That homeowner who watched me like a hawk during a simple outlet swap

Last Tuesday I was swapping out a busted GFCI in a kitchen in Decatur, and the homeowner stood right behind me the whole time. Every time I touched a wire he'd go "is that safe?" or "my buddy said you can't do that." I finally turned around and handed him my voltage tester and said "you wanna check it yourself?" He just laughed and went to make coffee. Has anyone else had a customer hover over them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

adamr1422d ago

Buddy of mine put a live wire to his tongue just to prove a point.

anthony12922d ago

I get what josephmartin is saying but I actually see it different. @adamr14's story about his buddy is exactly why homeowners get uneasy in the first place - people do dumb stuff with electricity all the time. Yeah it's annoying having someone breathe down your neck but they hired you to fix something dangerous. Most of them don't know what's safe and they're scared. I had a lady once count every screw I took out of a switch plate and I just showed her the old cracked one after I finished and explained the risk. She apologized and tipped me twenty bucks. It's their house man, give em a little grace.

josephmartin22d ago

You ever have one of those customers where you can feel their eyes burning a hole in your back the whole time? I had a guy once who literally pulled up a chair and sat three feet away while I was wiring a new ceiling fan. I finally just stopped, turned around real slow, and asked him if he wanted me to explain every step as I went. He said yes, so I did for about five minutes straight using all the technical terms I could. He got bored real fast and wandered off. Sometimes you just gotta call their bluff and make them sit through the boring details.