[leapstallbuildings]

To be totally honest, I have no stigma whatsoever about being a window cleaner.  My budgeting is tight (due to mistakes I made earlier in my life rather than anything to do with current income) but I pay my way, what I do is honest and worthwhile, and a large chunk of the time I feel reasonably happy.  There's a lot to be said for being able to look one's fellows in the eye and to be able to look at oneself in the mirror.  No stigma there at all.

[Clive McDonald]

I heard it a bit more pointed, thrown out of apple by erstwhile friends in the most humiliating way possible, was humoured when he went into an animation company so he could 'play' at movies as so many rich men before him. But Pixar became unexpectedly huge just as disney ran out of ideas, meanwhile the share price of apple eroded as a number of factors and bad desicions unfolded.Jobs leveraged and bought back his company at a bargain basement price, sacked anyone who had anything to do with his own dismissal, and in addition is now a major disney shareholder and boss.

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

i am a secret millionaire....i own several houses all over the world, i own a fleet of sports cars and i can travel 1st class on every flight i take if i wanted to.

but to keep up the pretence of being skint  during the week and at the weekends i drive a 3 year old combi van and live in a humble flat, and buy all my clothes from oxfam.....and all my furniture from brighthouse.....and if i want to go on holiday i travel economy class, i even went as far as to get some bad debt on my credit score just to appear really skint and at the moment i am pretending i am almost homeless by NOT paying my rent this month and saying that i cant afford it ( i laffed when i thought of that one)......i love pretending to everyone that i am skint...its so satisfying to know i can revert back to my true status at anytime.

 

[leapstallbuildings]

i am a secret millionaire....i own several houses all over the world, i own a fleet of sports cars and i can travel 1st class on every flight i take if i wanted to.

but to keep up the pretence of being skint  during the week and at the weekends i drive a 3 year old combi van and live in a humble flat, and buy all my clothes from oxfam.....and all my furniture from brighthouse.....and if i want to go on holiday i travel economy class, i even went as far as to get some bad debt on my credit score just to appear really skint and at the moment i am pretending i am almost homeless by NOT paying my rent this month and saying that i cant afford it ( i laffed when i thought of that one)......i love pretending to everyone that i am skint...its so satisfying to know i can revert back to my true status at anytime.

 

........and then you woke up.

[Tosh]

The stigma about being a window cleaner is with some of the public, if you’re a window cleaner, keep your chin up.

Occasionally I let on to earnings with snobs, last one was the wife of a driving instructor, she paid me £15 after I cleaned her windows and complained it only took just 10 minutes and that I earned more than her husband at the rate I charged. I said yes, but “he’s just a driving instructor” and “I’m a window cleaner”, (big smile) cheerio see you next month.

Middle class (snobs), don’t you hate them.

Well done Ian.

I'm not sure if you could class a driving instructor as being a typical middle class occupation; I would say its a working class job.

But the worst snobs I find are the Working Class snobs.  

[matt]

The stigma about being a window cleaner is with some of the public, if you’re a window cleaner, keep your chin up.

Occasionally I let on to earnings with snobs, last one was the wife of a driving instructor, she paid me £15 after I cleaned her windows and complained it only took just 10 minutes and that I earned more than her husband at the rate I charged. I said yes, but “he’s just a driving instructor” and “I’m a window cleaner”, (big smile) cheerio see you next month.

Middle class (snobs), don’t you hate them.

Well done Ian.

I'm not sure if you could class a driving instructor as being a typical middle class occupation; I would say its a working class job.

But the worst snobs I find are the Working Class snobs.  

the idea of driving instructors is a funny one, i think people think they are "middle class jobs" as most are self employed and work the hours they want, thus they have a biz, thus they must be middle class

its all b0llocks if you ask me

[stephen s]

well...i'm uneducated I live in a modest 4 bed detatched...drive a car that I own ...and thats about it really

you forgot the pricless picture on your wall of a Massey Fergusan Tractor  just next to Dolly the sheep 

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[AuRavelling79]

Well done to Ian! I wish you a long and happy retirement. I hope you and your family are well and healthy as in my view there is nothing more valuable.

My father had a comfy "middle class" "middle management" * accountant's job. He came from the poorest of backgrounds with his father (shell-shocked, heavy drinking WW1 trenches veteran) unable to afford the rent on a two bed terrace and having to move into a riverside hovel with oil lamps and occasional flooding. He (Dad) came out of the forces, went to night school, qualified as an accountant and retired from his *mc, mm, accountant's job at 62 and was dead at 65 ... ho hum.

My father in law was an indentured printer, left the print and worked on shifts in a chemical factory and retired on disability at 62, got his comfy works pension at 65 and was dead at 66. See a pattern here?

Unlucky things happen but in their cases I believe their incredibly stressful lives (for different reasons) hastened their demise.

So when I was able to sell up my shares from a struggling office equipment business I was restricted by covenant as to what I could do and did a bit of selling and a bit of window cleaning. The rest is history and if a custy asks (usually quizzically rather than snobbily) why I went window cleaning I give them the long or short version of the above story. Basically a stress free "steady" income, with no boss other than myself or my circumstances.

But above all I have been blessed with general good health (so far) for me and my family. It is partly luck but after conscientiously deciding to reduce stress in my working and religious life I have improved immeasurably. (What I don't tell custies is that the shaping of my religious background also had a lot to do with my career path - leapstall will understand - and when I bought into it hook line and sinker with every fibre of my being in my teens and twenties, well looking back that was pretty stressful too!  )

Well that was cathartic on a rainy morn, but it's passed over so off to work! 

[the 1 and only]

wow how can you get all that from window cleaning.all i got is a room in my dads house and i struggle to pay rent to him.i have a big round at 300 a week hopeing to get 500 if canvassers do work for me i do have a nice car though my focus rs but even that i didnt get through windowcleaning.oh well i dont like people who think they are the big i am anyway.i have had that all my life with bullys about my weight and hair.so what if your good looking,rich have a big house,sexy lovely girlfriend to hold each night,its all good if you dont brag and put down others that dont.im not saying you are doing that just seems pointless you telling the world how great your doing from cleaning windows.

[ronnie paton]

w c best i think you need to read original post and all the replys has Ian isnt saying he is the big i am.

He has done well and that helps to be some peoples motavation

[the 1 and only]

i know i dis re read it.im sorry just i hate having nothing and hate people who rub it in.life in general.sorry to the guy whos minted with hes 5 bed house.

[Tosh]

I reckon the people who're really happy haven't posted in this thread! 

[the 1 and only]

yea i agree with tosh.why brag anyway.

[ronnie paton]

well that leaves you two out then

[the 1 and only]

loloh yea..im not happy anyway ronnie.im always skint as arseholes

[Tosh]

You wouldn't be happy, Ronnie, if you had my brain to go through life with either! 

[the 1 and only]

tosh whos the woman in your pic??she looks sexy

[Sean Dyer]

tosh whos the woman in your pic??she looks sexy

omg i hope thats genuine haha

[Sean Dyer]

w c best i think you need to read original post and all the replys has Ian isnt saying he is the big i am.

He has done well and that helps to be some peoples motavation

ronnie you got guttr vac yet ??

[the 1 and only]

sean there is beauty in everyone.i think she looks lovely.i love stockings etc.yum yum.sorry if thats your wife tosh.your a lucky man