if you are going to use the word 'professional' in your job title you need to live up to it.

[shoebedobedobedobedoo]

Everybody these days seems to be a 'professional' even in jobs that require zero skill or training. We just moved house and have had a run of crap 'professional' experiences.

1. The painter. Utterly shit. There is paint on my doors, my windows, my wooden floor (which has subsequently been destroyed by him trying to clean it), missed bits in every room, poor/non existent sanding and preparation work. Eventually I sacked him as he overran and I wasn't prepared to have paint also on the new carpets.
2. Plumber. Came, servcied the boiler, flushed the system, left with 2 radiators still not working.

3.Cleaner (see other post tonight). Failed to clean most of the cupboards in the house.

1. Carpet fitter, did something while fitting the carpet so now the bathroom door doesn't shut.
2. Emergency nanny. turned up 30 minutes late, didn't give DC lunch until 3pm and left the house....well like 2 children have been playing in it all day.

These are all people who call themselves professionals. Really???

Literally this is the funniest thing I’ve read in Mumsnet

But I feel your pain

I have this argument with DH regularly. Why is everyone so shit at whah they do?

Zero skill or training for those jobs? Who knew?

I don't think any of the jobs you describe above are professions. To be a profession you require specialist training and to be a member of a professional body who holds your behaviour to account against a code of conduct - so teachers, doctors, lawyers etc.

The professions you listed are highly skilled, bit not professions.

My dad has a decorating company - they are professionals. They decorate places like Buckingham Palace & 5* London hotels, they also charge a lot more than most people want to pay to decorate their house.

I think anyone who describes themself as a professional is a bit of a tool tbh.
A professional is technically someone who is a member of a professional body from which they depend on accreditation to practice.
Nowadays everyone in any line of work calls themself a professional and its totally devalued.
Also who cares? I want a plumber to do a decent job of unblocking my drains. I'm not interested in whether he has a briefcase or nice business cards.

YANBU - I once had a guy who was recommended through colleague come to do some basic work in the house. He absolutely butchered it, each small job he did was awful and no better standard than basic DIY. We refused to pay in the end and he didn’t rebuke it so he must have known it was shoddy.

Recently had a lot of work done in next house and with the exception of one, whose communication and planning was appalling, we’ve had really positive experiences of work being on time, tidy, finished beautifully and well, professional!

The difference this time was taking my time to find tradesmen and also checking honest reviews and feedback via websites and Facebook etc. I have also been really clear on what I wanted and been flexible to ensure they could fit me in properly and not just squeezing me in between jobs.

But I agree, until this experience I’ve had many, many absolute cowboys

The professions you listed are highly skilled.....I can assure you that none of the people that I've used are highly skilled.

I held the opinion that no painter could do a better job than me (no training, just guidance from DM who holds the same opinion) until the painter we used in our last house. He was amazing. sadly we've moved too far away to use him again. I would have done an infinitely better job than the painter I've just sacked....I just don't have time.

A professional is technically someone who is a member of a professional body from which they depend on accreditation to practice.

A plumber who is servicing a boiler should be Gas Safe accredited, although I appreciate that's not quite the same.

Sounds like you need to vet your 'professionals' a bit better.

Yup.

Having rolled up my metaphorical trouser leg and sworn unmentionable oaths in order to be admitted to the profession I spent years studying and training for - I have subsequently been too polite to do more than raise an eyebrow at people who claim to have acquired professional status via a six week course and the purchasing of a set of equipment ...

I would have done an infinitely better job than the painter I've just sacked

Ah, but did they steal the paint you'd bought, fail to turn up half the time and stand outside on the street doing drugs?

Mine did - and that's despire pages and pages of excellent reviews (all of them no doubt bought)

Sounds like you need to vet your 'professionals' a bit better.

To a certain extent I agree.

We knew we were taking a risk with the painter, but we unexpectedly exchanged and completed in a week, and needed to get someone in quickly. Even if the painting itself was shitty, as a minimum I would at least expect him not to destroy other furnishings in my house.

As for the nanny......she was from an agency and had a good CV. Am I honestly expected to tell a trained nanny that my children need to eat before 3pm and that part of her job is to clear up at the end of the day? Surely thats as obvious as an air steward having to close the aeroplane door before the aeroplane takes off??

And the cleaner ..."make it spotless".....do I need to say " you need to open the cupboard doors and wipe each self making sure you go into the corners"?

If you want to get technical, anyone who does a job for money rather than as a hobby can call themselves a professional.

However, I wouldn't hire just anyone for most of those jobs. How did you vet them?

puzzled

the painter did have lots of excellent reviews.....but he did let slip that most of his work was contract work redecorating nursing homes......and I'm going to assume that neither the residents or the employees of the nursing homes cared one jot.

Professional status is something to be wary of.. we employed Dr Drains, I’m guessing it wasn’t a full doctorate and feel we have over paid for non stator qualifications

re the cleaner- did you actually ask her to clean INSIDE the cupboards? Only I would never open cupboards etc in a clients home unless I was specifically asked. I don’t think any cleaners would as it shows a general lack of respect for your clients privacy.
Of course if you did ask specifically she is useless.

I'm going to assume that neither the residents or the employees of the nursing homes cared one jot

Sounds about right

Short of a personal recommendation, it beats me how you're supposed to research tradesmen these days. As said, "reviews" are too easily bought, flowery written testimonials could be penned by anyone and too many "trade bodies" are simply vehicles for advertising

If anyone can suggest anything I'd love to hear it ...

I went round to a house the decorator had done to see what the work was like, same as when I had a new bathroom and patio.

re the cleaner- did you actually ask her to clean INSIDE the cupboards? Only I would never open cupboards etc in a clients home unless I was specifically asked. I don’t think any cleaners would as it shows a general lack of respect for your clients privacy.

I agree with these. I would expect surfaces to be cleaned, but not inside cupboards unless I asked for that.

did you actually ask her to clean INSIDE the cupboards . YES I did! it was an empty house and was a move in clean as the vendors hadn't cleaned properly themselves. I wouldn't ordinarily expect my cleaner to clean in cupboards, but the house was empty.

Short of a personal recommendation I'm not even sure that works unless you know the person who has done the recommending very, very well and they know you very, very well. Friend 2 is currently having a kitchen fitted by a fitter recommended by friend 1. Friend 1 thought the kitchen fitter was fabulous, friend 2 thinks he's absolutely awful.

That's actually a pretty good idea, Sparklingbrook, and in fact it was suggested to me when I needed some building work

So I visited the "client", only to find later it was the builder's sister who'd had the work done by someone else completely (evidenced by the trade name on one of those boards the real contractor had displayed outside). The look on the builder's face when I queried if he actually worked for this company was quite something ... a sort of race between his brain and his expression

If it's someone's paid occupation - or 'profession' - then they are by definition a professional. Surprised more people don't realise what it means!

The painting and bathroom installations I saw were recommended by my actual friends who had had work done and suggested I went to look at theirs before getting them in to do my work.

The patio was done by the landscaping firm that five other people in my road had use, so was confident about that.