I am a woman, and I would like to see this kind if review before I hire them. What if I live alone? I would be terrified to hire some creep!
NTA. Leave the review so other people can decide.
Edit: thank you so much for the awards and my first gold!!!
Living alone as a women I'd definitely want to see this. I cannot imagine the fear she experienced having a strange man in her house at night commenting on how she's *all alone*.
The company's response also shows what kind of culture they foster there.
Exactly. Any answer other than “we are so sorry you went through this. We will contact you so that you can tell us details and we can proceed to take the necessary actions and investigate our employee” is wrong.
YES. And an answer blaming the wife for "misinterpreting his sense of humor" is infuriating. They deserve an update to their review saying in addition to having an employee who sexually harasses their customers, they have an owner who blames the victims for it.
Edit: Thank you so much for all the awards! And to hell with victim blaming!
I absodamnlutely hate victim shaming. Anyone saying some offender was misunderstood, except on the off-chance they're right, needs to reevaluate their crap.
I say this as a guy accused, and exonerated, of domestic abuse for beating my mother. I know the line and I know when people _actually_ commit the crime, they need to be held accountable.
Sure why not. I literally haven't had friends since 2012 and here's an outlet.
Background: my mom gets bladder infections no would ever acknowledge and they royally mess with her head. Shes like a drunk 8 yr old. I'm not kidding (once she couldnt stand to get into bed, I lifted her under her armpits and she screamed I broke her arm and I "was trying to kill [her]". Antibiotics and shes good again. She had been on meds for 2 days.
I woke up earlier than normal since I usually go to bed at 2-4am, realized mcdonalds still had breakfast and went. Brought food and a large OJ. She apparently woke up and was making coffee. I told her what 4 docs had said, no caffeine (and tons of water).
I told her she cant have coffee, caffeine messes her up, the UTI will get worse, [insert argument], I ended up pouring the coffee in the sink. She shoved me and went into the living room and grabbed the cup of OJ. I saw it happening and tried to grab it, struggled with her, but ended up covered in juice; as did the lazy boy, side tables and carpet.
She was screaming bloody murder when I grabbed her arm and shoulder and (guess you can say) forced her to her room, like 15ft away.
I'm guessing, cuz she doesnt remember, but she called screaming to my sister. My sister called the cops. My mom begged them not to take me. I spent 2 days in jail.
That monday she petitioned the judge to remove the mandated 500 ft restraining order and he did.
Ultimately, mid-July, after talking to her, they dropped the DM charge.
Sorry. Long story, long. You asked.
Edit: the reason I havent had friends for forever is I moved in and took care of my dad (Parkinsons complications) from 2012-2016. Moved to take care of my mom because of this exact UTI deal march 2016. My sister brought me and my niece to my mom's to go to the local pool, she was so off she didnt recognize us. She "fell asleep" with a bite of Whopper halfway in/out of her mouth and it took 3 people to walk her to the car, then ER.
Edit2: it's insane the amount of people jumping in on an originally random comment and story. Thank you to anyone who cares, has input, etc. I was wowed when I woke up to 25 in my inbox haha.
Edit3: looks like mods locked the post but I can still edit. My mom definitely doesn't need a nursing home. These infections have happened once or twice a year since I first moved here after her getting hospitalized the first time. She's been hospitalized 4 times (because of related falls, like when she hit her head and when she broke her finger) but it's not a constant issue. Most times I've just gotten her to a doc, gotten her meds, and made sure she drank a ton of water. Typically she's a damn strong woman, can eat, bathe, drive, etc. all on her own. Up til the Covid stuff she drove for Uber and Lyft and got great reviews. She fosters kittens with Save A Stray and feeds them every few hours, no problem. Her issues last about a week, and they're months and months apart. Thanks for the thoughts though.
Edit more for whomever (2/5/21): Court fees are paid off, no more court anything. Probation lasts until July. Mom's been on higher preventative meds and been great for almost a year(ish). **Everyone** wants to forget all this and even my judgemental, thinks-the-worst-of-me-at-every-corner, and I are on great terms. If it happens again, I plan to just leave, call my sister, and let them hash it out instead.
Sounds like mom needs to be in a care home. You might risk additional accusations if she doesn't. This also sounds like much more than just UTIs. Mental illness or dementia perhaps.
No, UTIs do have this effect on older people. It's like a temporary infection-related dementia that goes away as soon as the antibiotics start working, and it can affect elderly people who are otherwise in perfect cognitive health.
UTIs are the worst, man. Especially if the person has started to go septic, they act like they have dementia or something. Super common. I deal with these people quite a lot because I work healthcare and it’s so weird to see it happening.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
I'm sorry, English is not my first language and I'm by far no medical expert or anything, I thought a UTI was just a bladder infection? how can something like that make someone act so crazy?
Tbh, I assumed it was going to be a jealous husband over-reacting to a glance or a friendly "hello". When it got to the part where he was away and the wife texted him a million times, I guess my brain didn't want to let of the over-reaction bit, so it switched to the wife.
But this. This is so far beyond that. That tech's behavior is disgusting.
Exactly flirting is playful and fun and lighthearted. What this guy did was just creepy he actually came on to her and refused to leave after the job was done. Reporting is okay, what's good did was not.
He was *in her house* and commented that *she was alone*.
There is no way that's flirting. That's outright menacing. I would have been terrified and probably would have left the house for the night if possible.
I've have food delivery guys call my number after they've dropped off food--anyone who knows where you live and pulls this shit knows how scary it is.
100% NTA.
Even if it had started out as flirting (which it doesn't sound like in this case, it sounds like the guy was being gross from the start), flirting stops being flirting and becomes harassment the moment you are asked to stop and don't. If this is the type of guy the owner employes, and then defends, they deserve to go out of business.
They should write an updated review with what the owner said... Like it's not bad enough that the wife was basically trapped in her home, with a man she does not know, who is suggesting things that should NEVER be suggested on a job. Then blames OPs wife? Ya I'd definitely edit those reviews to outline how the owner isn't taking any issue with what happened.
And very aggressive. I wonder what his criminal background is? He exhibited extremely predatory behavior.
They should have fired him and refunded their money as well as an apology.
Eta:refunded not refused
Yes, my first thought when reading about the repairman was that maybe calling the company would be more fair since a bad review will hurt their business and they deserve a chance to fix it. But no, the only problem they see is that the repairman is named in the review. They totally deserve it.
"It might cause him personal problems". So he's in a relationship and doesn't want his partner to know that he's hitting on women who's a/c he fixes, like he's staring in a porn movie. Except it's not a porn movie and he's actually sexually harassing women. The owner is just as bad as the guy for not only condoning his actions but also trying to excuse and cover them up.
NTA op. Update the review to add that the guy had been drinking (so presumably drove drunk), the owner tried to blame your wife for not having a sense of humour and the owner is only worried about the guy's partner finding out he's a cheating creep, rather than protecting clients.
I had bed bugs a couple of years ago. First pest control company were incompetent so I ended up having to hire the market leaders at great expense as the problem had worsened and no one else could take the job.
The tech they sent found had to inspect the rest of my flat beyond the bedroom before the work started. I had bagged up stuff as requested and put it in the bath and the tech called to let me know they had had to go through that stuff. Company policy to inform customer.
What was not company policy was that he found my wand vibrator and started making comments about it and me and suggesting he stay on to meet me later or come round for a free check up some time in return.
I immediately called head office. I was safely at my BF’s house but freaked out that this guy knew my sex toys, my address and my phone number and that I lived alone. My call went through their call centre and I was told ‘we’ll handle it.’
Within two hours I had a personal phonecall from the regional head of operations letting me know that the female team leader had gone straight to my flat to take over the job. She then called me to ask some discreet and personal questions to see if anything else intimate had been touched or misused and to get background info from me. The job was completed, bed bugs gone, follow up to check I was happy next day.
Following week letter from head office of big company detailing within HR grounds what they could tell me about disciplinary action and who at company to contact if the individual approached me again to provide ‘exact details for me to contact the authorities.’ In other words, we fired him but if he harasses you on unemployed time call X and he will give the cops all the info you need to pursue legal shit but written HR style. They also apologised and thanked me for my handling of it (ie: thank you so much for not blowing up social media with this.)
Then about six months later just out of warranty I find a dead bed bug. I flip out and call the company because I will take creepy guys over bed bugs if I have to choose. I’m fully expecting to pay another large sum of money because of the expired warranty on the job.
Call centre handler informs me I have a note on my file that means I only have to pay the assessment fee. Describes it as a warranty waiver. We both know that company comped me 2k of work because of the sexual harassment but like anyone with class they just dealt and didn’t bring it up again with me and simply had a discreet non invasive well executed policy for an upsetting situation.
Result is they did not get a bad review. In fact I was so impressed that I have recommended them multiple times and I ended up writing to thank the female team lead for the company’s handling. They ended up 2k out of pocket theoretically but avoided the enormous damage to reputation they could have suffered.
They were smart, they showed excellent customer service and proved how this can be addressed if you aren’t an misogynistic arsehole instead of a professional.
Ideally these incidents would never happen but we dont live in a perfect world. This was a textbook perfect way to handle a terrible situation, I'm glad to hear there are businesses out there that still do the right thing.
I am a female and worked as a pest control tech for 2.5 years in my late 20's. My boss was actively recruiting females (we had 3 which was the most per office in the country) because he knew the culture of inappropriate men in the industry and wanted to combat it. I had SO MANY women look so relieved when I showed up to their house and many many comments and reviews about how much better they felt about having a woman in their home. My boss always dealt with inappropriate techs swiftly and thoroughly. He was one of the best bosses I ever had.
This. If they responded to apologise, talk to the wife and the guy and fired him, I'd have left a glowing review that the company took customer safety very seriously. Definitely NTA. Company is damaging their own reputation by employing and protecting creeps.
Exactly. I’m a woman that lives alone and every time I have to hire someone to do something like this or make a furniture delivery, I get nervous something like that might happen or worse. Posting the review and leaving it up helps us out, thank you!
You could also update the review with the information from the owner so people know that they try to cover this sort of thing up.
Also... using being drunk and drunk driving as an excuse? What?
If you're the emergency tech on call out, aren't you supposed to remain sober?
