American Gothic, a 1930 painting by Grant Wood, depicts the country farmer and his wife, pitchfork in hand.
It was the summer of the 90’s in Blue Springs, Missouri, a country town outside of Kansas City, Missouri. I was hired to install carpet in a master bedroom in a typical country home. You can imagine the surprise after I knocked on the front door when I saw a life image of that exact painting, for standing before me was a country farmer and his wife; the only thing missing was the pitchfork! Otherwise, I would have believed they were the ones in the portrait!
Everything went well on the job. They loved the carpet and were happy with the installation. As we were preparing to leave the job, their daughter, about 60 years old, showed up and started screaming and yelling at me because we hadn’t put the furniture back. Her position was how dare we leave the job without putting the furniture back so the elderly couple would have a place to sleep that night. She was vehement in her demands and refused to back down.
In response, I politely suggested to her we were more than willing to put the furniture back upon request. I explained how the contract did not include furniture moving and that the room was empty when we arrived. I again reiterated how happy we would be to move the furniture had we been requested to do so. And there was no need for her to scream at us simply because we were following our contract. I then asked her if she would like us to put the furniture back.
In a huff, she said yes and stormed into the house. Her father, the country farmer, came up to me with a grin on his face, saying that nobody had ever talked to his daughter like that, and he enjoyed watching it. His sons were responsible for moving the furniture but hadn’t shown up yet, so it wasn’t on us. I told him we were happy to take care of it, and we did.
The moral of the story is to be kind to the installers. It doesn’t hurt to ask politely. The worst they can do is say no. Offering a tip usually generates a yes response. Sometimes, they will say yes without incentive. Remember, installers are human too!
