Son put off window cleaning by bin man LOL

[Scottie]

I have not been cleanign for ling but it sgoing very well and working hard to build my round and see this as my life job now and I love it and no I alwasy will, its so me, freedome, no pressure. I go to bed and sleep and dont worry about work or a meeting or a report or the office bull crap. I will earn double what i did in an office and all thoe guys there earning the normal wage and having to be up early to commute and travel home late what mugs!

People just do not work it outdo they how much we earn, I di have one guy say to me after chattign about jobs that window cleaning seems nice, out in the open, no boss on your own, he said it sounds good he worked in an office. He then said how may do you do a day, I said i can do 12-16 a day, he then said are they all price of mine? I sad some are more some are less but average 10-12 pounds per house, so he said your making over £120 a day then, I said yeah and the rest. He was gobsmaked and said "I never thought about how many you do, good money window cleaning then. YEP!

Well a window cleaner with a established round is going to be a higher than average earner by a far way, average earnings in uk is about 18k is it not? I think most windys are on £30k or more with a good round. So window cleaners I would say are good earners far better than most people in your steet.

 

[Poles Apart]

That is actually disgusting and for it to have happened more than once makes me feel sick. How dare someone say something like that to someone he's probably envious doesn't like the fact you probably made that £20 in 20 minutes cleaning his windows.

That's about the jist about it.

 

[Diwrnach]

hes 17, kicked out of college, gets no money at all. only what we give him.so £25 for helping me out and learning was ok for him. i told him if he got better at it he could earn more .

Sounds like he needs a reality check?

 

[Dave B]

That's why i like my boy working with me sometimes

Gives him a sense of the value of money

Although he earns more than any other 14 year old when he does

 

[Diwrnach]

I was homeless at 16 and still managed to do an apprenticeship as an electrician, I have had bugger all help my whole life, if he is 17 living off parents hand outs and turning his nose up at earning some money window cleaning, well, if he was my lad he would get a kick up the ass.

 

[Dave B]

I grew up on a london housing estate with jack:turd:

If i needed anything i had to work for it..no other choice as dad could only just cover the bills

I do think looking at my sons friends that kids don't understand the way the world works nowadays as even the ones with parents on benefits seem to have everything they want

I was working in a fishmongers at 14 just so i could afford to go out with mates etc

 

[Dave B]

For me the main motivation for doing this job is to give my family a better life than when i was growing up

I still won't spoil my son though as that just creates problems for him later in life

 

[Diwrnach]

Yeah, I worked a pretty large paper round when I was around 12 or 13, then I would clean cars, help on the farm etc etc at the weekends.

Its a different world now that is for sure.

Just out of interest what does he plan on doing then seeing as he got kicked out of college that is going to be so superior to window cleaning?

 

[Diwrnach]

For me the main motivation for doing this job is to give my family a better life than when i was growing upI still won't spoil my son though as that just creates problems for him later in life

Same here, my end game is having something to leave to my kids when I am gone etc, if they don't do well at school or don't know what to do etc they wioll have a business to run, the boy can do windows/pressure washing etc, the girl can take over my future domestic cleaning business maybe with the younger girl as well, but I would also love to be able to help them get going in whatever they choose, if they want to go to uni I can help, my eldest who is only 8 but she wants to be a hair dresser, fine I said but instead of working for someone else I will help you get your own salon instead.

 

[Dave B]

My son wants to do something in computers and is very clever at it..he is designing me a website and sorting hosting etc and seo at the age of 14 and i guarantee when it's finished it will be perfect but he will always have a job with me to fall back on if it don't work out

 

[Diwrnach]

My son wants to do something in computers and is very clever at it..he is designing me a website and sorting hosting etc and seo at the age of 14 and i guarantee when it's finished it will be perfect but he will always have a job with me to fall back on if it don't work out

Nice, its great he knows what he wants to do and still have a safety net, that is what I hope my kids end up like, when I was at high school all I could think about was how to escape the home I was in, what I wanted to do as a career didn't enter my head, just escape lol, I still don't know what I want to do /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[johnny bravo]

hes now enrolled at college , joinery , i cant see him lasting long. he s old enough but not wise enough to sort himself out, so he thinks. a big difference, 2 kids , the other one loves to make money, from leaving school. scaffolding, selling phones, hiring hot-tubs. anything what involves making money. he even asked if he can do any work on weekends, more motivated in life. i dont want someone helping me who dosent want to. cause more grief and issues while working.

we can only look back on our own decisions we make in life , and have only ourselfes to blame if they dont go our own way. at least i know i tried to help him to make a some easy cash.

