The homeowner who timed my brush strokes on a Sunday job

Last spring I was doing a routine sweep in Maplewood and this guy stands in his driveway with a stopwatch, counting every stroke I made on his flue. He told me I was taking 38 seconds longer per foot than his cousin in Jersey, then asked if I could speed it up so he could catch the matinee. Has anyone else dealt with a client who thinks they know your pace better than you do?

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susan4242mo ago

Notice how everyone's an expert on your job until they have to do it themselves. The same guy who times your strokes probably spends 20 minutes deciding which lightbulb to buy at the hardware store. It's like people think work outside their own world is simple, just a matter of moving faster or trying harder. Funny how the stopwatch always comes out for other people's labor, never for their own.

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christopher_craig2mo ago

Take a breath, @susan424. Is this really some deep injustice or just people being people? I get it, the stopwatch thing is annoying, but everyone’s got their own blind spots. My buddy the accountant can’t figure out how to change a car tire, and I wouldn’t last five minutes doing his taxes. We all act like our own skills are the hard ones and everyone else’s are just common sense. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just how brains work. Lightbulb guy might be a jerk, but he’s probably right that you’d screw up his job, too. Isn’t that the whole point?

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