Getting people to do basic jobs is harder and harder to do.
When we (briefly) moved to Florida many years ago (has it been 20 years?) we laughed when we saw a plumber's truck with the company logo on it and below that, the notation, "We Show Up!" which was their company slogan, as it turns out. We Show Up? That sort of seems like the minimum you have to do, besides the job, doing it right, doing it well, doing it at a decent price. Just showing up isn't something to brag about, right?
Well, after a few months in Florida, when we needed plumbing work, we called the "We Show Up!" people because nobody else did. You would call a plumbing company or other contractor and someone would answer the phone and take down your information and make an appointment for their service person to be there. You would take time off from work to wait for them and.... no show.
Worse yet, no phone call, no apology, no nothing. And you'd call back and they would say, "Oh, sorry, we couldn't make it, something came up!" and they would offer to reschedule. If you rescheduled, it would be the same deal. And if you did it a third time, same deal. Eventually you'd give up and try someone else, often with the same outcome.
One wonders why they bother hiring someone to make all these appointments? Why not just say, "Sorry, we are busy! Try someone else!" - they could fire half their phone and office staff. Why bother making appointments you have no intention of keeping? Seems like it would ruin the reputation of your business.
And it did affect their reputation. I mentioned this to a neighbor and he said, "Oh, those guys never show up! You want to call so-and-so, they show up!" which was, indeed, their motto. We realized, after living in Florida for a few months that just showing up was a big freaking deal.
That was 20 years ago. It hasn't gotten better, in Florida, or indeed nationwide. Three recent experiences seem to reinforce this lesson.
I tried to get an estimate on the damage to the camper from the sideswipe incident. Now, with cars, you go to the GEICO service center and the guy will look it over and cut you a check on the spot. When our truck was hit with hail damage, they did this for us. No big deal. With a camper, it is a little harder. But I called two RV repair guys and they said they could do an estimate for me. One made an appointment two weeks in advance (!!) as he was "busy." The other said he could come over the next day, and that sounded like a better option. He did show up, took notes and said he'd get back to me next week.
Well, weeks have gone by and nothing. Well, I bug him, and he says he'll have an estimate "tomorrow" or even "later today" but that was a week ago. We are leaving on a trip so I would like to button this all up, but now I am stuck with this guy - maybe I should have gone to the first guy instead? It is hard to say. But I guess he is busy, and this is low priority for him. The lack of communication is frustrating - and the waiting.
The second incident was the generator at the Parcheesi club. The guy said he would come out and service the generator - doing oil and filter changes and fixing some broken hold-down clamps. He never showed up and doesn't return my text messages. I am not to worried about this, but hey, it would be nice to say, "I couldn't make it - I will reschedule" instead of ghosting me like Tinder date.
The third incident involves the Parcheesi club again - they have a machine that extrudes Parcheesi playing pieces, which is only cost-effective if you have 100 people playing and need new pieces constantly (they break). The machine is 17 years old, abused, and broken. So I took it apart, cleaned it, and fixed the broken bits (someone put their cocktail napkin down the intake manifold) and reassembled it. I changed the oil and lubed the joints, too! It works, but it needs some new parts to be 100% like new.
So I went on the company website to see. No parts list and the machine is listed as "out of stock" - all models. So I call them and they tell me they are looking for "a new supplier" (I thought they were the manufacturer?) and then tell me to submit a "tech request" form online and give me the URL.
So I do that - a phone call to make an e-mail. A few days later, I get a phone call, and they ask me for my e-mail address (which was in the tech request) and I give it to them. "Someone will get back to you" they say. This is a small company, too - but no one has a name, apparently.
Today, I get an e-mail giving me the parts numbers, but telling me to call "tech support" to get pricing and submit an order. I call the 1-800 number provided and get a recording telling me to call the 1-800 number I just called. WTF? It beeps, so I leave a message. I doubt anyone will call back. It's like they just don't care.
But their recording talks about their award-winning stellar customer service! Maybe if you say this enough, it will become true, I don't know.
Anyway, we've kind of given up. We can fabricate one of the parts we need, and maybe the other is nice to have but not essential. The damn thing is 17 years old and maybe at the end of its design life. Sadly, a new one (of any brand) is about $5000 - which is a lot of money for Parcheesi. You could just buy pieces commercially - a lot of them - for $5000.
