Oops, violated my own policy and got caught

Last night I was finishing up on a long 12 hour day of cleaning in 3 towns with a simple store front. This store is normally deserted when I clean and it is just the entry with about 500 square feet of walk off carpet. I'm usually in and out quickly and nobody is around except some overnight workers stacking produce.

Well, on this night, I was looking pretty rough. Unshaven, shirt soiled from all the empty house cleanings, van a mess, waste tank funky, and I didn't have my commercial wand on-board either...just by PC Quad. Since it was just a quickie job with no audience, I figured that I would just knock it out and call it a day.

I have a strict appearence code for me and my van normally and would never operate like this, but it was the weekend, it was night, and it was the end of a very long day. Guess what? I start setting up and was greeted by the Regional Manager who was there to supervise an inventory and the place was crawling with people.

I was busted! The only thing that I could do was put on a show and make darn certain not to miss a step in quality. I moved all the carts outside, removed the gumball machines, and even carried out the news rack of shoppers that weighed about 150 lbs. I vacuumed, sprayed, power scrubbed, removed all gum, wanded slowly, and even set out airpaths to dry. I must have been there for over 2 hours to do what normally took about 35 minutes.

I spoke with the Regional Manager afterwards and we actually had marathon running in common which led to some story swapping. I didn't get out of there for another hour!

When he looked at the floor, he came over to me before I drove off and said the following:

"The floors looked great. It is good to see that they (local manager) found themselves someone just starting out who is willing to work. Keep it up and you will do fine. I'll let your boss know that you did a quality job."

I can't wait to get that phone call.

Doing a good job is the bottom line isn't it?

Mo wrote:Doing a good job is the bottom line isn't it?

It is very important, but there is more than just results that factor into it. I have a good doctor, but lets say he was a chain smoker and overweight by 200 lbs....would I still listen to his advice? I can tell you this, I have fired more doctors than any other profession in the world because there are so few good ones.

A little off the point, but let me tell you how to find a good doctor. Go to him/her with a complaint of a sore throat. If him/her prescribes you antibiotics without doing a swab test...fire them on the spot, bad doctor. Antibiotics are only effective against a bacteria infection and will do nothing for a viral infection, so to prescribe it without knowing which one you have is the sign of a lazy good for nothing doctor. Many will tell you that they prescribe it to appease the patient, but it really is done to get more money from the insurance company.

Any way, my original point was that I got the results he was after, but I gave a poor impression doing it. I think that was why he assumed that I was just some employee instead of possibly being the owner. I should have remembered the lessons of the Red Baron, never violate your own rules...even if you believe that nobody will be around to notice.

It never fails, I have been there a few times, and both times I said boy all never let that happen again.

You played it much better than I would have, lol.

Its kind of tough to look presentable after cleaning all day.