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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To give a cuppa to the repairman and then be surprised when he.....

94 replies

Vagabond · 03/09/2012 22:13

.... asked me for a newspaper. I thought he needed it for "technical reasons" Hmm so gave him the sports section from yesterday's paper. Instead of carrying on with his work, he grabbed the paper and his cuppa and went outside to sit in his van for 20 minutes ....

I wouldn't have minded but I had to get to work......

Fretting that I should have provided biccies too!

OP posts:
OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 11:00

I see tea and coffee as a normal thing that most people like to keep them comfortable throughout that day, and I'd always offer that as well as whatever cold drinks we happen to have. I see biscuits as a treat, not as a neccesity to be able to work.

BandersnatchCummerbund · 04/09/2012 11:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 11:09

Not all workmen put that much energy into their jobs. It doesn't take that much to fix a washing machine or do some decorating. I doubt they use much more energy than I do as a TA in reception. And like I said, I don't expect to be provided with sugary crap every day. If I needed it, like some workmen might do, then I'd provide it form myself. I certainly wouldn't expect customers who were already paying me to provide it.

BandersnatchCummerbund · 04/09/2012 11:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

imonthefone · 04/09/2012 11:20

tescos value chocolate digestives= 27p! (or it might be giner nuts that are 27p) Grin

LittleSugaPlum · 04/09/2012 11:21

To give a cuppa to the repairman and then be surprised when he.....

I was expecting you to say then he asked if i would make him some lunch!! Grin

I didnt expect you to say he asked if you had a paper so he could read it on his break.

YABU

imonthefone · 04/09/2012 11:22

ginger nuts = 29p
chocolate digestives = 41p

now you know

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 11:32

I see what you're saying about social convention, but maybe I just don't have enough work type people in my house to think like that. If someone is coming round specifically for coffee and a gossip Id probably buy something especially, but the majority of people that come round, like my Mum or very close friends, just take me as they find me. If I got biscuits out every time one of them came round I'd end up the size of a house. I don't have cleaners and nannies and babysitters.

If workmen are doing a big job over a week and I like them and they are dong a good job I'd offer them lunch, because it woudo seem rude not to if they are there and I'm already making stuff, but I think that's different to buying something in especially for workmen. Maybe if we were a biscuity household then I'd offer because they are there, but I don't think there's anything wrong in not buying stuff especially for them.

It's not the fact that they are being paid, it's that they are there to work, not socialise with me, and I just see treats like biscuits as a social thing.

Minty82 · 04/09/2012 11:33

My parents gave a cup of tea to the decorator who was painting their front door once, and he popped into the house to get something or use the loo or something, leaving the tea on the wall. When he came out it had vanished and an old man was wandering down the road with it!

perfumedlife · 04/09/2012 11:42

Outraged I get the biscuits/cakes out for every visitor, doesn't mean I have to eat them. Smile You can offer hospitality and not take it up yourself.

LonelyLou · 04/09/2012 11:42

Grin Minty82. That made I larf!

I thought this was going to be an extention of Fifty Shades where the OP ended it with "Oh my" whilst biting her lip Shock

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/09/2012 11:43

No, you are confusing me with somebody who has willpower.

If I go down that biscuit aisle then the next thing I know I'll have scoffed two packets of chocolate hobnobs. Wink

perfumedlife · 04/09/2012 11:46

Grin Fair point.

limitedperiodonly · 04/09/2012 11:50

I gave the workmen gutting next door's house two crates of lager for tidying the mess they'd unavoidably caused in my garden.

That was a total of 30 bottles on offer in Sainsbury's for £19.

They were back shortly afterwards to whitewash the garden walls with masonry paint they pinched from the developer and built me a bench to replace the one they'd noticed was rotten. The bastards haven't varnished it though.

Sometimes giving workmen things, even if not terribly good for their health, works out well for you.

ArbitraryUsername · 04/09/2012 11:50

I have to remind myself to offer tea and coffee when there are workmen in the house. Neither DH nor I drink tea or coffee, and we don't really understand how often people will want one. Nor does tea/coffee automatically occur to us. We keep tea bags in the house for when PILs come to visit, and we're always amazed at how much tea they get through.

I usually just tell the workmen to give me a shout if/when they want anything, but they never ask.

I've taken the kettle, some mugs and tea, coffee and sugar down to our new house, which is being renovated. I just leave it on the worktop and let them make some if they want any. There's no fridge so I don't leave any milk. I have procured some biscuits too and I'll leave them there too.

catinboots · 04/09/2012 11:57

I recebtly gave tea and biccies to some workmen who were working outside our house in the lane. Ever so nice they were.

Turned out they were pikeys stealing 3 miles of cable which had a scrap value of 7K.

Blush
TheSmallClanger · 04/09/2012 12:04

We have a thing called "the outdoor kettle", which tradesmen are allowed to use. Normally, it is used by DH and I if we are doing stuff in the garden or the garage.

I don't like having to have tradesmen in the house, I don't want to make them cups of tea, and I want them in and out as quickly as possible, especially if I'm trying to get to work. I realise that that might make me odd or unreasonable, but it's the way I feel.

squoosh · 04/09/2012 12:08

We have a thing called "the outdoor kettle", which tradesmen are allowed to use

Hmm

Are you Julian Fellowes?

squoosh · 04/09/2012 12:10

I don't drink tea or coffee but always make sue to have both in plentiful upply along with milk and kit kats whenever I have any workmen in my home.

I find it weird that people don't offer a cup of tea.

TheSmallClanger · 04/09/2012 12:27

No, I'm not Julian Fellowes, but that comment has really made me giggle!

My mum is Hyacinth Bucket. She does not have an outdoor kettle, but she does have three different teapots for different occasions.

BandersnatchCummerbund · 04/09/2012 12:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Minty82 · 04/09/2012 12:41

Me too; that's hilarious!

Original poster
Vagabond · 04/09/2012 19:53

This is the OP here. I should have clarified that he was only here to do a 15 minute job. He was half an hour late but I didn't mind that too much. What I found odd was that he took the paper outside and had his cuppa which took longer than the whole job he was doing for me. That's why I was late for work, honest guv! Grin

OP posts:
LonelyLou · 04/09/2012 21:00

My neighbour, I discovered last week, has garden job mugs! She was horrified I was offering my own husband a drink in a decent mug whilst he was gardening Shock

Her husband must be an indecent gardener.

NewGirlInTown · 04/09/2012 22:42

SmallClanger, I am with you.

I absolutely hate having tradesmen in the house. They would always be treated politely but they are not guests, and treating them as such is a guaranteed way for a job to over run, in both time and money. DP runs major construction projects and guffawed when I told him about the OP and the tradesman asking for a newspaper! One would expect people working in different sites every day to be rather more self contained in planning their own refreshments.
Maybe it's yet another North/South thing?