A funny thing happened at one of my jobs yesterday which I thought I would share with you.

I got to this guv-urn-mint building early in the morning where you swipe this little plastic button against a box to gain entry via a large glass door.

Inside the door was an envelope with my name on it which held a second envelope which read

Disarm building before opening.

So I walk down a corridor, swipe another little box and get into the main office where the security panel is and disarm the building.

I then opened the second envelope and heres a small handwritten note which said simply

Many hands make light work

I smiled and then looked around the office and started to laugh inwardly to myself.

All personal effects from under the desks including waste paper baskets, shoes, bags, boxes, you name it, were stacked on all desks, and all chairs were pulled away from the desks.

Doesnt really sound much, does it.??

I thought back to 12 months ago when I last did this job and the office manager quizzed me about my pricing.

In my quote I had said that all personal items were to be removed from the carpet, otherwise I would clean around them.

When doing the job, I just went around these things except for the bins which I placed on the desks.

After the job was done and I was handing back the plastic thing, she then quizzed me about the gear under the desks and how much it would cost to move them in future.

I told her $160.00 per hour plus 10% gst (goods & services tax).

She was a bit agro about such a high price and wanted to know why, so I explained it like this.

When I was just a kid about ten years old, I used to go to the old Tivoli Theater in Sydney.

One time all the lights went out, and the electrician couldnt get them back on.

A little Chinese man in the audience went up onto the stage and called out, Pwease evwe wun, aw cwap hands

So everyone started to clap, and the lights came on.

Amazing, they asked him how it worked, and he replied.

Many hands make wight work

I then explained to this manager, that for all the staff to put their items on their desks would take each person a minute, but for me to do the same over all the desks would add another 1.5 hours onto my time.

I also explained that my price may be high for picking up things, but I could be working elsewhere for the same amount, instead of picking up smelly shoes after other people

I reckon she must have thought about this for a while, and last week told everyone to tidy their areas.

I look forward to seeing her tomorrow.

Many hands make light work.

Shorty that was a great story!
Thanks for sharing that

Way to train your customers.

P.S. That's always been my MOA too - I will clean around your stuff.

P.P.S. Picking up a zillion chair mats (digging them out from under the corner of their desks and file cabinets) and trash cans is not part of the cleaning equation.




Rick Gelinas

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