Appointment Disappointment

There is nothing more frustrating than going to the trouble of making an appointment and the service not be worth your effort. I think the rearranging of your schedule to make these appointments possible should have a monetary value, and be deducted from your bill.

The latest incident happened with a floor cleaning company I hired. I am in the process of selling my home and made an appointment with the company to come clean some tile. It’s worth noting that this same company had come to my home just a couple years ago for the same job, so I thought it proper to bring them back. I took my dog to a friend’s house, moved all the furniture from the room, and had my realtor meet him the morning of his arrival while I was at work.

Once there he called to let me know his concern of damaging the finish on the floor with the service. I informed him his company had been there before and nothing bad happened to my floor. He seemed to ignore this information and kept reiterating, and came dangerously close to “mansplaining,” the floor was in some kind of danger. When I suggested he contact his company about the last visit to understand they didn’t damage the floor, he again seemed to ignore that suggestion. Once the conversation became heated, I kicked him out of the house and apologized to everyone else involved in this wasted effort.

When I began my current job, I noticed there was a doctor’s facility across the street. How convenient it would be to be within walking distance of a doctor’s appointment, so I set up an initial consultation. I was put in a room after a short wait time and assumed I would see a doctor soon. Over an hour went by while I was in that exam room, and I finally left to return to work only to be told they forgot I was in the room. I never went back.

There seems to be an increase in people not giving a shit about their jobs coupled with a growing lack of empathy for other people. Companies should take responsibility for the time spent by customers to allow that company to do their job. Clients should be respected as the funders they are for these services, and individuals should stop allowing these negative experiences to go without some repercussions. Meaning, change the people you do business with while letting the other company understand why you left. If enough people value their own time maybe these companies will finally value it too.

On the flip side, make sure you say something when the service is good. People tend to be motivated by discomfit and anger, and likely only complain without ever giving a compliment when things go smoothly. Reinforcement of what you want to happen, rather than a fatiguing assumption things will always go wrong, is the better way to go.

And for those who know you don’t care about your job, quit. Quit your job, quit wasting your company’s time, and quit wasting my time as well.