Babes in the woods

For the benefit of my close entourage, I want to make perfectly clear that “eating at my place” and “eating my place “ are two very different things.
I enjoy having dinner guests, but I don’t care for unannounced hungry visitors.

Just before the holidays, I discovered that subterranean termites have surreptitiously invaded my house and chomped on it for quite a while. This is not nice!

At first glance, everything looked normal, but if you paid closer attention and poked a finger in a plank, you would not encounter any resistance. Instead, some fine powder would start leaking out.

I don’t know much about termites but I recognize a problem when I see one. So, I called a pest control guy for advice. The man looked at the infected area and shortly after presented me a bid of $1400.00 to exterminate the varmint. I called a second person and I was quoted $450.00. The third specialist asked me for $900.00.

Well my friends, like it or not, we are all babes in the woods, “inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile situation”. It is an unfortunate but very common situation.

Most of us have been schooled and worked all our lives in a very specific field. After a few years of practice, we became reasonably knowledgeable and able to solve most of the problems that we encountered (in our field).

But taken out of our comfort area, we are at the mercy of any unscrupulous tradesman. And unfortunately, there are plenty of those lurking in the bushes.

I am always willing to pay a fair price for a job, but I hate to be taken for a ride. And any time you need a specialized worker, you have a good chance to encounter a greedy individual.

The treatment proposed by three different contractors was identical. Drill little holes in the infected areas and inject some poisonous foam into them.
I settled with the $900.00 bid and a friendly young man came to do the job. He labored for about 2 hours and left.
But I have lingering doubts about the results of this procedure…

Now, a quick calculation: let say that the worker was (generously) paid $50.00/hour. Two hours of work would cost $100.00 to his employer. Let’s add another generous $50.00 for the foam.
We are now talking about a $750.00 profit for his company. ¿Es una gran estafa? I am afraid so.

Babes in the woods (most of us) are always at the mercy of highwaymen. So be extremely careful when you venture into undefined areas!

 The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit … Lysander Spooner

 Alain

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