but they demonstrate the inherent dangers for the customer/consumer when the financial stake of the provider is not directly tied to them doing the job, fulfilling the task, or providing the service you have asked of them.
In other words when there is more work available than people to perform it – the ‘age of plenty’ I mentioned earlier.
In my own case I booked a tradesman to complete a small floor sanding and polishing job in an apartment I was renovating. The lead time was six weeks and when the tradesman finally showed up he sanded a patch of floor about the size of an average bread-board, tipped the rubbish onto the floor and
left. He phoned later to offer the excuse that ‘voltage fluctuations’ meant he couldn’t use his machine. A palpable lie!
He didn’t care – he had bigger fish to fry.
Another example, a friend of mine was recently getting her mother’s house ready for sale following her move into a nursing home.
A cleaner was booked for a final clean of the home prior to listing it for sale – he didn’t turn up. A second cleaner was booked and he did turn up, took one look at the job, and decided he didn’t want to do it and left.
Again, these people could pick the jobs they walked away from, secure