[thebouncingbunny]

good thread.makes me remember many good customers that have made me smile over the years and sometimes the shock when you turn up expecting the usual banter to find them gone.quite often with nobody to tell you what happened......
i often think that many of my elderly punters look forward to seeing me turn up with a smile to share a quick cuppa with em cos for some of em i might be the only person they speak to all day!
bunny

[windows_chepstow]

i often think that many of my elderly punters look forward to seeing me turn up with a smile to share a quick cuppa with em cos for some of em i might be the only person they speak to all day!
bunny

I've a couple that tell me that!  Luckily I've got 'Wor Lass' who does the 'customer relations', while I clean.

I've a couple of war veterans too (being ex-army myself) who're are a right pain in the bottom.  I get a fresh 'swing the lantern and pull up a sandbag story' every month!

But, Bunny, you're dead right.  There's more to window cleaning than just leaving the windows clean.

[rosskesava]

Hi Graham

Just why do you do it?

One of my daughters at the moment, aged 14, is seeking attention by being contraversial, contradictory, emotional, arguementative and anti anything that is said.

With her, it's hormones.....  plus pmt......

Cheers

Ross

[texas girl]

Ross,

You are always so elloquent and good. Who knows what people really mean sometimes by what they say?

In any case I respect their right to express themselves.  We can judge for ourselves the compassion or lack thereof shown by some towards others.

I feel sorry for those who are so insensitive and noncompassionate that they seem to miss the mark in life.

And then again there is good and there is evil. This life is a battle of principalities; goodness versus evil.

If you have any doubts, just listen to your mind every day. Always tempted to do what feels good. Always the easiest.  Easy to turn our back.

The road is wide for distruction.  It is narrow for the  compassionate and to  take action based on love and kindness and correctness.

Life is not about the money. It is about goodness and character and integrity and loving each other.

Part of life is accepting others opinions and when we disagree let them have their say anyway.

Even if it is wrong.

Hugs,

Texas girl

[Ian_Giles]

Graham,
You really annoyed me (and several others by all accounts) when you first came on the forum, I don't think people 'got' you.

When I see you have done a post I just have to click on it to see what you have said thats going to wind people up, I've began to look forward to the replies yout comments generate

Within this thread you are most certainly in the minority....a minority of '1' so far
This is a good thread, I too have had customers who love a natter, who like to share their memories with you.
Some of the old folk have some great tales to tell, and they keep smiling and struggling on in the face of sometimes great hardship.
Ok, there are some you almost pray won't be in when you clean their windows, you'd rather wait for the cheque in the post

I had one gentle old fella who fought in ww2, sometimes he would talk about the war, actually hearing someone describe pulling the trigger on an enemy soldier that gets shot in the face, or machine gunning people just a few yards in front of you, or the temptation you would feel to simply shoot a bunch of the hated SS that had surrendered to you rather than take them as prisoners of war.Or to be talking to a mate and the top of his head disappears. its so morbidly fascinating you don't want him to stop.

This old fella wasn't talking to impress or shock us, he was talking in an almost pleading, but matter of fact way. His eyes would fill with unshed tears, he'd shake his head and then tell us more; Of the fear you felt when your gun jammed, of trying to stab a man to death with your bayonette before he did it to you with his.
All this and more from the pleasant old chap in his flat cap, tending his garden, or sitting at the kichen table with a steaming cuppa and a couple of  rich tea biscuits and your eyes as big and round as the saucer your cup is sitting on.
So surreal, he didn't talk about the war often, but once he started you just sat real quiet, scared you would break the spell and bring him back from the past to the present.

Oh no, window cleaning isn't just about the money, you meet so many diverse people, you listen and you learn, there are tales out there waiting to be told, wanting to be told, all you have to do is spare your customers a little time now and then......

Ian

[texas girl]

Hi Ian,

Isn't it great to be free to express ourselves!  We have this freedom because of the sacrifices many made since the beginning of time.

The elderly deserve the utmost respect because many of the battles that have given us our current rights were fought by them.

I have a weekness for elderly; Instant 20% discount. Respect.

 When I am at their house I always offer to do anything they might need help with (change lightbulb, rearrange something on a tall shelf, dust above cabinet, etc)

For free.

When I am old I hope to be treated with respect also. It would hurt my feelings if I was discriminated against just because I was old.

 Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Hugs

[Barry Pearce]

Sunshine
I doubt you will get in the guiness book of records, but if you feel good about it, great, it rather puts  to shame the CCs who won`t start their van up for less than £100.
Barry

[Simon Carter]

What goes around, comes around. We'll all be old one day, thank's to The Working at Heights Directive.

[c w window cleanin]

so many of my customers have died over the years...you really get to know some nice people in this job....its like losing close friends or family ,it really upsets you.definately not all about the money, these people come to be good friends after a while ,who are genuinly bothered about you when you call round. theres a load of old characters i had the priveledge of geting to know in this line of work , are gone now, definatley gets to you when they die...