 

[boarcity]

id give him the financial incentive, moneyfor doling out leaflets might turn him around.

i see so many lads holed up in their bedrooms all moody . i was only jus talking to a friend about that lad who got caught the murderer in colchester , he was one of those types holed up in a room brooding

 

[cheapncheerful]

ahhhh, my poor son came with me once....

it was his lordships mansion which I still do today...

unfortunately first clean....it was covered in some sort of oil he had used to paint the oak beams...and it was all leadeds at the front...

I gave him a scraper and told him how to do it but ...it took hours...and this was before my old age wisdom of charging double for a first clean that I use today...or...using the chems I would use today...

yep he never came on the windows again..

all my kids made their own way in life and are all in full time employment or uni...and I am proud of them all...

but this maybe sums up our job perfectly.

a few eons ago the wife's friend came in out of a horrible wet and windy day..it was wild out there...and yep she knew what my job was...

OH she said...oh its horrible out there...I wouldn't send a dog out in that....

looks me straight in the eyes and said...

oh...why aren't you out at work dave?

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

I said...

its too woof....

 

[kev]

I had a bill for my van it was £170.i told a custie about it.she turned around & said "that's a shame,i should imagine you have to work all month to get that back"there are so many misconceptions about window cleaning.

I wouldn't be able to help myself i'd have to say no i make that in a day haha just to see the shock

 

[spruce]

That is actually disgusting and for it to have happened more than once makes me feel sick. How dare someone say something like that to someone he's probably envious doesn't like the fact you probably made that £20 in 20 minutes cleaning his windows.

There are a few people in this world who have no morals. In fact, it becomes a sport, a challenge, to see who they can get a job done by without paying for it. It won't be just you the window cleaner, it will be a list of small tradesmen (including other window cleaners) that they will all have a go with before you and will continue to try it on after you.

They will get a kick out of you trying to get money from them. Retaliate and you will suffer. Next time your van is on the street they can easily damage it, further adding to your costs.

Best just to write it off and let in go mentally. It's difficult and yes, there's a principle involved, but its not a 'train smash'. If you don't let it go then you are the one with the ulcer.

In 12 years of window cleaning this has probably happened three times to me and a couple of times to each of the lads. If you consider the amount of bad debt we have had percentage wise to the amount we have got in, then its nothing really.

What would you do if a new customer, after having agreed a price for a window clean, offered you a take it or leave it payment in the form of a current lottery ticket once the job was done and you knocked for your money? (A lottery ticket was a £1 in those days.)

 

[Diwrnach]

Never failed to get paid, you did the job get your money for it.

 

[Parky]

At 17 I was earning 20 quid a week in a local boozer. Once he susses out that he can earn more than his pals just by helping you out he'll be all over it like a rash.

**** what anyone else thinks. Its difficult to try to get a 17 year old to grasp that though I suppose.

 

[johnny bravo]

hes back in college now, games design, college is full of dreamers.

they dont realise untill they are older and not making much.

as he dosent drink etc or go out now hes got a girlfreind who works p/t primark. w/ends money goes on pizas, its s..t but you cant force someone to work as you do. if hes happy without cash so be it.

as im getting more work now from new builds this time next year if my gaining new customers continues ill have to take someone on.

ill probably take a young lad on as they will appreciate the money more and work to impress you.

well thats my hope.

you can only try to help your kids so much, if they throw it back in your face DONT BOTHER. It must be the embarrasment of being known as a window cleaner.

i used to think like that, but i kept it up and always had cash to feel im my pockets.

had 3 holidays abroad this year, xmas coming up, still sleep cumfy at night.

There will be a lot more ex british steel workers up here now looking into getting into window cleaning, this usually happens when big companys shut down.

i wouldnt like to start up again right now. looks too hard work looking for reliable customers

 

[Diwrnach]

No idea why anyone would look down on window cleaning, don't really get it.

 

[Diwrnach]

So many kids doing game design, I used to work for codemasters in test/design, its a hard job, long hours, only the very lucky and/or highly talented ever make any money at it.

Would be better of doing programming than design.