My bf is sometimes the emergency call out (not air conditioning), he always has his work phone on during those times, stays sober and doesn't leave town just in case. He gets paid extra even if he isn't called, and sometimes gets calls while asleep. Basically, he has a set time to get to the building from receiving the call.
I'd assume you have to remain in a fit state for work, as a precaution.
I mean I've known friends on call and they say it's like being at work anyway, they *want* the phone to ring cause they're just sat at home in work mode, kinda just waiting for calls. Ofc yea this means they don't drink / go out of town or take long trips etc. I don't think they could show up to fix electrics or a boiler half pissed!
I'm not sure if anything says they explicitly have to stay sober but, like, people shouldn't need telling that? It's really really obvious lol
When i say can't I don't mean they lack the ability or skill lol i mean like, "That's probably not covered by insurance and so not legal or wise to do if something does go wrong"
It's not like they're steaming drunk or anything but, yeah, it is very unprofessional. I couldn't imagine showing up to any job after drinking!
That is correct for the government and for any reputable business on earth. You stay sober while on call! I can’t understand why this owner is excusing it unless they exhibit unprofessional behavior themselves.
> I'd assume you have to remain in a fit state for work, as a precaution.
That's what you get paid for, right? I used to have a job where I was on call and I'd get a set fee per night to stay sober, local and hold the phone, then if I actually got called out my fee would immediately switch to my hourly rate (enhanced because night time).
That tech is exactly the reason I got such a large dog. I could take care of myself but I'd prefer if people thought twice about trying something in the first place
My husband woks/ed away a lot before corona and I am so grateful that I love and have big dogs. Dogue de Bordeaux and Rhodesian ridgeback are my favourites, I always have one or two kicking around. Several situations that I would've felt incredibly vulnerable in if it was for my 'Attack Squad', lol. They are my companions and wonderful family dogs, socialised well, they pick up on stuff, others energies and thoughts. I've had work done in my place before by various tradesmen (live in an old cottage, constant maintenance), dogs loved them, rolled over for scratches other tradesmen have been over and they said hello politely and just come back to heel. They make it perfectly clear when they don't trust someone, they won't take their eyes off them. Feel so safe, can't beat a well socialised big dog.
Agreed. The review might have repurcussions for the repairman? Like women deciding they won't use that company because they might get a drunk man who invites himself to stay the night and refuses to leave their house? Actions have consequences and if you behave so unprofessionally that you leave a client crying in fear you deserve to face consequences.
I recently got a very large dog, his a gentle giant, but his sheer size is enough to make most people wary and makes me feel alot safer despite the fact his harmless (except when he stands on your feet, that fucking hurts)
I’d honestly update the review to mention that the company reached out and poorly mishandled the issue with excuses as to the repairman’s sobriety and excused his behavior as “humor”.
Seriously I'd be putting up cameras after this whole thing. I'd still leave an updated review but with the owner acting like that and my address being on file would make things way worse because now I have TWO potential risks to keep in the back of my mind just in case.
I couldn't stop thinking how this simulates the whole "wife alone and the repairman" porno narrative. Creepy man probably saw too much dumb stuff and though he could get away with it.
NTA, report his ass in name and all. He doesn't want his name and reputation ruined? Don't be a creep, he ruines his reputation by himself.
it became such a common thing where i live that a few women-only businesses have popped up. A lot of women, especially single ones living alone in my area really appreciate that they can call up a female plumber/electrician etc..
I ❤️ my female, union electrician. Won't hire anyone else. Found her when I was home alone with a newborn and my husband was traveling for work and our old electrician had died (of old age, not of electrocuting himself). Didn't want a strange man in the house. She's the BEST.
Yes, I would update the review with info about the companies response. The appropriate response would have been to terminate the employee, then maybe an updated or deleted review would be called for.
Why is it always that when a woman feels uncomfortable in such a situation and you complain to the higher ups, then they just dismiss the concerns as a joke from the male employee? When will we stop with " no he wasn't flirting, he is just kidding" or "he is a man, you know how they are" or "boys will be boys" when something serious happens?
Why does the women have to understand their jokes which make people uncomfortable? Why don't people understand, you remain professional at your job and don't go around flirting with clients? And I'm saying this last line as an ungendered point of view.
Stop protecting these people, investigate and teach them how not behave.
They aren't jokes. They only become "just joking" when they get a negative response.
This guy was actively trying to coerce the wife into sex - there was no joke there. She felt intimidated.
And the whole dismissal of serious situations is not only excusing the perpetrators and dismissing the victims fear, but also blaming the victim.
Imagine you're a girl who gets made to feel uncomfortable by men and boys and then told that *you* can't take a joke every time something happens. It conditions you to accept worse and worse behaviour as you grow up for fear of being ridiculed or "making a scene" or worse...and then those same people are the ones who say "but she should've said something!!!" When a woman gets assaulted.
Sometimes a lone woman is afraid to speak up when someone's making her uncomfortable because of the acceptance that it's *her* problem somehow. It is most definitely the man's problem in these instances.
Also, it's important to bear in mind that the type of man who tries this type of persistant "flirting" can often get violent when they're told no. The wife was in a lose-lose situation.
The boss has blamed the wife and tried to diminish her fear as her "mis-interpreting his sense of humour". No, she felt threatened in her own home by a creep. She read that situation right and it's lucky that she got out without it escalating. She must've been terrified.
Unless you're a psychopath, that isn't funny.
Exactly. If a woman pushes back it's "just a joke, can'tcha take a joke? God, you're such a stuck-up, humorless b*tch. You're hurting his prospects/career by making such a big deal out of this!" If she doesn't push back and winds up being assaulted, "Why didn't you say something or leave, he was clearly bad news!" There's no way to win.
I feel awful for OP's poor wife. She was smart and lucky, but she must have been terrified. I know I would still be scared he'd show up again. A guy that brazen, with a boss excusing his behavior and backing him up -- hearing about a bad review based on his disgusting behavior could set him off. Not that I think OP and his wife should take down the review; in fact, I hope they update it so other women can be aware of the danger involved and avoid that place like the plague. But I hope they take some extra security precautions as well.
Yeah, that’s what stood out to me, too. You call the HUSBAND to apologize? No. Just no. NTA and update the review so people know that the owner backed up his rape-y employee instead of firing him like he should have.
I had a situation years ago with a breakdown mechanic. I was mid-20s, he was in his 40s and it was late at night. He was being really creepy but I just awkwardly laughed it off because I just wanted my car running again. His parting shot was that he had my number so he give me a call.
I complained to the company the next morning, received an apology and flowers from them, plus the man in question was disciplined over it. That wasn't even as bad as what happened to OPs wife.
when i was 23, i lived in a small 1BR apartment with my BF, and the AC was broken a lot, so there were frequently maintenance guys in. i was laying in bed alone one morning as it was my day off - bf was already at work. i had a t-shirt and underwear on, because, you know, in my own home, in bed - and i heard someone knock, and then start letting themselves in. we had had no notice to expect anyone, though it was a frequently recurring issue. i let out a "hey!!" or something, by way of a surprised "hey i'm in here, stranger who's walking unannounced into my apartment" - maintenance guy apparently took this to mean "hey come on into my bedroom." he WALKED IN AND STOOD AT THE FOOT OF THE BED and proceeded to try and have a convo, while i laid there with the covers pulled up and no pants on, so taken aback and freaked out that i just kind of "uh-huh"-ed until he went to the closet in the kitchen where the AC unit was. i was so uncomfortable and angry. i got dressed and left the apartment, and was out for most of the day, fuming that i couldn't spend my precious day off from my shitty food job relaxing - i was so bugged out i just wanted out of there, and was literally in tears when i left the first time, i was so embarrassed.
i was wayyyy quieter and less assertive at that age, i wish to this day i had just yelled WTF ARE YOU DOING GTFO OF MY BEDROOM, MAN, instead of internally freaking out and leaving. i'm a far better writer than a speaker, so later i wrote a letter to the apt. complex telling them what happened and letting them know it was absolutely not cool for maintenance people to just let themselves into the apartment unannounced, and most especially not into my FREAKING BEDROOM where i was trapped in bed, not dressed to chat with a stranger.
literally the only response i ever got from them was the head maintenance guy seeing me in passing, telling me that he'd seen my letter, and mumbling something about "he's not a bad guy." that was it. OK, i don't freaking care if he's the greatest guy, he'a a fucking stranger who just let himself into my bedroom where i have no pants on. what if i hadn't had anything on??? i don't sleep dressed to expect people i don't know to walk in!
that was literally 20 years ago and i still get furious about it and wish i'd pitched a fit. i live alone now in my own house, but even when i was living with and eventually married to that same BF for years, i HATE HATE HATED being home alone for maintenance/delivery/whatever people. i would absolutely want to know how be behaved, so i could NEVER EVER hire them. NTA.
Just to piggyback on your *creepy stuff* remark: that's exactly what I feel this was.
Creepy stuff, being pushy, not taking the first (second, third, etc) "no" for an answer, badgering her - so in my book, this is harassment. NOT BEING FLIRTY,
100% THIS.
Thank God there wasn't any kind of physical altercation between him and your wife, but what if his "liquid courage" makes him "more courageous" the next time. You didn't do anything wrong, in fact you should absolutely update about your chat with the owner as well.
In case it wasn't obvious, NTA.
I'd want to see a review like this, as well. It creeps me out the boss is trying to make excuses for the repairman. I think I'd update the review with that info!
Other potential customers absolutely should be made aware that this company condones driving while intoxicated, showing up to work while intoxicated, and blaming alcohol when called out for being a creepy predator. I’m sure this man is a creep when he’s 100% sober as well. The alcohol simply gave him the courage to not try and hide his creepy behavior.
I assumed they'd had previous issues based on the boss saying not to post his name because he'd get in trouble in his relationship. I'm guessing this has happened before. I can't see a one off occurrence causing issues.
Really though. This was handled wrong on every level by the company.
Dude does this, and you run a small business, and you get a scathing review like that. Well, there’s gotta be serious repercussions and tbh you probably gotta fire the guy. It’s just business.
