Work practices

I needed some electrical work done in the apartment I use and decided to call on the owner of a company that served me well a couple of years ago. He not only remembered me well (Albanians have a phenomenal memory!), but responded promptly to my call, although he is a very busy guy. Notwithstanding the ongoing energy crisis, his men are working all over the city and at all hours.

He gave a quick look at my needs and without taking any measurements or making any notes, he promised to send an electrician as soon as possible. The young guy that was dispatched, also multilingual, is a conscientious worker , ready to please me . All this implies that no real planning was done ahead for the entire job; decisions are made, by consulting the client, on the spot on “how” the job should be done, but, unfortunately, this may lead to some lack of supplies during the course of the job, as I forecasted, and ....indeed it happened!

However, this way of working seems to be a local habit: both boss and workers take what it comes with it in stride. It’s not an efficient use of time, which may create also some chaotic situations affecting the clients, but these service providers feel very busy, and they get around doing what needs to be done, very politely and usually with a smile on their faces.

I had a similar experience a week ago when I arranged for two men to come and install some heavy furniture, which I had shipped from Italy earlier in the month.

They both came, armed with electric drill and other tools, and they asked me for a picture of what the piece should look like when mounted. I tried to point them to the various pieces and the hardware that was part of it, but they were fumbling around and were not paying much attention to what I was saying, trying to figure out where to start.

After all, I was present at the dismantling, and a few minutes of attention would have avoided having to redo some installation steps that they eagerly took when they disregarded my suggestions on the matter. When they finally realized their mistake, they smiled graciously and humbly acknowledged that my input was correct. It not possible to get angry at such behavior!