’ll bite the bullet, take it on the chin, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that it’s done right. I’ll make it right just so I can take comfort in sleeping at night knowing nothing’s gonna happen here, there is not gonna be a problem, the customer’s gonna be safe. The installation that I put in is not second best. It’s the best that it can be, and it’s the safest it can be. I don’t want to look back and have the customer look back and say — I’ll never have them back because he didn’t do a good job or didn’t ask me the right question. So, I always look at it as if I was the customer. I’m gonna put myself in the customer’s shoes.

I just try to leave the customer with a good warm feeling when I leave and walk out that door. If there’s a problem, I stand behind my work. Sure, I make mistakes — maybe I break something that I didn’t realize, or I pinch a wire and it blows the circuit breaker after, you know, after a week’s time. I’ll go back. Yeah, I goofed and I fix it. I stand behind my work and my profession. Taking the good with the bad. Being ready to say, yeah, I made a mistake, I’ll fix it. I make the first effort in hopes that it comes around and generates a thank you and they call me back.

Yeah, I work for a big company, but I’m a one-man shop. I float my own boat. I run my own show. And because of it, I’ve got customers that say, “If I can’t get Jim, I’ll wait”. When’s Jim gonna be back from vacation? When’s Jim gonna be through with the job he’s on? Whatever… I want Jim back. And I take pride when a customer calls back and asks for me. I feel needed. And the gratification I get when they say, “Hey, I want you”, makes me warm and fuzzy.

Stories from the Field