At 11:05 AM 06/28/2001 -0400, you wrote: >The other guy only charged $45!" I went through the bill with him item >by item, but he was still flabbergasted. It's been three weeks now & still >no check. I'll wait 30 days and send another bill with instructions to call >me to arrange a payment schedule. What's with these folks? They're a church! Many churches run on a shoestring, and have tight procedures in place to control expenditures. I'm not as careful as I sometimes should be to quote everything and get approval from private owners before doing the work, especially if it's diddly little stuff, but I sure let churches know up front what it'll cost them. I figure that anything else I notice too late and decide to do will probably end up being a charity. Well, it's good for the soul, and not too bad a spur to look carefully before taking on a job. Over time, one starts to get little operating procedure in place, such as, "always have the owner there the first time you work for them," "always check in at the school front desk even if you know where the piano is," etc. "Never charge a church more than the estimate" is just one more fuss-avoider. I'd bet the pastor didn't enjoy being embarrassed like that, either. He may know that the church is poor, but not like being reminded of it. Susan
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