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Wow, check out this guy's comment

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Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#21

Post by randallsquared »

rms wrote: post #14
cousin_it wrote: post #9

my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out. Is it really this way in the US? As a foreigner I'm curious.

Maybe in some situations, but it would be a shitty situation as a walmart-type job does not provide enough income to live on. Some epithet towards the wife is probably appropriate.

A lot of people don't get this. When I was failing at running a small business in semi-rural Alabama, nearly everyone around me told me I should just get a job at walmart or a convenience store, even though that wouldn't have been enough to live on. For many people, a job seems to be something of a talisman, rather than a source of a certain amount of money.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#22

Post by immad »

cousin_it wrote: post #19
immad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you from? I think it is like that for a lot of people in most of the world

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part." I'm from Russia. Don't know about y'all, I wouldn't want to marry someone with a different attitude.

I agree, neither would I.

But you have to consider the other perspective; they have 2 kids to support and his business hasn't received any custom for weeks. I think the statement "get a job or leave" is more of a generic "something has to change" statement not something completely literal.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#23

Post by theklub »

ahoyhere wrote: post #12
petercooper wrote: post #6

A very nice story. I think, however, he overlooks the power of humanity in his story. It's not down to that $50 voucher. It's because he became a real person to the people he visited - a local guy, someone they'd seen in real life. It really seems all down to pressing the flesh. The other points don't make any logical sense, for example: All these years I was right, most people let money motivate them and that create…

Agreed, it's the "look them in the eye, shake their hand, and tell them you want to earn their business" part that really gets them. The $50 voucher is the thing that gives the future customer "permission" to follow up on their gut feeling of "Wow, I like being treated like a HUMAN BEING."

I really doubt this. I live in a neighborhood where people come by all the time. They don't offer $50 cards or really anything, they just drop off their business card. Which I usually just throw in the trash. Obviously your going to call someone if you have a $50 gift card with them.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#24

Post by bjelkeman-again »

theklub wrote: post #23
ahoyhere wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, it's the "look them in the eye, shake their hand, and tell them you want to earn their business" part that really gets them. The $50 voucher is the thing that gives the future customer "permission" to follow up on their gut feeling of "Wow, I like being treated like a HUMAN BEING."

I really doubt this. I live in a neighborhood where people come by all the time. They don't offer $50 cards or really anything, they just drop off their business card. Which I usually just throw in the trash. Obviously your going to call someone if you have a $50 gift card with them.

I think it is the combination that does it. I have lots of "discount vouchers" for all sorts of things, which I never use. But I need a plumber and this guy would be it.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#25

Post by bjelkeman-again »

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #11
petercooper wrote: post #6

A very nice story. I think, however, he overlooks the power of humanity in his story. It's not down to that $50 voucher. It's because he became a real person to the people he visited - a local guy, someone they'd seen in real life. It really seems all down to pressing the flesh. The other points don't make any logical sense, for example: All these years I was right, most people let money motivate them and that create…

If it were really about him giving them "money" ... and money creates poor decision making, then choosing him based on that offer is poor decision making. Yes, but it is well-known that customers make illogical decisions. Recognising that a user interface that's strictly logical may, for illogical reasons, be less usable than one that panders to the user's "irrationality" is a good business decision. Basing your busi…

How do you do an objective evaluation of a plumbers work? Most plumbing work that needs to be done is pretty small. I call the guy. Talk to him, if I like the attitude he gets to do a job. If he is good he gets a second bigger job. Evaluating based on references would only work for me if I had a big job to get done. But for small jobs, the $50 voucher and a small job from the guy who came and said "hi" would pass my first test. He would get the small job, that leads to bigger jobs.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#26

Post by bd »

cousin_it wrote: post #19
immad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you from? I think it is like that for a lot of people in most of the world

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part." I'm from Russia. Don't know about y'all, I wouldn't want to marry someone with a different attitude.

I wanted to comment on cultural differences, though via brief googling I found out that US and Russia have actually very similar divorce rates. In both countries almost half marriages fail. Interesting.

http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#27

Post by dgallagher »

haasted wrote: post #20
cousin_it wrote: post #9

my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out. Is it really this way in the US? As a foreigner I'm curious.

I'm curious about what exactly "get out" means. Can anyone elaborate?

It sounds like his family was probably having money problems (they owed more than they had in the bank, or they weren't able to support their lifestyle).

In that context, perhaps his wife was threatening him to "get a stable job that provides us income, or else I'm doing to divorce and leave you."

A good movie to watch on the subject: "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006)

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#29

Post by smoody »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #28
cousin_it wrote: post #9

my wife gave me a choice of getting a wal-mart type job or get out. Is it really this way in the US? As a foreigner I'm curious.

It's not just in US. In the majority of the world, women are extremely materialistic. Sad reality.

A bad assumption here. It could have simply been that his wife didn't want to see her children go to bed hungry or for them to lose the roof over their heads.

Re: Wow, check out this guy's comment

#30

Post by ralph »

I don't get it. Is the $50 only against his labour charges? If the customer pays nothing for the parts too, then he can't subsidise the scheme for long enough to start being paid one the coupons run about by his, now loyal, customers.
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