The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Carpet Laying And Estimating Website
With reasonable care and forethought, however, your working clothes can be neat, clean, and in good condition. Remember that, whether you like it or not, people judge your character and work by your appearance.
A good plan is to get yourself a few sets of gray denim work shirts and matching work pants, a pair of lightweight black oxfords or "sneakers," a neat black bow tie (which you can remove once you set to work).
Respect for the Customer's Property.Besides attending to these obvious matters of personal neatness—being clean shaven, having hair combed and shoes clean and free from mud, dirt or excess shoe polish— there is the very important quality of showing respect for the customer's property at all times. The largest single item of customer property is the house or apartment itself. Keep in mind that you wouldn't be working in that house or apartment unless the customer had possessed sufficient pride of ownership to want wall-to-wall carpeting. Anything you do, however thoughtlessly, to injure this sense of pride is going to hurt you and your employer in the long run.
Be especially careful of wall surfaces and wallpaper, drapes, furniture, lamps, and bric-a-brac. A few well-chosen comments while moving furniture or art objects, such as "This is certainly a beautiful table, Mrs. Jones—we'll put it carefully out of the way," will show the customer you have her best interests at heart.
Bear in mind also that the customer already thinks of the carpet as her property, and rightly so, since she's paid for it. Accordingly, treat it with as much care as possible during the installation process. Above all, don't soil it with dirty tools, dirty hands, or dirty shoes. Consider what a let-down it would be for the customer if her first view of the carpet in her home is marred with footprints, smudges, and creases!
LANGUAGE ON THE JOB
Most of us enjoy an occasional lapse into mild profanity; in the right company, a few cuss words are sometimes mighty expressive. But it goes without saying that the customer's premises is certainly not an Army barracks. So—act the role of the good salesman by sticking to the politer forms of discourse while on the customer's premises. The exercise of control in such matters makes it easier to get along with all kinds of people on the job.
Watch out, too, for any tendency to talk too loud or too often, to crack jokes or loiter with your assistant, to voice complaints about minor difficulties ( the weather, the unevenness of the floor, the irregularities of the room, etc.). Griping is a form of bad manners and is pretty futile anyway.