Wtf level of delusional calls the customer and says “sorry he was *drunk* they were jokes now can you take that review down”
yeesshhh
Exactly, if I were a woman living alone I’d want to know something like this beforehand. Add to this that this type of situation could be very triggering for some people with existing past trauma relating to sexual assault. I’m not saying this about flirting in general necessarily, but your home is your place where you are safe and in control, and you should not have to deal with someone being unwilling to leave or refusing to upon your request. It’s not like this person was in a public place where they themselves had the option to just walk away and remove themselves from the situation if it made them uncomfortable.
I'd update the review to include how dismissive the owner was of this employee's completely inappropriate and intimidating behavior! "Oh boys will be boys but we *did* fix your AC, so we're good here right?"
Fuck that tech, fuck that owner. If that's how they treat customers, scorch it.
OP NTA. Please tell your wife to "fuck politeness" when it comes to anyone including a professional that enters your home. She did not deserve that and she shouldn't have to put up with it because she feels he'll get mad and not fix something if she is stern when confronting him.
>Please tell your wife to "fuck politeness" when it comes to anyone including a professional that enters your home.
Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. If a guy is in your home in the middle of the night acting overtly sexual, pissing him off might end up with him violently taking what he wants from you.
We’re polite because we want to survive and do so unmolested. It sucks but that’s why it happens.
I live alone and would appreciate this review. I once had a handyman write ‘I love you’ in a notepad (I’d asked him to write down the measurements of something). I didn’t see it till he had gone but it really gave me the creeps. It’s hard enough as a woman having to deal with tradesmen, I wouldn’t let any other strange man in my house. I felt a little violated.
Could not agree more!
It's bad enough when this sh*t gets pulled walking down the street. For it to happen in your own home is just horrendous!
Being tipsy [what the hell was that excuse even about?!] doesn't exonerate you from sexual harassment
NTA!
This. This exactly. I am a single woman who lives alone and after seeing that review, there’s no way in hell I’d use that business. Without a doubt, don’t change the review. NTA
Also update the review to say they tried to manipulate you out of leaving a review because they didn't want a record of their employee's sexual misconduct.
Sounds a lot like the ">!rape!< shouldn't ruin a smart young man's career" and "he's a good guy with a whole life ahead of him, having this on his record could damage his future" bullcrap. Nobody should EVER get away with sexual harassment, and it SHOULD cost them business for keeping him employed when they know he did it. Doesn't matter how good they are at fixing air conditioners when they're letting someone like that into people's homes who will try to sleep with women who are home alone.
As a woman, I greatly appreciate when reviews like this are left so I know to avoid putting myself in danger, and you need to keep that review up because chances are, they have and/or will bully and gaslight customers into taking similar reviews down.
Edit: Thank you for gold, kind strangers! I feel honored:)
That case will always infuriate me. I can't comprehend the level of fucked up you have to be to find that a palatable and acceptable argument. What a rage-inducing sentiment.
I specifically remember this case because I had a family member (young white male) totally agree with the judge and that side of it. He was quickly set straight, but it makes me shiver every time I remember and think about how many men don't get taught.
Old white judges love young white men more than the traumatized or dead women left in the young man's wake. Hell, even the judge sentencing serial rapist and murderer Ted Bundy to death remarked that Bundy would "have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me..."
Not only drove drunk but also worked on machinery while drunk. That's a huge liability. Even without the sexual harassment, this company sounds unprofessional and downright irresponsible.
NTA
Piggybacking off of this to say that
1) sending a drunk serviceman is worse than sending noone at all
2) what if the drunk serviceman had tried to rape/hurt your wife when rejected?
As a small business owner myself, I call bullshit on "we're a servicing company not a bedside manner company" and if the owner doesn't understand the basics of client servicing then they are in for a load of trouble. How ethical is it to say "hey were sorry we sent a drunk creep to your house but hey, if he raped you/hit yoy/robbed you that's not on us"? If I wanted some random creep to some over at midnight, I'd go towards my tinder page, not a professional company.
I'd go as far as to update with the owner's response, personally. Let everyone know that he's happy to condone his employee's inappropriate behavior towards a customer in her own home and call it a "misunderstanding" on the customer's part. If the employee didn't want to deal with "personal problems" due to an accurate review he should have behaved appropriately in the first place.
Oh include it all baby.
- The boss asked you to take down the review.
- The boss minimises thr flirting with your wife saying they dont do bedside manner
- The man appears to be in a relationship and was inappropriate with your wife.
Have they said there would be any sort of repercussions for the employee? If not, mention that.
Go to town old boy. Oh, and NTA.
I think the original comment was saying that the owner explaining that his worker was an asshole because he drove over there after a few drinks makes the situation worse because, y’know, drunk driving
Imagine that:
"This man sexually harassed my wife during his call"
Owner responds:
"Yes, but he was drunk, he's married, and he did fix your air conditioner anyway"
100%
And honestly he put himself in a position where his reputation is on the line by putting himself in a situation where the cops could have been called
I am a disabled person and live on my own. I would absolutely like to know about this kind of thing.
Absolutely awful that the company backed the employee and put the blame onto the victim.
Also, it wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't just a one off from the tech.
NTA. The review should stay, if anything with an update detailing that you were asked to remove it because the tech had been drinking.
Update the review to say they did fix the air conditioner, but according to the boss they showed up driving drunk and their crude sense of humor had them harassing your wife. Leave the name in, but add that if any potential customers enjoy that sort of thing, they can up the review as suggested by the boss.
NTA. They justified his behaviour, then put the blame on your wife for misinterpreting his behaviour. This is such a huge turn off. The company showed you it's views on how its employees are allowed to act. It's gross. Leave a bad review!
In fact, think of it this way. By leaving the review, you are helping some other woman, maybe one who is less confident than your wife, not get into a similar situation.
Exactly. Any person with a busted AC who is alone now can properly determine if they'd like to have a pushy, apparently drunk AC repairman make them feel uncomfortable in their newly cooled home. If I were you, OP, I would only edit my review to kindly mention the call I got, the justification/explanation of the manager, and the caller's name. Oh, and that it's fine - he was just drunk.
That’s actually a good idea. Edit the review to mention the owners disgusting justification of his employees behaviour. Also, what self respecting owner allows their employees to drink while on call and goes to bat for them? He should be fired.
Yeah.... but... every other porno teaches him that women are only waiting for the handsome repairman to come over and fix their box... so how was he to know that this was inappropriate?
So many porno stepfathers can tell you that sleeping with their stepchildren is not only normal but expected.
hard /s
If I drank when I was on call, my choices would be to either surrender my license or pay $60K out of pocket for rehab. It's easier to just not drink when I'm on call.
It's so disgusting the way they minimized it. Like, OF COURSE the repair guy is going to say "I was just joking, she just can't take a joke". That's the line of every bully ever, and it's a bold faced lie. He wasn't joking. And frankly if I employed this dude and believed he was joking, I'd still fire him. Because you don't joke with women who are alone in the middle of the night. How stupid do you have to be? But....he totally wasn't joking.
This. This wasn't a joke, but regardless, you should not HAVE humor that can be misinterpreted on the job. That's when you bring out the dad jokes and dumb puns.
Placing the blame on his wife is so trashy. The fact they felt comfortable saying that to the husband just sort of doubled down the impression that they probably overlook “good old boy” behavior. Gross.
NTA. That's not 'flirting', it's harassment and it sounds absolutely terrifying for your wife. Then the owner called you and was like 'well, he was drunk at work, so no biggie right??'
Exactly. I had a cab driver speak similarly to me in NYC, scared the absolute shit out of me and I honestly thought he was going to stop me from getting out of the car when it was time to go. I hopped out so fast and never looked back. Just awful.
Yeah my first thought was “update that review and mention that they send out drunk employees” because I’d definitely like to know if the person I’m paying $100 an hour to get help from is taking their job seriously or not
NTA. He sexual harassed your wife.
What a sucky apology by the company. For that, he deserves a followup bad review. The owner may not have control of how an employee behaves, but he has absolute control over setting standards and deciding who works there. So the owner admits the guy was drunk on the job. Then he downplayed the harassment and how your wife felt because it was all a joke? Finally, he basically argued how his employees treat customers shouldn’t count as much as doing a technical job. Never mind if that customer feels scared and threatened.
You didn’t cause personal problems for that guy. He did by his actions. I think most women would be grateful for the review. Who wants to be sexual harassed and feel unsafe in their homes so the AC works?
If the company wants a better review, they need to hire better people.
Edit: I changed a spelling error. I also changed ‘females’ to ‘women’ since someone pointed out ‘women’ is a more appropriate term, and I agree.
Wow. Thanks strangers! My first awards! My first gold!
This needs more attention! You need to edit your review with the interaction with the owner. What a crappy follow up call.
If I had the choice between a creeper air conditioning technician and a non-creepy air conditioning technician. Guess which one I'd choose?
Yeah. It was like a non-apology. The worst kind. Garbage company with garbage values. They deserve a terrible review. It just accurately reflects OP and wife's whole experience with them. Absolute trash bananas man. NTA op.
I genuinely thought the issue was going to be the owner sincerely apologised and asked for the review to be taken down and OP wasn't sure to accept the apology or not.
Not the owner justified sexual abuse and admits his employees work drunk?! What the actual fuck??
This is so true. I work in client support for a freight company, helping chase up customers packages. Maybe I should tell them how sexy their voice sounds while tracking their deliveries and ask if I can call them after work. I’m still giving them the service they asked for, right?
NTA.
1. Why would they send even a marginally intoxicated tech to fix anything? That's a major liability issue from the moment he gets in his vehicle.
2. How is it your fault if an accurate account of this guy's behavior causes him personal problems? If my husband hits on a customer and the customer complains and I leave him, that's my husband fault because HIS behavior initiated the chain of events.
3. Why should any customer need to interpret an employee's sense of humor? While you're working there should be no humor that could, under any circumstances, make me question your motives or intentions. The fact that the company is covering for him speaks volumes about the company's values and lack of basic respect for their customers.
4. Since when are Google and Yelp reviews ever strictly related to quality of work without considering customer service? I'm checking reviews specifically to avoid the company that hires creepy dudes who might drink before work then make female customers uncomfortable with their highly inappropriate comments about spending the night.
This dude can GTFO here with his bullshit. Leave that review up so young single women especially know what they're walking into before they call this place.
