Tell us something TRIVIAL about your life

[notdeadyet]

Does anyone else have problems with online orders? About 1 in 4 have issues with me.

Before our last holiday. Mrs MarkA took a fancy to my new mask and old snorkel, and my Cressi-sub rondine gamma fins had seen better days. So online ordered new mask, snorkel and fins. After more than 2 weeks with nothing, l called them. Turns out the fins were not in stock, and no other colour available. Instead of letting me know they were just waiting for stock to arrive. Fins were cancelled and mask and snorkel delivered.

Had similar with a well known dive shop in north Manchester (the old owners, not the new ones). Ordered something off the website, paid for 24hr delivery... tumbleweed... Turns out they were only ordering stuff from the supplier as and when customers were ordering off the website.

So you'll be refunding the 24hr delivery charge?

No, when we get it in then we will send it out in 24hrs.

I'll cancel it then...

And people were surprised when it shut.

[jamesp]

I am trying to find a plumber to do some work at the business; plumb a sink in the canteen, new water heaters and other plumbing in the washrooms.
I would expect it to stretch to two days work.
Absolutely no interest, job is too small to be bothered with, job is beneath them, no reply to emails, voicemails.

I am expected to do summersaults for fractions of this, jesus, have I got the wrong business model.

[John63]

I am trying to find a plumber to do some work at the business; plumb a sink in the canteen, new water heaters and other plumbing in the washrooms.
I would expect it to stretch to two days work.
Absolutely no interest, job is too small to be bothered with, job is beneath them, no reply to emails, voicemails.

I am expected to do summersaults for fractions of this, jesus, have I got the wrong business model.

I've had similar with builders. Found one whose work is highly recommended. called them for initial enquiry/quote for a 2 storey full back of house extension ( so not a small job expected 3-4 months work and I'm flexible with start date ) to be told no. Apparently 18 miles is too far to travel and not worth it for them. FFS

[Neilwood]

I am trying to find a plumber to do some work at the business; plumb a sink in the canteen, new water heaters and other plumbing in the washrooms.
I would expect it to stretch to two days work.
Absolutely no interest, job is too small to be bothered with, job is beneath them, no reply to emails, voicemails.

I am expected to do summersaults for fractions of this, jesus, have I got the wrong business model.

Unfortunately for you, the building trade is in an absolute state atm due to a number of factors:
1) Lack of training for decades has meant an ever widening skills gap between number of qualified trades (sparks/plumbers/joiners/ brickies etc) and jobs to be done.
2) Thanks to Brexit, a lot of the European trades that had been keeping the industry afloat (along with the acceptance of slightly lower wages) have left.
3) The stoppage/slowing of works on a lot of contracts during Covid has meant a lot of firms have backlogs of work.
4) Clients (that had held up work during Covid) are now pushing ahead with jobs.

What this basically means is that trades can pick and choose the jobs they work on and at what rates they want to charge (to a certain extent) so anything that involves extra travel, hassle etc will get put aside.

[divechick]

I am trying to find a plumber to do some work at the business; plumb a sink in the canteen, new water heaters and other plumbing in the washrooms.
I would expect it to stretch to two days work.
Absolutely no interest, job is too small to be bothered with, job is beneath them, no reply to emails, voicemails.

I am expected to do summersaults for fractions of this, jesus, have I got the wrong business model.

We have been there ourselves over the last few years for all the exact same reasons. Living by doing it all ourselves!

[jamesp]

Unfortunately for you, the building trade is in an absolute state atm due to a number of factors:
1) Lack of training for decades has meant an ever widening skills gap between number of qualified trades (sparks/plumbers/joiners/ brickies etc) and jobs to be done.
2) Thanks to Brexit, a lot of the European trades that had been keeping the industry afloat (along with the acceptance of slightly lower wages) have left.
3) The stoppage/slowing of works on a lot of contracts during Covid has meant a lot of firms have backlogs of work.
4) Clients (that had held up work during Covid) are now pushing ahead with jobs.

What this basically means is that trades can pick and choose the jobs they work on and at what rates they want to charge (to a certain extent) so anything that involves extra travel, hassle etc will get put aside.

Rates to charge, My mum has just had a bathroom fitted, I called at the house on the way home from work, the "bath room fitter" was upstairs talking to the electrician.
The conversation ran to him having tickets for the Wales qualifying match in London, and the league final in Swansea, which are the same day; so he was looking to charter a helicopter to get from one to the other!
And I get shit for driving a Volvo V90.

[jamesp]

Just back from the petrol station, went to grab a sandwich from the fridge, and read one of the packs as a "chicken Fatwa" wrap.

I think Dawns bantams are having a subliminal effect.

[Neilwood]

Rates to charge, My mum has just had a bathroom fitted, I called at the house on the way home from work, the "bath room fitter" was upstairs talking to the electrician.
The conversation ran to him having tickets for the Wales qualifying match in London, and the league final in Swansea, which are the same day; so he was looking to charter a helicopter to get from one to the other!
And I get shit for driving a Volvo V90.

Pretty much the case at the moment which has kind of turned the industry on its head in the last few years. There are so many openings and companies are so desperate to get things done that the individual trades people are the ones with the power.

Don't like the rate for a job? Leaving and going elsewhere is currently very low risk - there are so many opportunities for anyone halfway decent that they can walk of a job and have another lined up within hours.

[MarkA]

Had similar with a well known dive shop in north Manchester (the old owners, not the new ones). Ordered something off the website, paid for 24hr delivery... tumbleweed... Turns out they were only ordering stuff from the supplier as and when customers were ordering off the website.

So you'll be refunding the 24hr delivery charge?

No, when we get it in then we will send it out in 24hrs.

I'll cancel it then...

And people were surprised when it shut.

Ordered a backpack last week from one of the outdoors shops. At least they sent me an email telling me they were un-available. Ended up ordering from the manufacturer. Looks like they were last years model and presumably sold all the stock.

[Chrisch]

Pretty much the case at the moment which has kind of turned the industry on its head in the last few years. There are so many openings and companies are so desperate to get things done that the individual trades people are the ones with the power.

Don't like the rate for a job? Leaving and going elsewhere is currently very low risk - there are so many opportunities for anyone halfway decent that they can walk of a job and have another lined up within hours.

The UK has spent many years not bothering to train people and simply poaching ready trained people from other companies and at the wider scale from other countries. It is a feature of the political and company thinking that have pervaded the last 40 years or so. We (UK) are not unique as witnessed by Oz poaching our nurses (so we poach[ed] Spanish ones) for example. Now many "post industrial" countries have skill shortages at the same time as food banks and unemployable groups of people that are unable to imagine ever working. A great many older/stupid/gulible people were persuaded this is/was somehow due to immigration or the EU rather than their own rather bonkers habit of voting for the very politicians responsible.