Quality and Professionalism

When we were planning the bathroom, the husband order a bunch of stuff from Home Depot to be delivered a week before the project started. We even paid extra to shrink the window from four hours to two hours between 6am and 8am. That Wednesday came and at around 805am the husband called Home Depot because he had to go to work and they hadn’t shown up yet. The guy that picked up the phone said to the husband,

“Oh, that order is not even set up yet.”

“Are you guys going to deliver it today?” The husband asked

“Yeah… yeah… we’ll give you a call before we head to your house.” The guy finished.

The husband hung up, looked at me and said

“They don’t even have the order ready! Can you believe that shit?!” He was mad.

“Yes, I can.” I said, cool as a cucumber. I know that that response it’s uncharacteristic of me and it does sound like I would be making it up, but being that the husband was already fuming and late for work, I figured it would be more constructive to stay calm.

“We paid extra to have this stuff delivered and they don’t even have it ready! What the hell?!” The husband kept going.

“Do you need me here for the delivery?” I asked

“No, they’re going to call me before they head over… ” he answered. “How come you’re so calm?” He asked me

“Because that guy doesn’t care. Home Depot doesn’t care. It will get here when it gets here.” I said and continued about my morning. They delivered it that afternoon, but nobody called. What where our options, really? Raise our blood pressure, stay angry all day, and let us affect the way we interact with everyone else in our world? I’ll take what’s behind door number two, thank you very much.

That guy is getting paid about eight dollars an hours. If he’s some sort of supervisor maybe twelve. Why would he care? Why would he try at all to do a good job? He’s not making anywhere enough money to make him want to try to keep his job, little less try to be good at it. He’s not proud of his employment or his employer, he’s not impressing anybody with this job and he’s options are limited at best.

Home Depot will still make a profit without having to care about the their associates lives, living conditions, health or their overall wellness. Home Depot doesn’t care about the customer or the service that they provide. This person is not going to get fired, because corporations don’t want to pay unemployment benefits, making it worse for everyone still working with the bad employees. In the unlikely event that this person does get dismissed, with an unemployment rate of less than four percent, this person can turn around and go work at Lowes. Because they are also hiring.

You ever get an attitude from a Target employee? Yeah… in my opinion, as a group, they are not great. But every time you walk through the door, there’s a big sign that says we are hiring, because there’s not enough people that want to go work shitty hours, including holidays, for no money or benefits, for a company that doesn’t respect it’s employees, to deal with angry customers that want to use a coupon that expired six months ago. And still have to apply for government assistance.

Then there’s the fast food industry. What do you think is in a burger that costs a dollar… a DOLLAR?!? Peoples’ hopes and dreams. That’s what you’re buying with a dollar burger, because there’s no way that’s actual food, and the people that made it have no other alternatives.

I know several people with their own business. Mostly services, and it always makes me laugh when they complain about the workforce. I know a man, an old man, that was complaining about the revolving door that was the sales associate’s position in his office. He was requiring a college degree and sales experience but the starting salary was $35K. Meanwhile he’s driving around in a car that was worth more than my house, living in his multi-million dollar home, complaining that young people don’t want to have responsibilities, while cleaning his weapons. I could only smile, remembering that I started in the workforce making $37K…. fifteen years ago when my rent was $550 and gas was about a buck and half a gallon! The rent in my neighborhood right now is an average of $1000-1500 for a one bedroom. I liked that job so much, and was so proud of it, that I used to go in on Sundays with my dog, just to get a head start for the week. One time my supervisor found me and gave me a raise.

You want people to care about their jobs then you have to make it worth it for them. Employers want to attract a good workforce, then the compensation package needs to reflect the expectations that are required of them. A person working forty hours a week, regardless of where they work, should be able to pay their rent, their bills, feed and clothes themselves, and still have enough to put twenty dollars in the bank every month. When the expectations greatly outweigh what the compensation is, it’s just not worth it.

When people want to contract me for seamstressing alterations, I always tell them,

“It’ll be cheaper for you to go to the dry cleaners.”

“Why? I rather you do it.” they’ll inevitably ask.

“Because I charge twenty dollars an hour, charged in half hour increments.” I’ll answer and that’s normally the end of it, most people will just changed subjects. But on the rare occasion somebody will say something like

“really?! Why? The minimum wage is less than eight!”

Keep in mind that people only alter expensive garments. So it’s ok to buy a piece of clothing for hundreds of dollars, but you only want to pay eight dollars to your local seamstress to make the garment perfect for you. Yeah… I think that working for you might be a headache…

“Because I will be compensated fairly for my knowledge and experience.” I’ll finish.

This answer serves several purposes: first, I don’t want to do dry cleaners alterations because they are unimaginative and people are picky about their clothes. Nor do I want to work for anybody that doesn’t know how to sew a button. And more importantly, I want to make customes, capes, and original pieces, not make your pants shorter.

The kid’s last day of class is next week. Her primary teacher will not be there, because as of yesterday she is no longer a teacher at the school. Whether she was dismissed or she resigned I do not know, nor do I care to find out. I find that this happening a week before summer break is unprofessional and concerning. But I know that nobody in this school is getting properly compensated for all the hard work they do and the quality of their services is showing it.