I will jump in this one . . . would you expect otherwise?
In all fairness, she was characterized as sleazy before she even had a chance to explain herself. Her question about motivating some of her employees is a legitimate one. How many on PZ have complained about employees and are glad they don't have them anymore?
If you are doing $100,000.00/mo., you need employees. When you have that much on the line, you need to watch the labor hours and compare production.
Plumberman - With all due respect, you are a rare breed. I don't jump through hoops for money and work to the best of my ability. When someone is paying me for a service, I live up to expectations. I take pride in a job well done. Certainly you must have seen other plumbers who do not have the same work ethic as you do? I don't think she was referring to all. Apparently she has had some that are content to sit on the clock and take advantage of a guaranteed paycheck. The union comment was as uncalled for as the sleazy comment which precede it.
666 - :no: And I had such high hopes for you.
You jumped a bit too quick IMO. Perhaps if you tried to see it from an owner's eyes, you would understand. Owners get characterized as being greedy and not doing enough for their employees . . . just like Union workers get characterized for being lazy. Neither is fair. Callbacks are very expensive to a company. It is much more than just the hourly rate the plumber is being paid that is lost. If she didn't watch the dollars closely, she would face consequences.
They are doing $100,000./mo. - what you or no one else on PZ knows is what her expenses are. They could be $110,000.00/mo. At that rate, she should be cutting expenses. It's natural to look at the labor in a service business, which in most cases is 70% of sales. She owes at least that to her performers. A callback that takes an hour of time costs us close to $200.00, even though the plumber's hour may have cost $20.00. Multiply that by several plumbers and you are definitely cutting into the bottom line. (Remember, the hour doing the callback becomes an unsold hour.)
There are employees who look at that $100,000./mo. number and assume the owner is getting rich. They start to believe they are worth more without knowing the other side of the equation.
Everyone else - we all know PZ can be rough. Does it have to be this way?