tips on the job - HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air & Refrigeration Discussion

slowandsteady · #1 11-19-2009, 09:13 PM

well today i went back to change a stat which was defective, under warrenty, i was leaving and she handed me 10 bucks and says, thank you for comimg out, its nice getting the same guy, i said thank you very much and left, i did not want to say im the only guy they have, this happens once in awhile, wish it would happen more

dblrye · #2 11-20-2009, 11:25 AM

When I worked for somebody else I had a residential no heat call. The furnace wasn't running at all so I checked for power and found none. It turned out the guy had people in painting his basement and turned off the furnace switch when they left thinking it was a light switch. He was really embarrased when I told him. He gave me twenty bucks as I was leaving saying he was sorry I had to come out for something like that.
I still handed in my paperwork so he was charged for a service call.
I wonder if he thought the twenty bucks was all he was going to be out.

hvacker · #3 11-20-2009, 12:54 PM

The oddest tip I've got was at a funeral home. The mortician asked me if I would help move a body from a table into the coffin. I said sure and after he gave me a five.

beachtech · #4 11-20-2009, 01:02 PM

i have been given tools, bottles of wine, beer, clothing, phone numbers to neighbors that want our company to do thier work too, cookies, money, one guy even wrote me a check for 5 bucks for a tip. i still have that check in my wallet from like 2 years ago lmao

oddest tip i ever got was at a church the preacher said he needed to pray for me lmao i asked him how strong his prayer is

is offensive to many people if you don't accept thier tip, so i just go along with it

jimmy k · #5 11-20-2009, 01:39 PM

I was working in one guys place. He had a ton of health problems and as a result was on so many different medications that he was pretty out of it most of the time.It was close to Christmas and I had finished what I was doing and he insisted on giving me a bottle of whisky(which I dont drink).I tried to politely say no but he kept going on and on ,so I finally took it,said thanks and its sat at my house ever since. Talked to a couple of other guys I work with and he had given them bottles too.

A couple of years later,I was sent to his place and he was like a new man. Instead of having multiple doctors each prescribing multiple meds,he now had one doc. who cut him down to just a few and his mind was now clear as a bell.So he's complaining about this and that and says,"..and people are coming in here and stealing all my liquor.I had a full shelf and now there's practacally nothing left." I didnt want to say anything figuring there was a chance that he may of thought I stole it and was now trying to avoid blame.

I'm always a bit leary of taking money from someone especially the elderly.Its too easy for someone to make it look like you're taking advantage of them even though you're just accepting what they offered.

coolperfect · #6 11-20-2009, 01:58 PM

I have a bottle of vodka around my house somewhere. It got from an old boss around 1983. It was never opened.wonder if it still good?

dblrye · #7 11-20-2009, 08:38 PM

I was working in one guys place. He had a ton of health problems and as a result was on so many different medications that he was pretty out of it most of the time.It was close to Christmas and I had finished what I was doing and he insisted on giving me a bottle of whisky(which I dont drink).I tried to politely say no but he kept going on and on ,so I finally took it,said thanks and its sat at my house ever since. Talked to a couple of other guys I work with and he had given them bottles too.

I have a bottle of vodka around my house somewhere. It got from an old boss around 1983. It was never opened.wonder if it still good?

Unopened bottles in the house?
Are you sure you're real hvac guys?

bja105 · #8 11-21-2009, 08:25 AM

I get tipped very frequently, sometimes every day. One lady gives me $50 every time I do her maintenance. I have been tipped $100 before. One nut job gave me $340 to get my cat spayed. I also get some bottles of wine.

Yesterday, a customer gave me a CD of him playing traditional Persian music on a dulcimer.

The pistachios sound good right now, I'm hungry.

KC13 · #9 11-21-2009, 09:34 AM

Back in '96, a customer gave me a CAR! It was an '84 Lynx, 32K miles, dead battery and a hole in the muffler. Clean as a pin inside and out! New battery $35, tune-up & oil change $40, new exhaust $130. Ran & drove great, and 1 year later I sold it for $2300.

B_roche · #10 11-21-2009, 01:17 PM

I had to work in the penthouse of a big wash dc building. It was like eight bedroom and the brochure for the place said 1 bedroom starting at 1.9 mil. I had better not say her name but some of you have probably heard of her. She gave me two dollars.

It was embarrassing that she must have been so wealthy and so distorted in her opinion of what I make, that she thought two bucks was a nice gesture. It is around four bucks for a cup of coffee in that area.

rojacman · #11 11-21-2009, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B_roche

I had to work in the penthouse of a big wash dc building. It was like eight bedroom and the brochure for the place said 1 bedroom starting at 1.9 mil. I had better not say her name but some of you have probably heard of her. She gave me two dollars.

It was embarrassing that she must have been so wealthy and so distorted in her opinion of what I make, that she thought two bucks was a nice gesture. It is around four bucks for a cup of coffee in that area.

we had a wealthy rezzie customer that i did a clean & check for , ok , routine boring job , got the invoice signed & off the clock on my way out the door she says could you please fix the cord on my washing machine?? "mam , i say politely , i'm off the clock and on my way to my next call" Oh don't worry i'll just pay u it won't take long , ok not to offend a long time customer . well , it was a pita job , now i'm behind sch. & fer sure missing lunch to make it up. she smiles at me and says "sorry , i don't have any money" i didn't care about the money but the way she said it and smiled and said it meaning you like it or not , tough!!! I read her out good and left steaming , being too young to have learned the fine art of tactfulness. when i related this story to another tech he looked at me and made the sign of the cross at me and said i should find a priest for the last rites as her husband was the current head of the chicago mafia that nobody told me ahead of time.. had me watching my back for a long time

KC13 · #12 11-21-2009, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rojacman

Her husband was the current head of the chicago mafia that nobody told me ahead of time.. had me watching my back for a long time

She made you an offer that you couldn't refuse...until it was too late!

Catpower · #13 11-21-2009, 04:55 PM

Once had a customer that was VERY rich, had done his work for years, and he had always given me a Christmas card with $50-100 in it, one Christmas eve I was at home and he called me (like a dipstick I gave him my home #) went to his house and fixed the problem when I was ready to leave he handed me an envelope, I thought whoopie a $50 tip for messing up Christmas Eve, when i got home I opened it and the were 10 crisp $100 bills in it

I was real glad he called