Are you mean to the repairman?

Question

When any type of repairman or technician comes to your house to fix whatever is broken are you cordial, nice and welcoming? or are you mean, angry, and degrading?
If you are the latter;
Have you considered that:
1) this guy did not break your stuff, he's here to fix it and
2) that after he leaves your house he goes to another house with angry tenants and then another, and another for 8 hours (sometimes longer)?

Can you imagine working 8 hours of hard labor while being yelled at and treated with total disrespect?

Answer 1

I can certainly relate to that. All day long, I get the irate, abusive subscribers who look like they want to beat me to death with a shovel the minute I pull into their driveway. I almost always get them to calm down and treat me like the good guy eventually, but I'd say at least 80% of my customers are somewhere in the angry-furious-murderous part of the spectrum when I arrive.

I'm a cable guy-- I think the difference between me and a typical repairman is that I don't fix someone else's possessions; I fix my company's possessions that my customers expect to work. My company is responsible for continuous delivery of a service, and if it's interrupted... well, apparently the world ends.

Downed branches knocking out aerial lines? Lightning frying a digital video recorder? A customer moving the phone modem from it's precisely engineered spot in the house to a rafter in the garage? An armada of rabid squirrels chewing fifteen feet of drop line down to the copper? Judging by my subscribers' reactions, these things are my personal fault.

So far I've been threatened with a gun, warned very seriously by several customers that I was NOT leaving the house (or coming down off my ladder) until everything was perfect, had people tell me that if I don't get the problem fixed they'll sic their rottweiler/doberman/fangydog on me, and had a woman "mention" that it would be very easy to report me for sexual harrassment if I didn't get her high speed internet working. The majority, however, are content to just spend 30-45 minutes yelling at me before giving me permission to actually get to work, which usually takes me ten minutes.

It's just cable, people. Get a grip.

Answer 2

Because I have always worked with the public all my professional life, I am nice to every service person I come in contact with.

It can be a repair man, cashier, or the guy at Burger King, they all should receive at least respect doing the job.

I hope to get the same from every customer I come in contact with.

Answer 3

I am that repairman and I have never met anyone who was angry or mean. They are usually happy to see me because I fix A/C and furnaces. Hint... it does not pay to angry at repairman.

Answer 4

Though it's not a constant 8 hours of bitching and moaning, I'd like to thank you for acknowledging this social retardedness on some people's parts.

Answer 5

I am always respectful and happy to see them because that means whatever is broken is getting fixed. People who are rude and ignorant like that are probably like that with everybody which means that are miserable people, period.

Answer 6

hell no-he/she is there to help me-being mean to someone who wants to help is no way to obtain what u need-besides what's not to say that the repairperson doesn't do as good of a job or doesn't cut u a break in price (if possible) b/c u r mean.

Answer 7

I'm always nice to them, but my little dog bit the furnace repairman last winter. :(

Answer 8

I'm never mean to the repair man. He didn't break my sh*t. Plus,I'm afraid that he might mess my stuff up even more and it will end up costing me more$$.

Answer 9

Nope! I'm always nice to repairmen and clerks. I'm mean to everyone else.

Answer 10

I am generally nice. I do understand that whatever is broken isn't his/her fault.