UPDATE: I got yet another e-mail from them, telling me to call again and press "2" for sales, even though the recording says "2" is for general sales excluding Parcheesi extruders. I call and get a young woman who says, "All lines are busy, can you hold?" - musical hold for ten minutes and then I hang up. Is there that much of a demand for Parcheesi extruders? Weirder still, the guy in the e-mail says "technical support" is "offsite" (overseas or work-from-home?) and "isn't taking any calls anymore." Why are they bothering to pay them, then? Weird.
What is going on here? Is this part and parcel of this "No One Wants To Work Anymore" deal or something? Are companies so understaffed and overworked that they just blow off any customer job that seems less lucrative or not as profitable? It is like the Door Dash drivers who just refuse to pick up your food if you don't add a big tip when you order. I have no personal experience with that, by the way, just what I read online.
But of course, you have choices - you can just go get your own food, or better yet, make your own food at home. Having a hamburger delivered cold from McDonald's after waiting an hour sucks. Mark and I grilled burgers over a charcoal fire last night. It cost less than what the delivery fee from DoorDash would be - but for a lot of people, it is "too hard" to do and they are "too tired to cook."
That has to be pretty tired, because Mark and I were exhausted from a day of working on the camper. Yes, rather than wait around for a repair guy to not show up, we decided to take matters into our own hands and get the camper ready for summer. We installed a new bathroom faucet and a new shower faucet in the bathroom (they were combined into one, cheap, plastic unit, which is typical of most RVs). We put in our old "memory foam" mattress into the camper (after cutting it to size, which we found we could do after watching a YouTube video). A friend gave us a very lightly used Temperpedic mattress for free, which is now our new home mattress. If you wait long enough, everything you want in life can be found for free.
I was able to even fix the broken pipe on the grey water tank. Turns out the coupling had snapped off (because of the sideswipe) and nothing but caulk was holding it on (why caulk - on a threaded fitting?). I was able to get the remainder of the threaded portion out and thread it a new PVC fitting (with lots of teflon tape - no caulk!) and it all looks like new. I put a rubber flex fitting inline with it, so it has some "give" to it going down the road - at the suggestion of some fellow owners on an Escape forum.
So that is what it comes down to these days - you have to either do-it-yourself or forgetaboutit! Getting anyone to actually show up is next to impossible.
And quite frankly, I don't think this is about "No One Wants To Work Anymore!" but demographics. Baby Boomers are retiring in droves - often early retirement - and the next generation is much smaller. So that is a big problem. Then there is the trend of young men living with their parents and playing video games all day long, working occasional odd jobs to be able to afford new computer parts, guns, and Samurai swords (hey, you have to be ready to kill your parents or do a mass-shooting, right?). So a lot of the next generation is out of the job market or has no desire to work, as their parents are supporting them.
That puts a huge burden on those who are working, who have to handle the jobs of two or three people. And even those who don't, use this an excuse to do as little as possible. A friend of mine runs a restaurant and he hired this guy (a boomer) who just hates life. If you go there, he tells people they are so "slammed" (three tables?) that it will be a half-hour wait. So people leave and he doesn't have to serve them. Sadly, my friend is running a second restaurant and doesn't realize what is going on - and no one has the heart to tell him.
So, we are left to our own devices. We are able to cook for ourselves - everyone should be able to - so it doesn't affect us that much. With restaurant prices the way they are, and with service so abominable, why bother? The local "sub shop" charges $20 for a foot-long (with chips, soda, and tip). Wasn't that long ago that Subway had $5 foot-longs, even if they were 10" (which I think they still are, even at the $20 sub shop).
Of course, one way to avoid this problem is just to own less crap. If you want a lot of fancy garbage and equipment, you have to pay for it - and pay someone to maintain it. And in that regard, we are lucky (or smart) that we can do a lot of this work ourselves. Not everyone can do that, of course. But for things like RVs, well, you have to be handy, because it is like owning a small home that is constantly in a 70MPH hurricane and an earthquake as it goes down the road. Not expecting things to break is unrealistic.
So, we will rebuild rebuilt the Parcheesi machine with fabricated parts. It works fine. I will change the oil on the generator and replace the hold-down clamps myself. And the RV - well, I've already fixed most of the broken parts myself, while waiting for the "repair guy" to do it.
Of course, I am not quite ready to re-roof my own house, but I did shingle the roof on Mark's Studio - which goes to show you, if you own a simple, small home, you can fix it yourself - or even build it.
Quite frankly, the way things are going, we may not have a choice. No one will show up!