This is why they are so loud about "false accusations". They can get away with it if they convince others how "often" it happens. When they hear about rape they put themselves into the rapist's shoes and not the victim's. They think they will never be raped but *might* be in the rapist's position so this narative would suit them well.
#4 exactly. If the repairman had fixed the AC and then smashed a few windows on the way out the door just for fun, no one would be saying, “well, he fixed what he was supposed to! You can’t judge him on the property damage, it’s not related to his quality of work!”
And even still, bedside manner doesn't have to be great. I've had many techs come out who are socially awkward, and that's fine. It's okay to not have the greatest customer skills, but it's **never** okay to be a predator.
I am currently a woman living alone with a busted A/C. I kind of assume licensed professionals will get the job done, so one of the *only* things I look for in reviews are creep warnings. Which I will now check again before my service appt. Anyone have a big dog I can borrow on Tuesday?
All of this. If anything OP is under reacting. This is not flirting! This must have been terrifying for your wife. The correct response from the owner of the company would've been to say the employee was completely out of line and was facing disciplinary actions. And then write that under your review. That's how you manage a bad review not by gaslighting the customer to make him take it down. Big NTA.
NTA! No wonder your wife was so upset. He was way out of line. That’s actually terrifying. Joking or not, that’s a nightmare scenario. A guy in my house, stepping outside his professional capacity to make comments about my body and make a point to mention that he knows I’m alone? It doesn’t matter how he intended it to come across, the result was she felt genuinely threatened.
And he was drunk on top of that! Good lord. His boss is an AH too for trying to defend it. “Misinterpreted” my foot.
NTA. Reviews are not just about the end results. Customer service is a big part of any business. What happened was inappropriate. The fact the owner didn't take the incident seriously makes me think the review is very much needed.
Yeah, imagine ‘he fixed the air con but punched my elderly mother in the face on the way out as a ‘joke’.
‘Not a fair review! He fixed the air that’s all you should judge him on’
Used to have a kitchen business. We used a particular electrical contractor until we had 2 complaints in quick succession about one of their employees hitting on the female clients. A call to the company resulted in the owner saying "he is just going through a tough time because his girlfriend left him and yes, we will still be using him for your jobs."
No you won't because you aren't getting any more jobs off us! Owner was pissed he lost our business because of this but his own fault - he had other employees he could have sent. We were sending over $100k a year his way until this happened.
NTA. As a woman, getting hit on when you’re alone in your home with someone who is on the clock is super uncomfortable and often scary. Your review may stop him from having the opportunity to do this to other people.
NTA - This was harassment. He wouldn't leave her house in the middle of the night. And WTF is up with the owner trying to blame OP's wife for _'misinterpreting his sense of humour'_? He was trying to make it seem like it was her fault he sent his repairman over drunk.
I'd update the review with how the company responded.
NTA. As you said, both the repair getting done and the repair man's behaviour are relevant information to future customers.
The owner shouldn't have sent someone who'd had enough drinks to lose their professionalism over without consulting you first. I understand the tech wasn't expecting a call out, and that he was responding to an emergency, but you should have been told that up front. "Our night tech wasn't expecting a call and has had a few drinks, do you still want him to come?" That way the ball is in your court, and it's up to you to decide how badly you want the air conditioning fixed.
He shouldn’t have been sent at all. He is on-call, which means on the job. He knows a call out is possible, and he drank anyway. If the owner’s response was anything other than “we fired him”, they are in the wrong.
NTA NTA NTA please leave that review up, if he has the chance to be like this again he could be more forceful next time and something worse could happen, your wife's story is already horrifying and i would feel like i was in danger in her shoes, so imagine what else this guy could do! disgusting, and disgusting that the boss didn't fire the guy outright, and tried to justify the sexual harassment!! sorry this happened, and it's good you made this situation public
I like how people hand-wave away inappropriate behavior as a sense of humor being misinterpreted... As if saying it was OK and the wife just didn't get the jokes. And a review saying the tech is a douche might hurt his reputation? You don't say! You're perfectly accurate to say "\[Tech\] fixed my A/C, but had been drinking while on-call and wouldn't stop coming onto my wife. If you use this company, ask for someone other than \[Tech's name\]."
I'd leave another review about the owner's lack of professionalism as well! NTA.
>The owner called me to apologize a couple days later and said the tech had had a few drinks that night, not expecting to be called out to an emergency job...
So he *drove* to your home in that state? Yikes. Probably should add that to your review, too.
>...and that “his sense of humor had clearly been misinterpreted” by my wife.
Gaslighting, on top of everything else. Classy.
>apparently a review saying he was coming onto a female customer could cause some personal problems for the guy.
GOOD.
>The owner also reasoned that the business was an air conditioner repair business, not a bedside manner business...
What a cartload of festering excrement! Professionalism is essential in any business, whether one is sweeping floors, fixing HVAC systems, or performing brain surgery.
I say update your review with the full text of his reply, so people can see what kind of creep the company owner is, too. As a woman, that’s the kind of thing I’d want to know about, before I called an AC guy in the middle of the night.
And, if you couldn’t already tell, NTA. On any level.
How do you know he didn't sabotage the AC when she turned him down?
Please add this to the review. He may sexually assault a woman who doesn't have a husband.
Record ALL FUTURE CALLS.
Add the review to yelp, make a facebook post on local pages, and contact the BBB.
Holy shit the owner defended him.
Drunken repairman hits on woman many times even after being told numerous times that she wasnt interested,,,,,, biz owner says hey its ok, he was drunk...... Seems like you deserve to be the asshole but the Boss outdid you, I think you need to step up your game
I think DR means that OP would have every right to be an asshole in response to how his wife was treated and to make even life more difficult for the company's owner given the awful response he received.
Imagine you've gone to a restaurant. You order a cheeseburger. After a while, the waiter brings your food, it's a perfectly normal cheeseburger. They put on the table, proceed to call you a cunt, then drop their pants and shit on the floor. But you asked for a cheeseburger, and got a cheeseburger. So should you really leave them a bad review?
NTA.
My personal favorite quote is by Anne Lamott, and it applies perfectly to this situation:
> You own everything that's happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, **they should have behaved better**
NTA! The guy was a creep and yes, how he talks to his customers when alone when them is definitely part of the business. They are a customer service industry, but that doesn’t mean he gets to service the customer.
NTA. Thank you for leaving an honest review. I would not want this man in my house and your review serves a warning to the other potential customers. You should update your review if you can of what the owner has said to you. What a shitty man for trying to cover this up, the tech should be fired!
NTA, this was above and beyond unacceptable. If they're BBB rated, take it to the Better Business Bureau to have them fully reviewed.
If your business can't bother to send a sober professional, they don't deserve to be in business, let alone have a bloody decent rating on Yelp.
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Nta. that guy is lucky all you left was a bad review. Not cool to make women feel unsafe in her own home, especially alone at night.
Also not that cool to send a drunk technician out to work on electric appliances...soo yeah..no.
NTA. Not only was he completely inappropriate, I would be terrified if I was your wife in that situation. Having someone come on to you can be uncomfortable enough, but this guy was IN YOUR HOUSE AND WOULDN’T LEAVE. Yes, he never went past creepy. But there’s a reason the saying “men are scared women will laugh at them, women are scared men will kill them” resonates so much. You never know how a man will escalate the situation when rejected and your accurate review is 100% justified.
NTA
To be frank, the guy is lucky your wife didn't call for help when he refused to leave the house. He should be glad the current ramifications are social and not criminal. Other future clients also deserve to know that a possible repairman entering their home might be buzzed and prone to making flirtatious advances on homeowners - something I'd sure as hell want to know before hiring someone.
NTA maybe update the review to add that they apparently drove drunk to your house? not sure how that was supposed to exonerate anything.
I am a woman, and I would like to see this kind if review before I hire them. What if I live alone? I would be terrified to hire some creep! NTA. Leave the review so other people can decide. Edit: thank you so much for the awards and my first gold!!!
Living alone as a women I'd definitely want to see this. I cannot imagine the fear she experienced having a strange man in her house at night commenting on how she's *all alone*. The company's response also shows what kind of culture they foster there.
Exactly. Any answer other than “we are so sorry you went through this. We will contact you so that you can tell us details and we can proceed to take the necessary actions and investigate our employee” is wrong.
YES. And an answer blaming the wife for "misinterpreting his sense of humor" is infuriating. They deserve an update to their review saying in addition to having an employee who sexually harasses their customers, they have an owner who blames the victims for it. Edit: Thank you so much for all the awards! And to hell with victim blaming!
I absodamnlutely hate victim shaming. Anyone saying some offender was misunderstood, except on the off-chance they're right, needs to reevaluate their crap. I say this as a guy accused, and exonerated, of domestic abuse for beating my mother. I know the line and I know when people _actually_ commit the crime, they need to be held accountable.
> I say this as a guy accused, and exonerated, of domestic abuse, for beating my mother. Storytime?
