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Labor is cheap (and unprofessional)

Written By: ruchi - Oct• 29•12
Labor is cheap

One of the most touted benefits of living in India is that you get cheap labor to get your day to day tasks done. Very true, but be aware, you get what you pay for (most of the times). People call themselves carpenter, wiring specialist, plumber, electricians and gardener but the only competency they have is that they are shameless and street smart. I agree that there are exceptions like this gas stove technician, who came to fix the intensity of the flames of our stove. He had tough time fixing it as per my requirements but he won’t give up. I liked his way of thinking. He said that it’s in his interest to fix it right otherwise the customer will simply give him a call and he will have to come back again to fix it. Wow! We need more people like him – professional and polite.

Most other guys I have dealt with show up on your door hours (if not days) late and still expect to get the job and the money they desire. I will give you an example. In our complex, apparently the built-in cable TV wiring is not sufficient for the PVRs so the complex maintenance supervisor recommended a wiring guy. I called up this guy and he told me that he will come and finish the wiring that same day. He shows up at 5 pm in the evening and says that workers are not allowed to work after 6 pm in the complex so he will come the next day. I don’t understand then why he came at 5 pm in the first place?
Next afternoon I called him and he said that he is stuck somewhere and he will come on Saturday at 8 am. I called him back on Saturday at 10 am and he says that his drill is broken and he has to get it fixed so he will come on Sunday. On Sunday I called him at 1 pm and he tells me that he is working in another apartment in the same complex and he will come at 3:30 pm and of course he never came. I couldn’t get out of the house on both Saturday and Sunday because I was waiting for this guy. Then I receive a call from him on Monday morning that he can come today. By then, we were extremely frustrated by his unprofessionalism. We told him clearly that there is no need to come. We will live without the TV but he is NOT getting any business from us.
I am sure we will have tough time getting that cable laid but we are not ready to promote such unprofessional behavior. Do you think if everyone started doing the same, the situation will improve?