"aemeijers" wrote
Smitty Two wrote:
Higgs wrote:

stuff snipped

"Jim" said it would be less if I paid in cash, so I said drive me up
to the ATM; he said "nah, just drop it off when you get a
chance". !!! Modest bill; a fraction of what first plumber would
have charged, and I doubt if he would have been so caring& creative,
based on his first visit to check it out. OK, so now I know who to
use next time!

Reason I am posting this: "Jim" said he father was trained in the UK,
where they have to take a lengthy course of study to get licensed.
Said U.S. plumbers may know how to do stuff, but don't know what's
behind it. Hope this is clear...?

Interested in reactions.

HB

Not surprised you got a cash discount. Tax cheats come out ahead.

What a tradesman declares on his return is none of my business. I ask
for a price, and when it comes time to pay, ask if they prefer cash or
check, as they are writing up the tissue-paper thing. I never ask for a
discount.

When I was a consultant I would always discount cash because I've never had
cash bounce but I've had plenty of checks come back NSF (Not Sufficient
Funds). [Stop rolling in your grave, Prof. Lee, I spelled it out this time!
(-: ] There's not necessarily an evil motive behind asking for cash,
although there often is.

As you point out, his morality is not my concern as long as he doesn't steal
from me (-: I always ask for a discount and point out why - that a $100
check can end up costing more than $100 if it bounces for any reason and
it's often just good business to finalize the transaction then and there
with cash. I ALWAYS ask for a receipt, though, unless it's something
trivial. Sometimes, when there's still an issue, I may write a check so
that I can stop it later on if it turns out that the guy installed outlets
without actually wiring them up or something like that. But passing on cash
encourages you do to a thorough walk-through at the time of the job, so it
has some motivation built in.

My city editor at the Washington Star, a crusty old codger who was a WWII
war reporter, always told me to carry as much cash as I could risk.
Apparently one day he was captured by the Italians and bought his way out of
captivity with the $1000 he always had with him, and that's when $1000 MEANT
something. FWIW, he routinely changed my byline to Robert Brown after I
began dating the VP's exec. secretary, a relationship which he clearly did
not approve of. He was slightly paranoid and more than a little strange.
Most grizzled city editors are. They have lots of great stories about
severed head floating in toilet bowls and all manner of gruesome murder like
the man who came into the ER with a hammer bashed into his skull singing old
Glen Miller tunes at the top of his lungs. The money was good, though, and
the job was fun and I even got to meet Bush I and Jimmny "Cricket" Carter
and lots more celebs.

While being occasionally mis-credited, I came to realize no one reads
bylines except other reporters, the mothers of reporters and people unhappy
with what you wrote. So being Robert Brown actually turned out to be a good
thing in some ways.

Operator: "There's no reporter named Robert Brown here!"

Caller: "But I am READING and article with his name on it!!!!!"

Operator: "Sorry sir, he's *not* in the directory!"

--
Bobby G.