Rant: A Little Pride
Fair warning: Ranting follows.
The other day, someone brought me a guitar with a problem—some fret buzz in places. He told me they'd seen two other repair guys who had done various things without actually solving the problem. The last guy dismissed his failure and told my customer that he'd "bought a copy and that's why it buzzed".
What a crock!
Now, even if this particular guitar were a 'copy', that's a pitiful excuse.
Look. Nobody's perfect. People make mistakes, people sometimes come across things that they can't do or don't know how to handle. This happens me, this happens everyone. What's annoying is the fobbing-off and the meaningless excuses.
Stop hiding your inability to do a particular job behind excuses. Stop pretending that the problem is outside of you. If you don't know something, don't blame the inanimate object you're working on—find out how to proceed or 'fess up.
Take a bit of bloody pride in your work. It doesn't matter what you're doing. Find a way to do the best job you possibly can.
To illustrate: Based on the evidence, much of my house was put together by tradesmen and builders who had given up on the 'pride in your work' ideal. There isn't a right-angle, plumb vertical, or level surface in the place and every single time I have to do a job in the house, I curse their laziness and careless attitudes.
I don't want someone in the future cursing my lack of care. I can see why some people might be ok with that, but I think that's a pretty selfish view.
Don't coast. Don't settle. Just bloody do it. If you fail, try again. Or, if it's truly something you feel you can't do, at least apologise without blaming things other than you.
Grrr.
Sorry… Was I shouting?
P.S. Rant over. I realise that what I'm railing against is actually bringing more business to me. This will either give you an idea of how strongly I feel about it, or confirm that I'm an idiot.