Here’s how my week started…

Sunday afternoon the air conditioning in the house decided to barf.

When whole house A/C barfs, it’s a big mess.

Lots and lots of barf water visited the ceiling in the hallway and part of the master bedroom.

Uninvited guests can be quite unwelcome.

Our insurance company handled the arrangements to dry everything out in a professional way.

They’ll pay for all the repair work.

Except the air conditioning.
That’s up to me.

This isn’t about the destruction.
Stuff happens.

This is about how companies do business today.

About the only way to find a company for any repair work is ask a friend or check Yelp.

Since my friends are unreliable – Yelp it was.

I looked for A/C repair companies with 5-star ratings and started dialing.

I should be able to hire some folks, spend a bunch of money and move on with my life.

Everybody wins.

Guess what?
It appears just about everyone is working out of the back of their truck these days.

Most of my carefully placed calls went to someone’s cell phone voicemail with a promise to return the call real fast.
Didn’t happen.

Those that didn’t go to voicemail were usually answered with someone saying, “Hello?”

Hello? I have to ask if this is the company I’m trying to reach?

Unless the number listed is your teenage daughter’s phone and you’re working out of your truck.

Not for me, thanks.

Oops, “Wrong number”.
Hang up.
Move on.

And while I’m ranting – have you noticed the shape of many business trucks on the road these days?

They are supposed to be rolling billboards for the company.
The phone number is usually plastered on there somewhere too.

It’s far too common for the truck to be beat up, dirty and the being driven by some kid like a maniac.

You think I’m going to call you?
Fergetit.

Then – when I finally lined up the various “companies” needed to repair the A/C and the ceiling…
Nobody shows up on time for the inspections.

One was 3 1/2 hours late and never called.

When he finally arrived, he was politely fired.

Another was an hour early and dug me out of the shower.
I should have answered the door naked except that would have scared even me.

Some people are forgetting business is competitive.

If I don’t have confidence in you I’m going somewhere else.

So I did.

It doesn’t take much to judge the potential quality of someone’s work by how they respond to an initial contact.

Being unprofessional is the first step my moving on.

It’s things like this that make me grumpy.