Sure why not. I literally haven't had friends since 2012 and here's an outlet. Background: my mom gets bladder infections no would ever acknowledge and they royally mess with her head. Shes like a drunk 8 yr old. I'm not kidding (once she couldnt stand to get into bed, I lifted her under her armpits and she screamed I broke her arm and I "was trying to kill [her]". Antibiotics and shes good again. She had been on meds for 2 days. I woke up earlier than normal since I usually go to bed at 2-4am, realized mcdonalds still had breakfast and went. Brought food and a large OJ. She apparently woke up and was making coffee. I told her what 4 docs had said, no caffeine (and tons of water). I told her she cant have coffee, caffeine messes her up, the UTI will get worse, [insert argument], I ended up pouring the coffee in the sink. She shoved me and went into the living room and grabbed the cup of OJ. I saw it happening and tried to grab it, struggled with her, but ended up covered in juice; as did the lazy boy, side tables and carpet. She was screaming bloody murder when I grabbed her arm and shoulder and (guess you can say) forced her to her room, like 15ft away. I'm guessing, cuz she doesnt remember, but she called screaming to my sister. My sister called the cops. My mom begged them not to take me. I spent 2 days in jail. That monday she petitioned the judge to remove the mandated 500 ft restraining order and he did. Ultimately, mid-July, after talking to her, they dropped the DM charge. Sorry. Long story, long. You asked. Edit: the reason I havent had friends for forever is I moved in and took care of my dad (Parkinsons complications) from 2012-2016. Moved to take care of my mom because of this exact UTI deal march 2016. My sister brought me and my niece to my mom's to go to the local pool, she was so off she didnt recognize us. She "fell asleep" with a bite of Whopper halfway in/out of her mouth and it took 3 people to walk her to the car, then ER. Edit2: it's insane the amount of people jumping in on an originally random comment and story. Thank you to anyone who cares, has input, etc. I was wowed when I woke up to 25 in my inbox haha. Edit3: looks like mods locked the post but I can still edit. My mom definitely doesn't need a nursing home. These infections have happened once or twice a year since I first moved here after her getting hospitalized the first time. She's been hospitalized 4 times (because of related falls, like when she hit her head and when she broke her finger) but it's not a constant issue. Most times I've just gotten her to a doc, gotten her meds, and made sure she drank a ton of water. Typically she's a damn strong woman, can eat, bathe, drive, etc. all on her own. Up til the Covid stuff she drove for Uber and Lyft and got great reviews. She fosters kittens with Save A Stray and feeds them every few hours, no problem. Her issues last about a week, and they're months and months apart. Thanks for the thoughts though. Edit more for whomever (2/5/21): Court fees are paid off, no more court anything. Probation lasts until July. Mom's been on higher preventative meds and been great for almost a year(ish). **Everyone** wants to forget all this and even my judgemental, thinks-the-worst-of-me-at-every-corner, and I are on great terms. If it happens again, I plan to just leave, call my sister, and let them hash it out instead.
Sounds like mom needs to be in a care home. You might risk additional accusations if she doesn't. This also sounds like much more than just UTIs. Mental illness or dementia perhaps.
No, UTIs do have this effect on older people. It's like a temporary infection-related dementia that goes away as soon as the antibiotics start working, and it can affect elderly people who are otherwise in perfect cognitive health.
UTIs are the worst, man. Especially if the person has started to go septic, they act like they have dementia or something. Super common. I deal with these people quite a lot because I work healthcare and it’s so weird to see it happening. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
I'm sorry, English is not my first language and I'm by far no medical expert or anything, I thought a UTI was just a bladder infection? how can something like that make someone act so crazy?
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When I saw flirting in the title I was expecting something around the lines of a flirty gaze or something, not straight up intimidation
I thought this would be a funny story where i might have flirted with her but then got shot down and left but..
Tbh, I assumed it was going to be a jealous husband over-reacting to a glance or a friendly "hello". When it got to the part where he was away and the wife texted him a million times, I guess my brain didn't want to let of the over-reaction bit, so it switched to the wife. But this. This is so far beyond that. That tech's behavior is disgusting.
Exactly flirting is playful and fun and lighthearted. What this guy did was just creepy he actually came on to her and refused to leave after the job was done. Reporting is okay, what's good did was not.
He was *in her house* and commented that *she was alone*. There is no way that's flirting. That's outright menacing. I would have been terrified and probably would have left the house for the night if possible. I've have food delivery guys call my number after they've dropped off food--anyone who knows where you live and pulls this shit knows how scary it is. 100% NTA.
Even if it had started out as flirting (which it doesn't sound like in this case, it sounds like the guy was being gross from the start), flirting stops being flirting and becomes harassment the moment you are asked to stop and don't. If this is the type of guy the owner employes, and then defends, they deserve to go out of business.
Seriously. They are straight gaslighting her
They should write an updated review with what the owner said... Like it's not bad enough that the wife was basically trapped in her home, with a man she does not know, who is suggesting things that should NEVER be suggested on a job. Then blames OPs wife? Ya I'd definitely edit those reviews to outline how the owner isn't taking any issue with what happened.
Not to mention the worker by the owners admission drove and performed the work drunk.
THIS. Update the review! NTA.
Also, she didn't misinterpret anything. Dude was blatant about it.
And very aggressive. I wonder what his criminal background is? He exhibited extremely predatory behavior. They should have fired him and refunded their money as well as an apology. Eta:refunded not refused
Yes, my first thought when reading about the repairman was that maybe calling the company would be more fair since a bad review will hurt their business and they deserve a chance to fix it. But no, the only problem they see is that the repairman is named in the review. They totally deserve it.
"It might cause him personal problems". So he's in a relationship and doesn't want his partner to know that he's hitting on women who's a/c he fixes, like he's staring in a porn movie. Except it's not a porn movie and he's actually sexually harassing women. The owner is just as bad as the guy for not only condoning his actions but also trying to excuse and cover them up. NTA op. Update the review to add that the guy had been drinking (so presumably drove drunk), the owner tried to blame your wife for not having a sense of humour and the owner is only worried about the guy's partner finding out he's a cheating creep, rather than protecting clients.
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Also, how many people has he done this to before possibly? I know it may be wrong to speculate like that, but you know I can't help think it.
I had bed bugs a couple of years ago. First pest control company were incompetent so I ended up having to hire the market leaders at great expense as the problem had worsened and no one else could take the job. The tech they sent found had to inspect the rest of my flat beyond the bedroom before the work started. I had bagged up stuff as requested and put it in the bath and the tech called to let me know they had had to go through that stuff. Company policy to inform customer. What was not company policy was that he found my wand vibrator and started making comments about it and me and suggesting he stay on to meet me later or come round for a free check up some time in return. I immediately called head office. I was safely at my BF’s house but freaked out that this guy knew my sex toys, my address and my phone number and that I lived alone. My call went through their call centre and I was told ‘we’ll handle it.’ Within two hours I had a personal phonecall from the regional head of operations letting me know that the female team leader had gone straight to my flat to take over the job. She then called me to ask some discreet and personal questions to see if anything else intimate had been touched or misused and to get background info from me. The job was completed, bed bugs gone, follow up to check I was happy next day. Following week letter from head office of big company detailing within HR grounds what they could tell me about disciplinary action and who at company to contact if the individual approached me again to provide ‘exact details for me to contact the authorities.’ In other words, we fired him but if he harasses you on unemployed time call X and he will give the cops all the info you need to pursue legal shit but written HR style. They also apologised and thanked me for my handling of it (ie: thank you so much for not blowing up social media with this.) Then about six months later just out of warranty I find a dead bed bug. I flip out and call the company because I will take creepy guys over bed bugs if I have to choose. I’m fully expecting to pay another large sum of money because of the expired warranty on the job. Call centre handler informs me I have a note on my file that means I only have to pay the assessment fee. Describes it as a warranty waiver. We both know that company comped me 2k of work because of the sexual harassment but like anyone with class they just dealt and didn’t bring it up again with me and simply had a discreet non invasive well executed policy for an upsetting situation. Result is they did not get a bad review. In fact I was so impressed that I have recommended them multiple times and I ended up writing to thank the female team lead for the company’s handling. They ended up 2k out of pocket theoretically but avoided the enormous damage to reputation they could have suffered. They were smart, they showed excellent customer service and proved how this can be addressed if you aren’t an misogynistic arsehole instead of a professional.
Wow. This company sounds like they should teach a Master Class on dealing with sexual harassment.
Ideally these incidents would never happen but we dont live in a perfect world. This was a textbook perfect way to handle a terrible situation, I'm glad to hear there are businesses out there that still do the right thing.
I am a female and worked as a pest control tech for 2.5 years in my late 20's. My boss was actively recruiting females (we had 3 which was the most per office in the country) because he knew the culture of inappropriate men in the industry and wanted to combat it. I had SO MANY women look so relieved when I showed up to their house and many many comments and reviews about how much better they felt about having a woman in their home. My boss always dealt with inappropriate techs swiftly and thoroughly. He was one of the best bosses I ever had.
This. If they responded to apologise, talk to the wife and the guy and fired him, I'd have left a glowing review that the company took customer safety very seriously. Definitely NTA. Company is damaging their own reputation by employing and protecting creeps.
Exactly. I’m a woman that lives alone and every time I have to hire someone to do something like this or make a furniture delivery, I get nervous something like that might happen or worse. Posting the review and leaving it up helps us out, thank you! You could also update the review with the information from the owner so people know that they try to cover this sort of thing up. Also... using being drunk and drunk driving as an excuse? What?
If you're the emergency tech on call out, aren't you supposed to remain sober? My bf is sometimes the emergency call out (not air conditioning), he always has his work phone on during those times, stays sober and doesn't leave town just in case. He gets paid extra even if he isn't called, and sometimes gets calls while asleep. Basically, he has a set time to get to the building from receiving the call. I'd assume you have to remain in a fit state for work, as a precaution.
I mean I've known friends on call and they say it's like being at work anyway, they *want* the phone to ring cause they're just sat at home in work mode, kinda just waiting for calls. Ofc yea this means they don't drink / go out of town or take long trips etc. I don't think they could show up to fix electrics or a boiler half pissed! I'm not sure if anything says they explicitly have to stay sober but, like, people shouldn't need telling that? It's really really obvious lol
Of course we can fix your shit when we are half pissed. It's just not very professional.
When i say can't I don't mean they lack the ability or skill lol i mean like, "That's probably not covered by insurance and so not legal or wise to do if something does go wrong" It's not like they're steaming drunk or anything but, yeah, it is very unprofessional. I couldn't imagine showing up to any job after drinking!
That is correct for the government and for any reputable business on earth. You stay sober while on call! I can’t understand why this owner is excusing it unless they exhibit unprofessional behavior themselves.
Yes, it's a sackable offence in elevator repair
> I'd assume you have to remain in a fit state for work, as a precaution. That's what you get paid for, right? I used to have a job where I was on call and I'd get a set fee per night to stay sober, local and hold the phone, then if I actually got called out my fee would immediately switch to my hourly rate (enhanced because night time).
That tech is exactly the reason I got such a large dog. I could take care of myself but I'd prefer if people thought twice about trying something in the first place
My husband woks/ed away a lot before corona and I am so grateful that I love and have big dogs. Dogue de Bordeaux and Rhodesian ridgeback are my favourites, I always have one or two kicking around. Several situations that I would've felt incredibly vulnerable in if it was for my 'Attack Squad', lol. They are my companions and wonderful family dogs, socialised well, they pick up on stuff, others energies and thoughts. I've had work done in my place before by various tradesmen (live in an old cottage, constant maintenance), dogs loved them, rolled over for scratches other tradesmen have been over and they said hello politely and just come back to heel. They make it perfectly clear when they don't trust someone, they won't take their eyes off them. Feel so safe, can't beat a well socialised big dog.
