Having lived in the house for some 30 years, my parents decided to renovate the house and give it a complete overhaul.
And so the question back then was who to trust the job with? A random contractor may do the job but my parents felt that it would be better to leave the job to someone we know. Thus, the job was left in the hands of this acquaintance of my father.
Ideas were finalised, the prices were fixed and the renovation works started. The acquaintance promised to deliver quality results during our numerous discussions. Floor tiles were chosen and carpentry works were decided. We thought everything (well, almost everything) was settled and the renovation would be completed soon.
However, we soon realised that the renovation was delayed due to insufficient stocks of the materials we ordered. And we were not informed about it until we went down to check on the progress of the renovation. And so it turned out that the materials we ordered were not out of stock, but merely low in stock. Misunderstandings arose and my parents were disgusted that the person whom they trusted was in fact a dishonest person. Calls demanding for an explanation were made but not returned. When returned, frivolous excuses were made. My mum demanded to meet him for an explanation.
I was there too, to hear what the acquaintance had to say. (Well at that point in time, we were almost ready to treat him as a foe.)
All he mentioned were excuses that we predicted and my mum questioned him on several other issues and decisions that were made without our consent, based on his assumptions. All he bothered about was the profit that he will make if materials of a lower price were purchased. He disregarded the trust we had in him and it was obvious that we have a different set of goals from him. For ours, it was to simply renovate our house with the belief that since he was someone we knew, he would do a good job. And as for him it is pretty obvious that all that was on his mind was his profit margin.
The renovation works finally completed (with delays here and there) and you would think that the conflict is resolved but whenever I see him on the streets I'd try my best not to glare at him.
And so, my question is - would you do the same if this happened to you?
