Service

We had two builders at our house today. The lady who's drawn the plans for our house recommended them to us and organised for them to come and give me a quote.

We need to remove some walls, to build some new ones, to build a couple of bathrooms, a conservatory and a new kitchen. The quote they gave me was the average worker's 12.5 year salary, and this quote didn't include the electric work, plumbing or any material! Joyce has a nice 60 square metre house, a well built, proper house. I could buy 6.25 of Joyce's houses with the fee I was quoted.

After the men left the security company's man came over. There was a fault in one of the sensors in the garage and we couldn't set the alarm system on. The man located the problem quickly - the device didn't get power. He traced the problem upstairs: the thatchers (who are working on our roof's watering system at the moment) had cut the power cord in the loft. We have no idea why. The security man fixed the problem and said he didn't want to charge me for this work. He wrote in the log-book that there had been ants and gekkos in the system and he had fixed the problem without charge.

The security man and I left the house at the same time. I was off to pick India up from the creche. The man offered me a lift, and then drove out of his way to take me to the creche. Now this is what I call service.