Ever do work at the wrong house? Yep... It happened to me today.
Got the "the house". During the previous telephone discussion with the homeowner we arranged for the back door to be left unlocked because he would be at work. This is quite a normal arrangement in my area. The back door was locked, but there was a key laying on the window sill right next to the door. It opened the door, so I just assumed that one of the other of us was confused about the arrangement on getting in the house.
I proceeded to the kitchen. The service call was to protect the kitchen counter receptacles in this older home with GFCI's. I was working in the house for almost 1/2 an hour when a quite groggy homeowner came down the stairs from the bedroom, presumably. He said, "Can I help you?". I replied that I'm almost done, and since he's there I'll go ahead and make up the bill in a few minutes. He told me that since he just rents there, I'd have to send it to the landlord. He went on to say that he wished that the landlord would have let him know that someone was going to be in to do some work, and he apologized for the dirty dishes in the sink. I was getting a very weird feeling by now.
I went outside to recheck the address on the front of the house... I got two numbers reversed. I was at 263 and I was supposed to be at 236. DUH! Well, at least I didn't get shot or hit with a baseball bat. All I lost on this one was a few GFCI receptacles and a little time. I never did tell this tennant that I was at the wrong house. I just went with the flow, since he assumed that the landlord sent me. I finished, packed up, and went down the street to the right house and did the work. That back door was unlocked there... no surprise.
Any of you guys ever do such a stupid thing? This was a first for me.
Got the "the house". During the previous telephone discussion with the homeowner we arranged for the back door to be left unlocked because he would be at work. This is quite a normal arrangement in my area. The back door was locked, but there was a key laying on the window sill right next to the door. It opened the door, so I just assumed that one of the other of us was confused about the arrangement on getting in the house.
I proceeded to the kitchen. The service call was to protect the kitchen counter receptacles in this older home with GFCI's. I was working in the house for almost 1/2 an hour when a quite groggy homeowner came down the stairs from the bedroom, presumably. He said, "Can I help you?". I replied that I'm almost done, and since he's there I'll go ahead and make up the bill in a few minutes. He told me that since he just rents there, I'd have to send it to the landlord. He went on to say that he wished that the landlord would have let him know that someone was going to be in to do some work, and he apologized for the dirty dishes in the sink. I was getting a very weird feeling by now.
I went outside to recheck the address on the front of the house... I got two numbers reversed. I was at 263 and I was supposed to be at 236. DUH! Well, at least I didn't get shot or hit with a baseball bat. All I lost on this one was a few GFCI receptacles and a little time. I never did tell this tennant that I was at the wrong house. I just went with the flow, since he assumed that the landlord sent me. I finished, packed up, and went down the street to the right house and did the work. That back door was unlocked there... no surprise.
Any of you guys ever do such a stupid thing? This was a first for me.
