Ever ran across this?

Hey,
I don’t know how much you all know about the culture around these parts, but it’s different than a good portion of the US.
So, I’m doing a promo job for my neighbor, so that I can get some pics of me in action for advertising, etc. Went over to his place and looked at the windows with him. He has some hard water spots on a good portion of his windows because of the sprinkler system.
So as we are talking, he begins on this rant of how to never use steel wool, never use a razor, never this and never that… Basically acting like I don’t know it’s possible to scratch a window.
After he got done, I then gave him a very informative explanation of Tempered glass, coatings, etc and told him that I am aware of these problems and know how to fix them, as a professional. I was very thorough and professional, so much that he commented on how I know my stuff.
But.

He still won’t give me the liberty to be a professional and take care of it. i.e. do not lift a pad of steel wool on my property.

What is everyone’s experience on this?

Do you then explain that the hard water spots will not come off, and if they are ok with that, just leave it alone?

Sound like he’s qualified to do it himself. He can take the spots off and then you can go and just do the clean.

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Do you believe in magic?

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The only way I would clean his windows is if he paid the hourly rate.

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Yeah, I found it pretty grievous.
@JaredAI, do you know what I mean about the culture? I don’t know about Alb, but down here people seem opposed to the idea of innovation or something new…

“We’re getting along fine the way it is…” type of thing.

I explain to people what will and what won’t come off dependent on the process ahead of time so they have the right expectations and i don’t have to obsess over if what I’m doing will make them happy. If the guy doesn’t want you to use wool etc, then just make sure he understands those spots won’t come off and if he’s fine with it, clean his windows. I’m realizing more and more that we don’t have to clean the windows to our expectations but to the customers. Many people don’t care about perfect windows, they just want the major dirt off and they’re happy.

Or just use bronze wool :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

(Or one restore and charge him $10 extra per window. )

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Lol[quote=“WVWindowWashing, post:6, topic:42856”]
Many people don’t care about perfect windows, they just want the major dirt off and they’re happy.
[/quote]

“Hey, you missed a spot…”

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This guy will pick apart everything you do. In the end, you will be lucky if what you do is ‘just good enough’.
I use to be a Technical Director for Theatre Production. The worst Directors and Designers to work with were like this guy, very hard to live up to their expectations.
I would do it.

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I would NOT do it.

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@Dee, you are saying you would go ahead and wool his windows?

I wouldn’t do any of it since he’s a know it all. I hate when people act like that especially whennyoure doing the service for free just to get photos

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No way, too much work. I wouldn’t do the job at all.

He has already signaled to you that not matter what method you use if he finds one tiny little scratch, now or three years from now, he will blame you and your method.

Just basing my opinion on how you described your interaction with your neighbor and my past experience dealing with people. Your neighbor sees himself as “helping you out” not as a customer asking for your service. When people “help others out” they mentally approach the matter at hand on a equal or a superior position of authority…this depends on their personality type and your rapport with them. Deep down this guy thinks he know more than you…you have tried to show him you are the subject-matter-expert but he didn’t accept that.

I would not do the house.

However, he is your neighbor, you can’t walk away from this and you can’t just tell him why your not going to clean his windows. Unless, he’s one of those neighbors you wouldn’t mind telling, “Dude, you’re a dick. Go away!”

Go to him and admit defeat. “Neighbor, I have to tell you, I’m at a loss on how to clean your windows, in a timely manner, without using the methods I have learned and use. I have consulted many professionals in the industry and they can’t think of any other way of doing it either. This is your home and I respect that and boy it would just kill me if I did any harm to it. I respect you and thank you for offering to help me. But, I would rather maintain our friendship than take a chance on damaging your home.” At this point you are already halfway out the door, metaphorically speaking, don’t let him talk you back into the job. Just keep telling him how much you respect him and you’re not going to jeopardize your friendship in any way. You won’t be lying to him, it’s the truth.

You don’t look at this as defeat, this is a victory for you. You just saved yourself from a potential lifelong headache.

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I’ve developed a line for situations like this. Any time a customer gives me a really bad vibe (know-it-all, cheapo fink, ultra picky, etc) I just say “Y’know, I don’t think I’m the right guy for this job. Thanks for the opportunity, but I have to pass.”

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@Samuel and @Dee, and everyone else,
Thanks for all that good advice.

He is a nice guy, just super opinionated. And he has done his own windows in the past and actually damaged some of them. They were some french panes in a door that he painted the frames, and then tried to remove the paint from the glass. Of course, they were tempered, which he knew nothing about until yesterday.

I feel like it will be ok to do it this time. But I’m going to tiptoe through the job, with the understanding that he’s gonna have some leftover spots. Also with the understanding that that is the result of his decision making.

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I would tell him “sir, it looks like you know your windows very well, unfortunately I will have to decline in cleaning your windows. Have a nice day”

And leave.

That guy will probably follow you around and inspect every little detail forcing you to stay there 3-4 hours longer than necessary and even then he may pull some bs and not pay

He probably tried scraping them without wetting them, or, scraping back and forth.

If you think it will be alright, then go ahead. This really is a gut-check kind of moment. It’s just that, for me, the old cliche “No Good Deed goes unpunished” has became a recurring theme in my life.

If he wants to hang around, and watch, try to get him involved and then treat it as ‘lesson time’. It might change his opinion of your process. If you think it would help, take him to your house to show him your process on one of your windows, then let him try his hand a scraping. This is kind of an old salesman tactic, “I believe in my product so much even you can do it.” This also might improve you authority position with him.

If you feel good about it then go for it and you’ll do great.

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I’ll have to use that. It’s a lot better than, “What are you friggin stupid?”

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I’ve had simialar scenarios to this…one guy caught me on a bad day as i was starting the job.I came down off the ladder and handed him my window cleaning gear and said “Here ya go buddy,do it yourself and show me how its done while i have a cigarette” his wife came out and dragged him inside and was full of apologies.Needless to say he never said as much as a peep to me the next time.

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:grinning: Wow…

I’d probably price it so high that if he actually accepted it I’d just do the job the way he wants or forget him entirely.

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