matt...how I conduct myself in my business is entirely different to how I conduct myself in my personal, real life.
I will help anyone in need if I am able to do so.
If I remember rightly, do you not have a nice sideline in importing and selling on campervans...?
I`m making a guess that your income from window cleaning is not the be all and end all of your family finances.
My customers treat me with respect and I do likewise with them...but the lunatics and status snobs have long gone...the non-payers, the "leave it this month" brigade, the bad access customers, the "I don`t want mine done with the pole" customers etc etc.
I search out the customers who I can earn a respectable living from and sell them a service and then deliver that service.
Funny thing here though....just before Christmas, I was cleaning 5 semis in a row and the last house who is not a customer of mine had put a pitiful Christmas tree in the window...the windows were filthy, old leaded and you could hardly see the tree.
I had always assumed it was a single pensioner who never got out as the house is in poor condition and very aged.
I thought I would at least let her see out of her windows and proceeded to WFP the downstairs...I thought if she comes out, I`ll just say "it`s on me for Christmas"
They came up a treat and I thought she would be really happy to see out of her windows at Christmas.
Next month in January, I`m back there and a young man comes out the house and asks me to give him a price.
I asked if he lived there, yes he said.
"did you notice how clean your windows were at Christmas...I done them as I thought an OAP lived there"
"No, never noticed mate!"
No Matt, we are not greedy or insensitive and we all do favours for the genuinely needy...but to run a business along those lines means you will always be struggling to finish your round on time and earn your wages.
How many of your customers came round last winter in the snow and offered a little something to see you through the lean weeks...
Not a single one I guess!
When you can help...do!
But remember the reason we are out there doing this is to provide for our loved ones...they come first.