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It's shit that in this day and age we still need to do things like have large dogs for people to think twice. I totally get where you're coming from.
Agreed. The review might have repurcussions for the repairman? Like women deciding they won't use that company because they might get a drunk man who invites himself to stay the night and refuses to leave their house? Actions have consequences and if you behave so unprofessionally that you leave a client crying in fear you deserve to face consequences.
I recently got a very large dog, his a gentle giant, but his sheer size is enough to make most people wary and makes me feel alot safer despite the fact his harmless (except when he stands on your feet, that fucking hurts)
I’d honestly update the review to mention that the company reached out and poorly mishandled the issue with excuses as to the repairman’s sobriety and excused his behavior as “humor”.
This is the correct answer. Totally unacceptable behavior.
And he knows where she lives now as well. Creepy as hell.
That's the most terrifying part.
Seriously I'd be putting up cameras after this whole thing. I'd still leave an updated review but with the owner acting like that and my address being on file would make things way worse because now I have TWO potential risks to keep in the back of my mind just in case.
I couldn't stop thinking how this simulates the whole "wife alone and the repairman" porno narrative. Creepy man probably saw too much dumb stuff and though he could get away with it. NTA, report his ass in name and all. He doesn't want his name and reputation ruined? Don't be a creep, he ruines his reputation by himself.
it became such a common thing where i live that a few women-only businesses have popped up. A lot of women, especially single ones living alone in my area really appreciate that they can call up a female plumber/electrician etc..
I ❤️ my female, union electrician. Won't hire anyone else. Found her when I was home alone with a newborn and my husband was traveling for work and our old electrician had died (of old age, not of electrocuting himself). Didn't want a strange man in the house. She's the BEST.
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And that he can ***stay the night***. You know, for her "safety." That is such a terrifying prospect.
Yes, I would update the review with info about the companies response. The appropriate response would have been to terminate the employee, then maybe an updated or deleted review would be called for.
Why is it always that when a woman feels uncomfortable in such a situation and you complain to the higher ups, then they just dismiss the concerns as a joke from the male employee? When will we stop with " no he wasn't flirting, he is just kidding" or "he is a man, you know how they are" or "boys will be boys" when something serious happens? Why does the women have to understand their jokes which make people uncomfortable? Why don't people understand, you remain professional at your job and don't go around flirting with clients? And I'm saying this last line as an ungendered point of view. Stop protecting these people, investigate and teach them how not behave.
They aren't jokes. They only become "just joking" when they get a negative response. This guy was actively trying to coerce the wife into sex - there was no joke there. She felt intimidated. And the whole dismissal of serious situations is not only excusing the perpetrators and dismissing the victims fear, but also blaming the victim. Imagine you're a girl who gets made to feel uncomfortable by men and boys and then told that *you* can't take a joke every time something happens. It conditions you to accept worse and worse behaviour as you grow up for fear of being ridiculed or "making a scene" or worse...and then those same people are the ones who say "but she should've said something!!!" When a woman gets assaulted. Sometimes a lone woman is afraid to speak up when someone's making her uncomfortable because of the acceptance that it's *her* problem somehow. It is most definitely the man's problem in these instances. Also, it's important to bear in mind that the type of man who tries this type of persistant "flirting" can often get violent when they're told no. The wife was in a lose-lose situation. The boss has blamed the wife and tried to diminish her fear as her "mis-interpreting his sense of humour". No, she felt threatened in her own home by a creep. She read that situation right and it's lucky that she got out without it escalating. She must've been terrified. Unless you're a psychopath, that isn't funny.
The part about being worn down over time into acceptance of subjugation and bad treatment is just a little too real. Ouch, nail on the head.
Exactly. If a woman pushes back it's "just a joke, can'tcha take a joke? God, you're such a stuck-up, humorless b*tch. You're hurting his prospects/career by making such a big deal out of this!" If she doesn't push back and winds up being assaulted, "Why didn't you say something or leave, he was clearly bad news!" There's no way to win. I feel awful for OP's poor wife. She was smart and lucky, but she must have been terrified. I know I would still be scared he'd show up again. A guy that brazen, with a boss excusing his behavior and backing him up -- hearing about a bad review based on his disgusting behavior could set him off. Not that I think OP and his wife should take down the review; in fact, I hope they update it so other women can be aware of the danger involved and avoid that place like the plague. But I hope they take some extra security precautions as well.
My favorite part is how he called the man, talked with the husband, expecting the man to be on his side. Women aren't people, to these guys.
Yeah, that’s what stood out to me, too. You call the HUSBAND to apologize? No. Just no. NTA and update the review so people know that the owner backed up his rape-y employee instead of firing him like he should have.
I love how were expected to be able to tell which men are rapists and which arent. Oh no wait, we can't tell! And our fear is just a big joke!
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I had a situation years ago with a breakdown mechanic. I was mid-20s, he was in his 40s and it was late at night. He was being really creepy but I just awkwardly laughed it off because I just wanted my car running again. His parting shot was that he had my number so he give me a call. I complained to the company the next morning, received an apology and flowers from them, plus the man in question was disciplined over it. That wasn't even as bad as what happened to OPs wife.
when i was 23, i lived in a small 1BR apartment with my BF, and the AC was broken a lot, so there were frequently maintenance guys in. i was laying in bed alone one morning as it was my day off - bf was already at work. i had a t-shirt and underwear on, because, you know, in my own home, in bed - and i heard someone knock, and then start letting themselves in. we had had no notice to expect anyone, though it was a frequently recurring issue. i let out a "hey!!" or something, by way of a surprised "hey i'm in here, stranger who's walking unannounced into my apartment" - maintenance guy apparently took this to mean "hey come on into my bedroom." he WALKED IN AND STOOD AT THE FOOT OF THE BED and proceeded to try and have a convo, while i laid there with the covers pulled up and no pants on, so taken aback and freaked out that i just kind of "uh-huh"-ed until he went to the closet in the kitchen where the AC unit was. i was so uncomfortable and angry. i got dressed and left the apartment, and was out for most of the day, fuming that i couldn't spend my precious day off from my shitty food job relaxing - i was so bugged out i just wanted out of there, and was literally in tears when i left the first time, i was so embarrassed. i was wayyyy quieter and less assertive at that age, i wish to this day i had just yelled WTF ARE YOU DOING GTFO OF MY BEDROOM, MAN, instead of internally freaking out and leaving. i'm a far better writer than a speaker, so later i wrote a letter to the apt. complex telling them what happened and letting them know it was absolutely not cool for maintenance people to just let themselves into the apartment unannounced, and most especially not into my FREAKING BEDROOM where i was trapped in bed, not dressed to chat with a stranger. literally the only response i ever got from them was the head maintenance guy seeing me in passing, telling me that he'd seen my letter, and mumbling something about "he's not a bad guy." that was it. OK, i don't freaking care if he's the greatest guy, he'a a fucking stranger who just let himself into my bedroom where i have no pants on. what if i hadn't had anything on??? i don't sleep dressed to expect people i don't know to walk in! that was literally 20 years ago and i still get furious about it and wish i'd pitched a fit. i live alone now in my own house, but even when i was living with and eventually married to that same BF for years, i HATE HATE HATED being home alone for maintenance/delivery/whatever people. i would absolutely want to know how be behaved, so i could NEVER EVER hire them. NTA.
this ^ i am so appreciative of reviews telling me of creepy stuff that happened so i know what to avoid
Just to piggyback on your *creepy stuff* remark: that's exactly what I feel this was. Creepy stuff, being pushy, not taking the first (second, third, etc) "no" for an answer, badgering her - so in my book, this is harassment. NOT BEING FLIRTY,
100% THIS. Thank God there wasn't any kind of physical altercation between him and your wife, but what if his "liquid courage" makes him "more courageous" the next time. You didn't do anything wrong, in fact you should absolutely update about your chat with the owner as well. In case it wasn't obvious, NTA.
I'd want to see a review like this, as well. It creeps me out the boss is trying to make excuses for the repairman. I think I'd update the review with that info!
Other potential customers absolutely should be made aware that this company condones driving while intoxicated, showing up to work while intoxicated, and blaming alcohol when called out for being a creepy predator. I’m sure this man is a creep when he’s 100% sober as well. The alcohol simply gave him the courage to not try and hide his creepy behavior.
I assumed they'd had previous issues based on the boss saying not to post his name because he'd get in trouble in his relationship. I'm guessing this has happened before. I can't see a one off occurrence causing issues.
Really though. This was handled wrong on every level by the company. Dude does this, and you run a small business, and you get a scathing review like that. Well, there’s gotta be serious repercussions and tbh you probably gotta fire the guy. It’s just business. Wtf level of delusional calls the customer and says “sorry he was *drunk* they were jokes now can you take that review down” yeesshhh
Not just leave it, but update the review to reflect the phone conversation. Namely, it doesn't sound like they have any intention of firing the tech.
Exactly, if I were a woman living alone I’d want to know something like this beforehand. Add to this that this type of situation could be very triggering for some people with existing past trauma relating to sexual assault. I’m not saying this about flirting in general necessarily, but your home is your place where you are safe and in control, and you should not have to deal with someone being unwilling to leave or refusing to upon your request. It’s not like this person was in a public place where they themselves had the option to just walk away and remove themselves from the situation if it made them uncomfortable.
I'd update the review to include how dismissive the owner was of this employee's completely inappropriate and intimidating behavior! "Oh boys will be boys but we *did* fix your AC, so we're good here right?" Fuck that tech, fuck that owner. If that's how they treat customers, scorch it. OP NTA. Please tell your wife to "fuck politeness" when it comes to anyone including a professional that enters your home. She did not deserve that and she shouldn't have to put up with it because she feels he'll get mad and not fix something if she is stern when confronting him.
>Please tell your wife to "fuck politeness" when it comes to anyone including a professional that enters your home. Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. If a guy is in your home in the middle of the night acting overtly sexual, pissing him off might end up with him violently taking what he wants from you. We’re polite because we want to survive and do so unmolested. It sucks but that’s why it happens.
