: he wasn't that much more expensive than the company we ultimately hired. But he broke down his estimate, room by room and service by service. And one of those services, to the tune of $350, was an option to use a dust containment system on the sanding machine. 

DH flipped when he read that. "Wait a minute," he said. "You're going to charge me extra to do the job right?"

He has a point: the other company is probably charging me more to use the machine, but they're not breaking it out like that. It's just part of the service. You hire them; you get dust containment.

By making it an extra item, the second guy looked...cheap. And lacking a bit in the quality department. 

Honesty is a good thing. I'll give him that. But charging extra for part of the job that you know good and well everybody wants? Just build it in. Tell me you demand that kind of attention to the job. If you'd want it in your own house, do it in mine.

Honesty

I've been collecting bids this week to have my hardwood floors refinished. The parade of hardwood floor guys has been pretty uneventful--they measure the rooms, give me their spiel about the company, hit the road, and email me a price later in the day. 

The prices have been all over the board. 

There's one company I was particularly interested in. They have some impressive clients (Vice President's mansion, among them) and several neighbors have used them and been happy. Their bid came in right about in the middle of the pack.

I emailed the owner. Told him I'd very much like to use his company to do the work, gave him a date the work can start, but then said his price was a little on the high side and asked if he could help me out with that.

He knocked several hundred dollars off. Then, he wrote, "That's the lowest I can go on this job. Please let me know if you're still interested."

I appreciated that, quite frankly. It saved me the back and forth of negotiating with several workers to see who could beat what price. It's what's made Saturn and CarMax so popular--the price is the price is the price. No back office negotiations, no "meetings with the manager," no 'if you take this offer right now" deals (which one floor company actually said to me. Unbelievable. You mean if I wait 24 hours, you won't give me your best price??)

I hired the first guy. He still wasn't the cheapest, but I liked his work and I appreciated his honesty. Integrity gets customers, every time.