Some of you know, some don’t, we used to clean winds, but we don’t clean windows anymore. Well, that’s not altogether true. Once a year we have a super hilarious old man who is taking care of his also elderly sister. They live together.
Once a year, I get a call from Gene telling me he wants to see the birds better. Going to hang out with Gene is worth the time you make for him. He tells “Dad” jokes all the time and has a super infectious laugh. He always laughs at himself. He is super funny though.
Today while cleaning Gene’s windows he stopped me and yelled across the house to come watch a magic trick. He was watching magic tricks on YouTube. Lol
I’ll link that video later but I wanted to give the window cleaners a laugh. I only kept a limited amount of window cleaning stuff, but hopefully you guys get a kick out of it.
If not you’ll get a kick out of this. It’s a single story house in front and two stories in back with a long deck on the second level. All windows are accessible without a ladder. It took me 2 and half hours. Maybe 12 windows.
Anyway, today’s joke as I was leaving was this:
“Brodie, I want to tell you about a guy who went to the doctor. He went to the doc and said, ‘doc, I’m losing my memory.’ To which the doctor replied, ‘When did this start happening?’ And the guy replied, ‘When did what start happening?’”
Yeah, that looks like the Home Depot special I was using today. Got a little too close to the window when I flipped it over. Three inch effing scratch in the glass.
The guy has a memory you wouldn’t believe. I charged him $200 the first time and he has had a check ready for me the last two times. I wouldn’t even charge him that anymore, but he wouldn’t let me leave without it.
There is a lady I clean for, actually coming up next week. Her husband died a couple years ago and as I clean the windows she walks around with me and tells me stories about her an her husband. Trips they took, how they used to clean the windows, all kinds of stuff. She is super nice and I spend more time talking with her than I do cleaning. Every time she tips me $50 and gives me a big hug before I leave. One of my favorite jobs, she reminds me of my mom. Makes my day every time.
That’s the best. I built this porch rail over 3 years ago. The husband and wife have lived in the house for 60 years. The old porch rail rusted through and Jerry needed it to make it to the handicap ramp. Parkinson’s. Retired from caterpillar.
Dorothy, the wife, who still sews square dance competition clothes and is super sweet and adorable called me up and told me Jerry passed and she needed the one end of the porch rail finished off. She’s donating the handicap ramp to a veterans charity.
I built the rail to finish it off on Sunday and installed it first thing Monday morning.
I have a huge soft spot for elderly, salt of the earth types. Jerry always brought up retiring from Caterpillar. You could tell he was really proud of the work he did.
Yep, you’ll forget all the houses you wash and the money will always go. But little things like this, helping people that really need it stick with you. Totally worth it.
Those sir… Are some high end materials… Aisle 3 at home depot… Worth every penny!
I can appreciate you using those since you only do one house a year. There is a small company in Ottawa that uses that kind of stuff with commercial storefronts… I often wonder if I could get a proper job done with tools like that, maybe a fun Friday project down the road.
Here’s the first: A cowboy walked into a saloon and had a few beers at the bar. When he left he found his horse was gone. He walked back inside, fired his gun into the ceiling. When he had everyone’s attention he calmly said,”I’m gonna saddle up to the bar and have one more beer. When I’m done if my horse ain’t back where I left it I’m gonna have to do what I did in Texas.”
The cowboy finished his beer, found his horse where he left it, and saddled up to ride away. The bartender comes running out and says, “Wait Cowboy! I have to know what you had to do in Texas.”
The cowboy turned around, tipped his hat and said, “I had to walk home.”
We have hundreds of elderly customers, it is incredibly difficult to change prices over the years. I’ve watched children grow up and go to college, husbands/wives die, houses change hands…lots of people come and go. I just keep plugging along.
Early in the year I had a wash and window clean package. Just the exteriors, as the guy (retired farmer) was just too frail to be doing physical work anymore.
But being old people who didn’t seem to get a lot of visitors, they stuck with me as I washed the house and had all sorts of questions.
Normally I don’t like people around, but they were harmless. As I was doing the first side they had never seen someone softwash, last time he did it was with pressure about 5 years ago. As I was rinsing he muttered “witchcraft” to himself, such a simple process but something he had never seen.
When I started doing the windows they both liked it, and she told him that he could have never got them that clean. In response they went inside and he just started pointing out all the spots she had missed the week before when she did the interiors. Hilarious as I could hear the passive aggressive bantering that two people who have lived their whole lives together would have.
When I was done they paid, tipped me a 20 to “have a couple beers”, jar of home made salsa, jar of pickles, and a couple pieces of beef jerky.
If I could have given them a review I would. I like making those connections, and will swing by and do the fall gutters for them for free just for being cool and make sure they are doing ok.
He had just finished telling me about his time in the air force which set up his next joke perfectly.
“Have you ever heard the story of the famous Army deserter from Arkansas, Norman Wilson?”
“I have not.”
“Norman wanted to get out of poverty in Little Rock and thought the Army was his only real shot. He showed up on day one, they gave him a comb and put him in a line. Then they shaved all of his hair off. They gave him a toothbrush, put him in a line, and pulled 4 teeth. Then they gave him a jock strap and put him in another line… nobody has seen nor heard from Norman since.”
First time reading this thread. This is great