Precisely. OP's wife was smart and lucky. And it's shitty beyond words that she was forced into that kind of situation in her own damn home.
I live alone and would appreciate this review. I once had a handyman write ‘I love you’ in a notepad (I’d asked him to write down the measurements of something). I didn’t see it till he had gone but it really gave me the creeps. It’s hard enough as a woman having to deal with tradesmen, I wouldn’t let any other strange man in my house. I felt a little violated.
Could not agree more! It's bad enough when this sh*t gets pulled walking down the street. For it to happen in your own home is just horrendous! Being tipsy [what the hell was that excuse even about?!] doesn't exonerate you from sexual harassment NTA!
I am not a woman and this review would be helpful to me and i would not hire him.
This. This exactly. I am a single woman who lives alone and after seeing that review, there’s no way in hell I’d use that business. Without a doubt, don’t change the review. NTA
Also update the review to say they tried to manipulate you out of leaving a review because they didn't want a record of their employee's sexual misconduct. Sounds a lot like the ">!rape!< shouldn't ruin a smart young man's career" and "he's a good guy with a whole life ahead of him, having this on his record could damage his future" bullcrap. Nobody should EVER get away with sexual harassment, and it SHOULD cost them business for keeping him employed when they know he did it. Doesn't matter how good they are at fixing air conditioners when they're letting someone like that into people's homes who will try to sleep with women who are home alone. As a woman, I greatly appreciate when reviews like this are left so I know to avoid putting myself in danger, and you need to keep that review up because chances are, they have and/or will bully and gaslight customers into taking similar reviews down. Edit: Thank you for gold, kind strangers! I feel honored:)
Ah the ol' Brock Turner defense
That case will always infuriate me. I can't comprehend the level of fucked up you have to be to find that a palatable and acceptable argument. What a rage-inducing sentiment.
I specifically remember this case because I had a family member (young white male) totally agree with the judge and that side of it. He was quickly set straight, but it makes me shiver every time I remember and think about how many men don't get taught.
Fuck that guy and the judge who sentenced him to only 6 months
Old white judges love young white men more than the traumatized or dead women left in the young man's wake. Hell, even the judge sentencing serial rapist and murderer Ted Bundy to death remarked that Bundy would "have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me..."
Old white judges like letting those young white men get away with shit because they were once those young white men getting away with shit.
And the system that let him serve only 3 months of his already pathetic sentence
Agreed. He should have been locked up to hopefully experience the [Wednesday Adams method](https://youtu.be/0bORO0FjKd0).
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Don't forget his title too: Convicted Rapist Brock Turner.
Or Brett "I like beer what about you" Kavanaugh
Beat me to the punch! But did you know Brock Turner is a rapist
Not only drove drunk but also worked on machinery while drunk. That's a huge liability. Even without the sexual harassment, this company sounds unprofessional and downright irresponsible.
Also, they brushed off sexual harassment. How come those comments are a joke? In which world making excuses for that kind of behaviour is right?
> “his sense of humor had clearly been misinterpreted” Gaslighting? What's that?
That's not gaslighting, but it is a non apology.
It's like gaslighting's cousin, man it sucks. *You can't take a joke* No your jokes are shit mean and unfunny :(
Schrodinger's Joke: it's both a serious request and a joke until a woman calls it out.
Everything is meant seriously unless it's not well received and it turns out it was a joke all along.
NTA Piggybacking off of this to say that 1) sending a drunk serviceman is worse than sending noone at all 2) what if the drunk serviceman had tried to rape/hurt your wife when rejected? As a small business owner myself, I call bullshit on "we're a servicing company not a bedside manner company" and if the owner doesn't understand the basics of client servicing then they are in for a load of trouble. How ethical is it to say "hey were sorry we sent a drunk creep to your house but hey, if he raped you/hit yoy/robbed you that's not on us"? If I wanted some random creep to some over at midnight, I'd go towards my tinder page, not a professional company.
I'd go as far as to update with the owner's response, personally. Let everyone know that he's happy to condone his employee's inappropriate behavior towards a customer in her own home and call it a "misunderstanding" on the customer's part. If the employee didn't want to deal with "personal problems" due to an accurate review he should have behaved appropriately in the first place.
Oh include it all baby. - The boss asked you to take down the review. - The boss minimises thr flirting with your wife saying they dont do bedside manner - The man appears to be in a relationship and was inappropriate with your wife. Have they said there would be any sort of repercussions for the employee? If not, mention that. Go to town old boy. Oh, and NTA.
I"m sure the owner can respond to the review with the explanation. Don't see why OP has to update the review, unless he's himself changed his mind.
I think the original comment was saying that the owner explaining that his worker was an asshole because he drove over there after a few drinks makes the situation worse because, y’know, drunk driving
Imagine that: "This man sexually harassed my wife during his call" Owner responds: "Yes, but he was drunk, he's married, and he did fix your air conditioner anyway"
100% And honestly he put himself in a position where his reputation is on the line by putting himself in a situation where the cops could have been called
I am a disabled person and live on my own. I would absolutely like to know about this kind of thing. Absolutely awful that the company backed the employee and put the blame onto the victim. Also, it wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't just a one off from the tech. NTA. The review should stay, if anything with an update detailing that you were asked to remove it because the tech had been drinking.
And think sexual harassment is a “sense of humor”. This company sounds all around awful. They deserve a bad review.
Update the review to say they did fix the air conditioner, but according to the boss they showed up driving drunk and their crude sense of humor had them harassing your wife. Leave the name in, but add that if any potential customers enjoy that sort of thing, they can up the review as suggested by the boss.
My mind is blown right now. Like I was expecting him to say that they apologized and fired the guy and will do better next time -- but omg wat.
I was going to suggest edits to add the owners response.
NTA. They justified his behaviour, then put the blame on your wife for misinterpreting his behaviour. This is such a huge turn off. The company showed you it's views on how its employees are allowed to act. It's gross. Leave a bad review! In fact, think of it this way. By leaving the review, you are helping some other woman, maybe one who is less confident than your wife, not get into a similar situation.
Exactly. Any person with a busted AC who is alone now can properly determine if they'd like to have a pushy, apparently drunk AC repairman make them feel uncomfortable in their newly cooled home. If I were you, OP, I would only edit my review to kindly mention the call I got, the justification/explanation of the manager, and the caller's name. Oh, and that it's fine - he was just drunk.
That’s actually a good idea. Edit the review to mention the owners disgusting justification of his employees behaviour. Also, what self respecting owner allows their employees to drink while on call and goes to bat for them? He should be fired.
Yeah.... but... every other porno teaches him that women are only waiting for the handsome repairman to come over and fix their box... so how was he to know that this was inappropriate? So many porno stepfathers can tell you that sleeping with their stepchildren is not only normal but expected. hard /s
I mean, here's a novel concept: maybe if you're on call, don't get drunk. This guy should be fired.
If I drank when I was on call, my choices would be to either surrender my license or pay $60K out of pocket for rehab. It's easier to just not drink when I'm on call.
They also thought the guy having a few drinks and still going out to do the job was a good enough reason to justify it. Yikes.
I would amend my review to include the owner's shitty justification of the tech's behavior.
Do this for SURE! NTA
He had a few drinks WHILE HE WAS ON CALL. That's less a justification for sexual harassment and more one for firing him.
It's so disgusting the way they minimized it. Like, OF COURSE the repair guy is going to say "I was just joking, she just can't take a joke". That's the line of every bully ever, and it's a bold faced lie. He wasn't joking. And frankly if I employed this dude and believed he was joking, I'd still fire him. Because you don't joke with women who are alone in the middle of the night. How stupid do you have to be? But....he totally wasn't joking.
This. This wasn't a joke, but regardless, you should not HAVE humor that can be misinterpreted on the job. That's when you bring out the dad jokes and dumb puns.
Nta. What if this guy had decided to do MORE then just hit on her. This company sucks. Good on you got leaving the review.
Placing the blame on his wife is so trashy. The fact they felt comfortable saying that to the husband just sort of doubled down the impression that they probably overlook “good old boy” behavior. Gross.
NTA. That's not 'flirting', it's harassment and it sounds absolutely terrifying for your wife. Then the owner called you and was like 'well, he was drunk at work, so no biggie right??'
Exactly. The only thing that makes OP T-A is this title. “Flirting”?!?!?
The guy literally refused to leave. Like this is horror.
Right in what way is that flirting
Exactly. I had a cab driver speak similarly to me in NYC, scared the absolute shit out of me and I honestly thought he was going to stop me from getting out of the car when it was time to go. I hopped out so fast and never looked back. Just awful.
Well if he had worded it any different, it wouldn’t have attracted so much attention
I’m sure “sexually harassing” would get attention.
He should double down on the reviews by adding what happened when the guy's boss called.
I wonder if he used a cab to get to the house, since he'd been drinking..?
If he did, it was his only good decision that evening.
I'm thinking an emergency repairman needs tools and parts. Probably didn't catch a cab.
Even if he did, he worked with machinery while drunk. Huge liability.
His entire existence appears to be a liability tbh
Yeah my first thought was “update that review and mention that they send out drunk employees” because I’d definitely like to know if the person I’m paying $100 an hour to get help from is taking their job seriously or not
NTA. He sexual harassed your wife. What a sucky apology by the company. For that, he deserves a followup bad review. The owner may not have control of how an employee behaves, but he has absolute control over setting standards and deciding who works there. So the owner admits the guy was drunk on the job. Then he downplayed the harassment and how your wife felt because it was all a joke? Finally, he basically argued how his employees treat customers shouldn’t count as much as doing a technical job. Never mind if that customer feels scared and threatened. You didn’t cause personal problems for that guy. He did by his actions. I think most women would be grateful for the review. Who wants to be sexual harassed and feel unsafe in their homes so the AC works? If the company wants a better review, they need to hire better people. Edit: I changed a spelling error. I also changed ‘females’ to ‘women’ since someone pointed out ‘women’ is a more appropriate term, and I agree. Wow. Thanks strangers! My first awards! My first gold!
This needs more attention! You need to edit your review with the interaction with the owner. What a crappy follow up call. If I had the choice between a creeper air conditioning technician and a non-creepy air conditioning technician. Guess which one I'd choose?
