Monday, February 28, 2011

Consideration: Have Some

I have a platform scale on the floor where I work. It is 3" off the deck, very handy for weighing large items. Not so handy for protecting my back muscles putting things on and off the scale. Sometimes I work on machines made to tape big boxes shut, so I have a test box. It is 18" x 16" and about waist-high. This box is stood on end on top of the floor scale, and it makes a handy platform to weigh small items. To increase the utility of the scale, I put a 1" grid on top and marked the inches around the edges, so I can get item dimensions and weigh the item all in one step. It's a brilliant solution to a simple problem and it comes in very handy.

The handyman came around to fix a lighting fixture in my area. It is directly over the platform scale. I told him he could move the box and put his ladder on the platform, which he proceeded to do. Light fixed, he put the box back on the platform and disappeared into a cloud of handy-smelling vapor.

The box is marked along all four edges on top, with numbers all pointing the same direction. If you look at it from my work area, you can read the numbers. Makes sense, right? So explain to me then, how Handyman put the box back on the platform rotated 90ยบ. This is what happens when you slap-dash things together: a minor irritation that makes people steam about it for the two seconds it takes to fix your mistake. It's on the same order as leaving a trim screw loose or leaving a used paper towel on the floor. Take the ten seconds it takes to scan your area and fix it up real quick-like. It will make your customers happier than if they have to clean up after you, and then they promote you later . . . .

. . . like these guys: Dayton left my crawl space cleaner than when they got there when they installed my air conditioner. They would have to TRY to get me to stop recommending them to people wanting A/C and heater work in Central Texas.

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