GGME

So I think by now we've established that GGME (Grumpiest Garden Man on Earth) does not read my blog. If he did, he totally would have learned the concept of customer service and the importance of just being plain old nice. I've found that sometimes the smallest amount of effort on my part can translate into a lot of repeat business - not to mention I'm racking up some karma points along the way.

One of the issues I have with bad service, or rude people in general - is that I often cannot resist the urge to call them on it. "Oh, are you having a bad day? Because you seem a little annoyed..." can be a GREAT way to remind someone that YOU are the reason they have a job. I've actually blogged about this before - that the easiest way to annoy someone who is being an ass is to be sickeningly sweet in return.

So back to GGME. GGME is so named because in the 5 days he's been here, he has not said hello when he arrives, goodbye when he leaves, or thank you (for the drinks and food I put out every day.) He never lets me know what is happening on the job and basically just pointedly ignores us all day. I have no idea why this is, since we've gone out of our way to be friendly and nice. He also accidentally disconnected the telephone wire from the house (hence earlier blogging issues) and failed to mention it to us at all. We only realised it when I went to make a phone call and found it wasn't working. DH later found the phone wire coiled up and neatly duct-taped to the pole across the road.

On Friday he finished work for the day and left (in silent indignation). There was still a bunch of turf to be laid, so we assumed he would be back on Monday. He didn't show up. I left a message and called and he did not reply. How does he know if I didn't organise time off work to be here? How can you just not turn up and not say anything?

Today (Tuesday) the turf arrived and so did he. I commented in passing to his off-sider that I was surprised they did not come yesterday... to which the offsider replied he was told on SATURDAY that the turf would not be ready until today so he doesn't know why we weren't called, either. *sigh* I got home this afternoon to find that most of the work is done - but there are big patches of turf which are not complete. I'm guessing this is because they ran out of turf and need more... but still, it's guessing because I have no note, no message, no phone call. For all intents and purposes he could have buggered off entirely, because all his stuff is gone.

At this stage, I hold all the cards (all $5,250 of them, to be exact.) I'm not paying this guy until the job is completely finished, to my standard. At the same time, I really feel the urge to say something to this guy about his customer service (note, he didn't reply to my email asking for his preferred method of payment, either.) It really irks me that he's been so unpleasant to deal with - and on that basis I'm unlikely to recommend him, even if his work is good. But I have this really horrible .. itch .. to basically wait until he finishes the job and then let him have it.

So - say something? Don't say something? What? I WANT to but I'm not sure it would achieve anything other than a feeling of self-satisfaction on my part. What say you?