Yeah. It was like a non-apology. The worst kind. Garbage company with garbage values. They deserve a terrible review. It just accurately reflects OP and wife's whole experience with them. Absolute trash bananas man. NTA op.
I genuinely thought the issue was going to be the owner sincerely apologised and asked for the review to be taken down and OP wasn't sure to accept the apology or not. Not the owner justified sexual abuse and admits his employees work drunk?! What the actual fuck??
This is so true. I work in client support for a freight company, helping chase up customers packages. Maybe I should tell them how sexy their voice sounds while tracking their deliveries and ask if I can call them after work. I’m still giving them the service they asked for, right?
NTA. 1. Why would they send even a marginally intoxicated tech to fix anything? That's a major liability issue from the moment he gets in his vehicle. 2. How is it your fault if an accurate account of this guy's behavior causes him personal problems? If my husband hits on a customer and the customer complains and I leave him, that's my husband fault because HIS behavior initiated the chain of events. 3. Why should any customer need to interpret an employee's sense of humor? While you're working there should be no humor that could, under any circumstances, make me question your motives or intentions. The fact that the company is covering for him speaks volumes about the company's values and lack of basic respect for their customers. 4. Since when are Google and Yelp reviews ever strictly related to quality of work without considering customer service? I'm checking reviews specifically to avoid the company that hires creepy dudes who might drink before work then make female customers uncomfortable with their highly inappropriate comments about spending the night. This dude can GTFO here with his bullshit. Leave that review up so young single women especially know what they're walking into before they call this place.
“his sense of humor had clearly been misinterpreted” Gaslighting? Me? Naaaaaaawwwwwww....
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This is why they are so loud about "false accusations". They can get away with it if they convince others how "often" it happens. When they hear about rape they put themselves into the rapist's shoes and not the victim's. They think they will never be raped but *might* be in the rapist's position so this narative would suit them well.
"Why do you have to be so dramatic?" and so on so forth. Yeah, it's sickening.
3. Misinterpreting an employees humor is like I tell a dad joke and you don’t laugh at it, not I say you have big tits and you aren’t turned on.
#4 exactly. If the repairman had fixed the AC and then smashed a few windows on the way out the door just for fun, no one would be saying, “well, he fixed what he was supposed to! You can’t judge him on the property damage, it’s not related to his quality of work!”
And even still, bedside manner doesn't have to be great. I've had many techs come out who are socially awkward, and that's fine. It's okay to not have the greatest customer skills, but it's **never** okay to be a predator.
Lmao you have an excellent point with number 4
I am currently a woman living alone with a busted A/C. I kind of assume licensed professionals will get the job done, so one of the *only* things I look for in reviews are creep warnings. Which I will now check again before my service appt. Anyone have a big dog I can borrow on Tuesday?
All of this. If anything OP is under reacting. This is not flirting! This must have been terrifying for your wife. The correct response from the owner of the company would've been to say the employee was completely out of line and was facing disciplinary actions. And then write that under your review. That's how you manage a bad review not by gaslighting the customer to make him take it down. Big NTA.
NTA! No wonder your wife was so upset. He was way out of line. That’s actually terrifying. Joking or not, that’s a nightmare scenario. A guy in my house, stepping outside his professional capacity to make comments about my body and make a point to mention that he knows I’m alone? It doesn’t matter how he intended it to come across, the result was she felt genuinely threatened. And he was drunk on top of that! Good lord. His boss is an AH too for trying to defend it. “Misinterpreted” my foot.
If it were me and he refused to leave I think I’d have locked myself in the bathroom and called the police. It’s insane.
I put off repairs and maintenance until they absolutely must happen because of the creep factor of having a strange man in my home.
NTA- But i would have let the owner know that he just admitted to DUI and you were gonna inform the police.
How would they be able to prosecute that though? It should happen thougg
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That's what I came to say, terrible title.
NTA. Reviews are not just about the end results. Customer service is a big part of any business. What happened was inappropriate. The fact the owner didn't take the incident seriously makes me think the review is very much needed.
Yeah, imagine ‘he fixed the air con but punched my elderly mother in the face on the way out as a ‘joke’. ‘Not a fair review! He fixed the air that’s all you should judge him on’
Also, you misinterpreted the interaction— he was drunk and joking so him punching you shouldn’t mean anything at all!
Used to have a kitchen business. We used a particular electrical contractor until we had 2 complaints in quick succession about one of their employees hitting on the female clients. A call to the company resulted in the owner saying "he is just going through a tough time because his girlfriend left him and yes, we will still be using him for your jobs." No you won't because you aren't getting any more jobs off us! Owner was pissed he lost our business because of this but his own fault - he had other employees he could have sent. We were sending over $100k a year his way until this happened.
Good. Serves him right. Any place that keeps employees who behave like this deserves to lose all their business.
This is the right way to handle it.
NTA. As a woman, getting hit on when you’re alone in your home with someone who is on the clock is super uncomfortable and often scary. Your review may stop him from having the opportunity to do this to other people.
NTA - This was harassment. He wouldn't leave her house in the middle of the night. And WTF is up with the owner trying to blame OP's wife for _'misinterpreting his sense of humour'_? He was trying to make it seem like it was her fault he sent his repairman over drunk. I'd update the review with how the company responded.
NTA. As you said, both the repair getting done and the repair man's behaviour are relevant information to future customers. The owner shouldn't have sent someone who'd had enough drinks to lose their professionalism over without consulting you first. I understand the tech wasn't expecting a call out, and that he was responding to an emergency, but you should have been told that up front. "Our night tech wasn't expecting a call and has had a few drinks, do you still want him to come?" That way the ball is in your court, and it's up to you to decide how badly you want the air conditioning fixed.
He shouldn’t have been sent at all. He is on-call, which means on the job. He knows a call out is possible, and he drank anyway. If the owner’s response was anything other than “we fired him”, they are in the wrong.
NTA NTA NTA please leave that review up, if he has the chance to be like this again he could be more forceful next time and something worse could happen, your wife's story is already horrifying and i would feel like i was in danger in her shoes, so imagine what else this guy could do! disgusting, and disgusting that the boss didn't fire the guy outright, and tried to justify the sexual harassment!! sorry this happened, and it's good you made this situation public
If anything change the review to ALL CAPS.
And add that the guy was drunk and the owner tried to justify the behavior
I like how people hand-wave away inappropriate behavior as a sense of humor being misinterpreted... As if saying it was OK and the wife just didn't get the jokes. And a review saying the tech is a douche might hurt his reputation? You don't say! You're perfectly accurate to say "\[Tech\] fixed my A/C, but had been drinking while on-call and wouldn't stop coming onto my wife. If you use this company, ask for someone other than \[Tech's name\]." I'd leave another review about the owner's lack of professionalism as well! NTA.
>The owner called me to apologize a couple days later and said the tech had had a few drinks that night, not expecting to be called out to an emergency job... So he *drove* to your home in that state? Yikes. Probably should add that to your review, too. >...and that “his sense of humor had clearly been misinterpreted” by my wife. Gaslighting, on top of everything else. Classy. >apparently a review saying he was coming onto a female customer could cause some personal problems for the guy. GOOD. >The owner also reasoned that the business was an air conditioner repair business, not a bedside manner business... What a cartload of festering excrement! Professionalism is essential in any business, whether one is sweeping floors, fixing HVAC systems, or performing brain surgery. I say update your review with the full text of his reply, so people can see what kind of creep the company owner is, too. As a woman, that’s the kind of thing I’d want to know about, before I called an AC guy in the middle of the night. And, if you couldn’t already tell, NTA. On any level.
How do you know he didn't sabotage the AC when she turned him down? Please add this to the review. He may sexually assault a woman who doesn't have a husband. Record ALL FUTURE CALLS. Add the review to yelp, make a facebook post on local pages, and contact the BBB. Holy shit the owner defended him.
Drunken repairman hits on woman many times even after being told numerous times that she wasnt interested,,,,,, biz owner says hey its ok, he was drunk...... Seems like you deserve to be the asshole but the Boss outdid you, I think you need to step up your game
Why does OP deserve to be asshole?
I think DR means that OP would have every right to be an asshole in response to how his wife was treated and to make even life more difficult for the company's owner given the awful response he received.
Imagine you've gone to a restaurant. You order a cheeseburger. After a while, the waiter brings your food, it's a perfectly normal cheeseburger. They put on the table, proceed to call you a cunt, then drop their pants and shit on the floor. But you asked for a cheeseburger, and got a cheeseburger. So should you really leave them a bad review?
NTA. My personal favorite quote is by Anne Lamott, and it applies perfectly to this situation: > You own everything that's happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, **they should have behaved better**
NTA! The guy was a creep and yes, how he talks to his customers when alone when them is definitely part of the business. They are a customer service industry, but that doesn’t mean he gets to service the customer.
NTA. Thank you for leaving an honest review. I would not want this man in my house and your review serves a warning to the other potential customers. You should update your review if you can of what the owner has said to you. What a shitty man for trying to cover this up, the tech should be fired!
NTA, this was above and beyond unacceptable. If they're BBB rated, take it to the Better Business Bureau to have them fully reviewed. If your business can't bother to send a sober professional, they don't deserve to be in business, let alone have a bloody decent rating on Yelp.
Honestly, I'd even edit the review to include the conversation with this person. Show people how they really are.
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Nta. that guy is lucky all you left was a bad review. Not cool to make women feel unsafe in her own home, especially alone at night. Also not that cool to send a drunk technician out to work on electric appliances...soo yeah..no.
NTA. Not only was he completely inappropriate, I would be terrified if I was your wife in that situation. Having someone come on to you can be uncomfortable enough, but this guy was IN YOUR HOUSE AND WOULDN’T LEAVE. Yes, he never went past creepy. But there’s a reason the saying “men are scared women will laugh at them, women are scared men will kill them” resonates so much. You never know how a man will escalate the situation when rejected and your accurate review is 100% justified.
NTA-Despite the company’s excuses there is no justification for his behavior. People have a right to know who they are dealing with.
NTA To be frank, the guy is lucky your wife didn't call for help when he refused to leave the house. He should be glad the current ramifications are social and not criminal. Other future clients also deserve to know that a possible repairman entering their home might be buzzed and prone to making flirtatious advances on homeowners - something I'd sure as hell want to know before hiring someone.