Dishing out to those who deserve getting Dished on.

Now sit down around the fire, boys and girls. Old Pappy MacLeod is gonna tell you'uns a story. Grab your s'mores and your hot chocolate cause this one is a doozy and a half. Comfy? Good, cause here we go.

A little while back, our dishwasher stopped draining properly so that after you ran a load of dishes through, you'd be left with several gallons of foul smelling water in the bottom which you then had to scoop out by hand to get the durned thing dry again. So since we have a home warranty that covers repairs and such, I gave em a call and presto chango, ibso facto, they sent out a technician to see what the problem was. Happy story so far right?

So after about an hour the Tech informed me that the drain pump on the machine was busted and that he would have to order a new part. I didn't like the idea of waiting another week for the repair to be done, but hey what can you do right? So I nodded and wrote him a check for the repairs. Yeah an actual paper type check, get over it. (As a side note here, I confirmed that the company happily took checks when I made the service appointment, so the guy knew I was going to be using a check.)

So the tech attempts to use that there new fangled way of depositing your checks by photographing it and texting it to the bank, but there was something wrong with either the phone or the bank system, because it wouldn't go through. He then attempted to call the bank and do it vie his phone and was told it was a minimum of a 30 minute wait time. So then the Tech told me, “Well I don't want to take the time to do this right now, so I will have to come back next week to confirm the check and you will have to wait an extra week to get the repairs done.

(Side note the second here. The entire time he was here, the Tech kept talking about how this was his last job of the day and that he was ready to get off work and get a beer or three.)

I very politely informed the tech that I was not going to wait two weeks for the repairs to be done and that he was just going to have to wait till he could get the check confirmed before he left. He then informed me that “I would HAVE to wait because he had things he had to do.” That is when I got just a tad grumpy. I told him in no uncertain words that I did not HAVE to wait just because he wanted to go to get beers. I told him that he WOULD wait here till the check was confirmed.

(Side note the third. During his insistence that he didn't want to wait for the check to be confirmed because it would take half an hour, he spent at least fifteen minutes on the phone with his company trying to avoid having to wait to confirm the check. If he had just waited on the line for the bank he probably would have gotten out of here sooner than he did.)

After he finally got the check confirmed, he stormed out of the house. I found out from my wife that he was driving so recklessly as he left our housing complex that he almost ran her down. This peeved me off even more because we have lots of younglings running around here especially in the afternoons.

Now folks, I get that he might have had a long day and that he was ready to go home. I truly grok that and have been in the same sort of situation myself many times in the past. However, “I'm tired and want to go home” is not an excuse for doing your durned job. It is certainly not an excuse to be incredibly rude and to recklessly endanger other peoples' safety. So needless to say, I have contacted his employers and informed them of his actions. The folks in charge have resolved things to my satisfaction and I do not envy the Tech in the days to come as he undergoes retraining and classes in public relations. I seriously doubt he will think very much of me, but he deserves whatever his bosses dish out for him.

I am a firm believer in giving credit and praise where they are due. When a company does right by me, I continue to use them. When people treat me right, I respect them. However, when the exact opposite happens, there is bloody hell to pay and I am more than willing to dish it out. A technician is now finding that little fact out.