On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that cost?
TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers? Bloke; Two
doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours. Bloke; No, it
wouldn't take anything like that long. TMH; I assemble lots of flat
pack, in my experience that's about right, but I only charge for the
time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning? TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it
until the second week in December. Bloke; But its blocking up the hall &
I need the wardrobe. You must be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then. Bloke; Well, how much would two
hours be? TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous! That's £37.50 per hour! I don't
earn anything like that per hour!
TMH; Neither do I sir, I have overheads. But that's very competitive
compared to the national flat pack assembly companies. Bloke; You can't
possibly charge that much per hour! You will never get any work at those
prices!
TMH; Its quite competitive sir, otherwise I wouldn't be booked two weeks
ahead.
Bloke; But the wardrobe only cost me £99.99. TMH; Things are cheap these
days, labour is expensive. Bloke; I'll have to think about it.

TMH; ............... Opens bottle of wine..................Retreats to
darkened room.

I find your time estimate for the assembly agrees closely with mine.

This guy is such a pillock you would not want him as a customer.

I would have been tempted to say to him, "Why don't you change your job
to do what I do, if you think I'm earning such a lot!"


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In message , Ed Sirett
writes
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?

There certainly is, as people find out when they can't get the impeller
off and then distort it so badly it can't be balanced again

.... then they ask me for an exchange one

No, on a Solo 2 they are ball races, and you really need high speed
quiet bearings which can take the heat as well. Cheap bearings which are
suitable for e.g. a photocopier don't fare so well in such an
environment

I buy phosphor-bronze bearings already impregnated, and leave them in an
oil bath until required




--
geoff

On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:26:43 +0000, Mike Clarke wrote:

In article k ARWadsworth
wrote:

They have gypsies in the middle east?

Didn't they originate from Egypt?

I understood the word was a corruption of 'Egyptian'.

I don't know how authoritative it is but Wiktionary supports this:

"Earlier Middle English gipcyan gyptian, Old French gyptien, short for
Egyptian Latin Aegyptius; when they first appeared in England in the
sixteenth century they were believed to have come from Egypt."

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gypsy

In Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (The Golden Compass to the USAnians &
movies) the nomadic canal-boat people are actually called Gyptians, just
as in the Dark Materials stories other words from modern English have
similar names as if the mutation of language has taken a different course
e.g. our Chocolate is their Chocolatl

--
John Stumbles

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

On 2007-12-02 05:15:33 +0000, John Stumbles said:

On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:26:43 +0000, Mike Clarke wrote:

In article k ARWadsworth
wrote:

They have gypsies in the middle east?

Didn't they originate from Egypt?

I understood the word was a corruption of 'Egyptian'.

I don't know how authoritative it is but Wiktionary supports this:

"Earlier Middle English gipcyan gyptian, Old French gyptien, short for
Egyptian Latin Aegyptius; when they first appeared in England in the
sixteenth century they were believed to have come from Egypt."

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gypsy

In Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (The Golden Compass to the USAnians &
movies) the nomadic canal-boat people are actually called Gyptians, just
as in the Dark Materials stories other words from modern English have
similar names as if the mutation of language has taken a different course
e.g. our Chocolate is their Chocolatl

You mean like sorbet is "sorbett" and not "sorbay" ?

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
ARWadsworth wrote:
"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you
will never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you
were booked solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job
might take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me
after you have swapped it?

The mind boggles.

Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the 'Confessions
of a Handyman' film.


You must be doing something wrong then.


Adam

geoff wrote:
In message , Ed Sirett
writes
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for
the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?

There certainly is, as people find out when they can't get the impeller
off and then distort it so badly it can't be balanced again

... then they ask me for an exchange one

No, on a Solo 2 they are ball races, and you really need high speed
quiet bearings which can take the heat as well. Cheap bearings which are
suitable for e.g. a photocopier don't fare so well in such an environment

I buy phosphor-bronze bearings already impregnated, and leave them in an
oil bath until required




So sell some to that ****ty customer and he can put them on EBay.

In message , Stuart Noble
writes
geoff wrote:
In message , Ed Sirett
writes
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay
for the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?

There certainly is, as people find out when they can't get the
impeller off and then distort it so badly it can't be balanced again
... then they ask me for an exchange one
No, on a Solo 2 they are ball races, and you really need high speed
quiet bearings which can take the heat as well. Cheap bearings which
are suitable for e.g. a photocopier don't fare so well in such an
environment
I buy phosphor-bronze bearings already impregnated, and leave them
in an oil bath until required

So sell some to that ****ty customer and he can put them on EBay.


I could flog him some "preloved" ones ...


--
geoff

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
nightjar cpb@ wrote:
"John Stumbles" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:22:52 +0000, "nightjar" cpb@ wrote:

I am not in favour of having all my eggs in one basket. However, since
I
gave up making medical devices, there are only two - printer supplies
and specialist plumbing and heating supplies.
So what are the specialist P&H stuff? (Cue URI:... :-))

Low surface temperature radiator covers for hospitals and care homes and
insect screens for air inlets and overflows on water storage cisterns. In
the domestic sizes, the latter are known as water byelaw kits, but our
screens are for commercial systems and stock sizes cover overflow pipes
up to 4" diameter;6" and 8" overflows are not unknown and we have been
asked to supply screens for overflows up to 600mm diameter. Being known
by people like NHS Estates Departments, HM Prisons Service and Local
Authority Education Departments is more important than having a web site,
but we inherited a rather poor one from the previous owner at
www.norscreenfilters.co.uk that shows the radiator covers. If I can ever
get Norman to reply to the emails that Nominet keep sending him, when I
have told them they need to write to him, I might even get control of the
domain and be able to put up a decent one.

Maybe you just set up www.colscreenfilters.co.uk instead...

Unfortunately, Norscreen is a well-known trading name and appears on all the
products, moulded in in some cases. I have registered
www.norscreen-filters.co.uk and may have to end up using that.

Colin Bignell

On Dec 2, 5:15 am, John Stumbles wrote:
On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:26:43 +0000, Mike Clarke wrote:
In article k ARWadsworth
wrote:

They have gypsies in the middle east?

Didn't they originate from Egypt?

I understood the word was a corruption of 'Egyptian'.

I don't know how authoritative it is but Wiktionary supports this:

"Earlier Middle English gipcyan gyptian, Old French gyptien, short for
Egyptian Latin Aegyptius; when they first appeared in England in the
sixteenth century they were believed to have come from Egypt."

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gypsy

Quite. Note the "believed" in there.

In fact, they almost certainly originally came from Northen India.
(Err, well /actually/ of course, almost certainly we /all/ came from
East Africa ... but the ancestors of the Gypsies were in Northen India
more recently than that).