A knock on the door revealed a gentleman in a hi vis vest and a hard hat not unlike those who had been repairing the roads in downtown Chorleywood.
`Morning sir, I’m here on behalf of the highways department, we`re working just round the corner and it looks as if we`ll have some tarmac left, we can’t really take it back once it`s heated so I wonder if you want your drive doing`
Actually I hadn’t but my silence seemed to spur him on and he went on to explain how they could be here first thing in the morning and the job would be finished before morning coffee and bourbons.
`Well`, I began, “ there are lots of stories about people like me saying they`re interested and the next thing is there`s a gang spreading tarmac about before asking for a lot of money`
He nodded in agreement ` I’ve heard this but we give a proper quote, we`d come and measure up `
`I’ve heard this too` I counter ` but then it turns out that the quote wasn’t for the whole job it was only for the materials and the boys still have to be paid or the quote wasn`t £x per square metre it was £x per cubic foot and those were really deep holes we had to fill and the guy who gave you the quote is off today and I’ve got to pay the boys for their time`
He looked offended `We`re not like that, everything goes through the company and you get a proper invoice from us` whilst handing over a business card ` you shouldn’t assume all companies are like that.
We part company and I reflect that perhaps I was a tad judgemental as I study the business card and type `Braintree Civil Engineers` into Google… he must have given me an old business card I muse as I type in the postcode CM7 8DL, which doesn’t seem to exist either.