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

[Vagabond]

.... asked me for a newspaper. I thought he needed it for "technical reasons" 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!

He didn't ask for refreshment. It was of erred. He asked for reading material. He might have hoped for FSOG as an intro to something more.

I had a new patio put in and gave the builders cups of tea. In my nice mugs because I didn 't want to appear snobbish. And they bloody broke them! Builders tea in builders mugs next time. Humpffff.

The repairman sent me a text asking me out on a frigging date! Nightmare!

Last time I offered a workman a cup of tee he gave me a 20 foot oak tree as a thank you:o

I had had a tree cut down but it wasnt suitable for burning in my woodstove so I had the tree company come take it away. It was dark and freezing cold when the poor bugger arrived, I offered him a cup of hot tee and joked about swapping my unburnable tree for 1 of the huge oaks he had on the back of his truck. He finished his tea and asked if I really wanted the oak and took it off his truck and onto my driveway before he loaded my unburnable tree.

I got enough wood for the whole winter for the price of a cup of tea :o

Now I offer every workman and tradesman who sets foot on my property a cup of tea :o

Most of the men in my family are workmen, and yes we are ooop North. So after listening to their tales of woe I always, always offer workmen a brew.

I really don't know how to deal with the window cleaner though, is there an etiquette? Do you just carry on with your business while they are right there at your window? Wave? Go out and say hello? Offer refreshments?

When I first left home and bought a house I had to get a carpet fitted in the living room. After the fitters had gone my dad asked if I had offered them a cup of tea. I had to sheepishly admit that I hadn't - because I'd had to pile stuff from the living room into the kitchen and had unwittingly blocked off access to the kettle!

A few years later when we got the carpet replaced I made sure to put the kettle and other tea bits somewhere accessible before we piled stuff in the kitchen.

Evasmum- I was carrying on my business and heard a clanging on the bathroom window. It was the window cleaner and I was on the loo with the window open. I had to move house!

Evasmum
Yes, window cleaners are tricky.
I unlock gates so they have access, and then go out! Otherwise you end up bobbing from room to room trying to avoid them!

tea oh dear, I would have been mortified!

newgirl it is one of the most awkward situations to be in, isn't it? I always have an irrational urge to hide out of sight.

Had a workman once who was tiling the bathroom. When he finished i found dd's bath sponges (she likes 2 or 3) had been used by him to wipe over the tiles or whatever they do and they were caked in grouting and filthy. He didn't even ask. Dd not impressed.

Teamumizumi and NewGirlInTown

Don't you have net curtains?

I have window cleaners and ensure that I stay in the house to check that they do all the windows. Some of them are in awkward places .....

LonelyLou - seriously?! Am trying to get my head round this one - what happens if they're having a civilised cup of tea in the garden and not doing the gardening? Do they then use posh mugs? What's the rationale?!

OP its normal for workmen to sit in their van-so they dont inconvenience you in your home

his perception of time seems a bit off though

I'm shocked that people can have people in their homes doing work for them and they dont even offer them a cuppa.

We know a brilliant builder and whenever he's done work for us I make him filter coffee and have biscuits to hand. Same with carpet fitters, plumbers etc.

"Her husband must be an indecent gardener. "

Snort!! Tea on my keyboard, and I nearly dropped one of my posh-mugs-for-use-in-the-house-only.

I leave tea-making stuff in their general vicinity, so I can pace around stressedly and wrangle the dogs until they sod off.

My DH is an electrician and he has been given some lovely home-made cakes by old ladies. We had a gorgeous fruit cake last Christmas. Recently he brought home some Indian sweets/fudge type of thing that a family had made for him. He works extremely hard and travels long distances at times, as well as being a bit of a softy when it comes to charging old ladies/families without much money so it's nice to think of people looking after him. I think it's much older people who behave like that though and he certainly isn't given treats on large commercial jobs!

Digestives - my DH is an electrician too and sounds exactley like yours! Especially being a big softy to little old ladies!

Cat - it's lovely that they are like that (my Granny once got totally ripped off by a dodgy tradesman ). Although I do sometimes have to remind DH that he is actually running a business