Life has simply taught me that there are very few genuine people out there as most are self absorbed and selfish.
There is a lot of selfishness.
I have noticed that.
But I had hoped that could diminishā¦most of you feel that I have no right
to hope for this.
But it is not a great feeling not to trust.
Ditto, but I have seen roofing work and electrical work carried out by French guys who were most definitely on the black. I know this for certain as a friends son was assisting whilst house sitting and whoās father was trained by a very good local roofing company. The roof began to leak after a month. The English owners actually made excuses for the roofers??? Maybe because they didnāt want the issue of working on the black. The electrical work was just dangerous. That was ripped out and redone (there was no money left) so it was done as a favour, even though by doing so we know of the possible ramification further down the road. Anyway, that was the longest explanation of it definitely goes on!
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Harry, I have read many posts where you are asking people to please accept your mistakes because thatās how your brain works. The same goes for topic threads; there are many people who cannot see out of the box and pedantically stick to the thread but others may be divergent thinkers who see strong links to the thread and what they post even though others see no links at all. Those people will repeat their style time after time. Itās not wrong, itās just the way they are.
The thing is that in France the onus is on the public not to use unregistered workers. Any prosecution would be against the client, not the artisan; the client is the guilty party. The thinking is that if there is no black market there will be no black workers. And no doubt itās more successful if they impose fines on the clients because the client is more likely to have money to pay fines, as opposed to desperate workers who may not.
So itās up to the client to verify that any artisan they use is registered, ie theyāre not breaking the law, and itās not difficult to check. It may sound harsh but IMHO anyone who chooses to break the law canāt really complain about the consequences.
PS Iām not whiter than white, I sometimes use a retired artisan who is no longer registered. Itās a calculated risk, his work is good, and if there was a problem I would take my share of the blame.
[quote=āsmwsplr, post:35, topic:19029ā]
Why would anyone want to risk their property and their livesā¦ by NOT getting the electrics done competently and safely.
[/quote] Money I believe, Not criticising the french wiring system as it is now. But it uses a lot of cable and copper is expensive. Allied to that the number of days work. Then the equipment, Le Grand, couldnāt have chosen a more apt name! So you Eenglish buy your knackered old ruin for very little with itās vast m2 and they never factored in it would cost ā¬30-40000 to rewire it when that money would be far better spent on a swimming pool. All connected up in the knackered old house to knackered old wiring. My place had lethal electrics, our French electrician wasnāt phased by it and did as we asked, should have condemned the wiring. That from what I have seen is not a isolated case.
Yes, I suppose you are right Johnā¦ in many cases it does come down to Finances.
Folk have to decide what they spend their money on. However, where safety is concernedā¦ there is Aid for those on low incomes.
Anyone buying a property needs to have a real idea of what they are taking onā¦ and budget accordingly. First night in our āruinā and OH was repairing the fusesā¦ while I held the torch (yes, they were the old sort that you could repair). Electrics went to the top of the list of jobs to do/get doneā¦ 
I can remember when I first went behind the āIron Curtainā and having to hold my tram or bus ticket in the air when entering the vehicle, to prove to the other passengers that I had paid my way and wasnāt freeloading even though it would have been possible to use the transport without paying.
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Peer pressure to do the right thing comes back to a comment that I found quite interesting, that cropped up yesterday, when someone said why worry about what other people do. Not sure now which thread it was on. But thatās a good if rather extreme example of what a difference it can make when people donāt turn a blind eye when they see others acting antisocially.
which i could accept if it was not the same story time after time the same people chose to swap to in such bizare ways.
when a thread about honest tradesppeple becomes the focus of how many friends we have or dont. I personally cannot stand humans I prefer dogs, dogs show respect and love without wanting much else in return where ive found people always want something from you. remember a time when a guy who helped me push a car 50 metres down a road to jump start it. kept asking me for help and if i was busy hed say remember when i helped you push your car. so for the next 6 months i helped when he asked and one day i had a big job of my own and asked him to help and when he said he was busy i took to realling off all the things id helped him with in the past. he never asked me for help again. People always have their own intentions at heart for the most part (yes very cynical i know) but allas peoples own agendas always takes the front in everything. I am closed for lunch between 1pm and 2:30pm and guarantee people will turn up andpres y bell and i say its only 2pm they say its okay we will wait yet they know im not going to make them sit and wait. That is life though and we have to accept it. I do not do friends in my clients human wise. my friends are the dogs that come to stay the humans just pay their bill.
Bizare is in the eye of the beholder Harry.
Dinner party rules Barbara, did you intend that to come over as it does?
Tradesmen or tradeswomen are people first Harry so itās easy to see why the thread has developed in the way it has.
As for preferring dogs to people our last dog (a Springer) was positively āaloofā except when he wanted feeding or walking.
This Vero was what Ann was saying to me!.
She if I remember rightly told me to live in the here and now.
I have not told you about my heart exactly but willing to.
My past life is as relevant as my current life.
Really not sure about this dinner party .
Please explain.
I prefer friends who donāt lick their own anus or anyone elses.
Oh come on Harry it was a joke.
Wow! Think you started quite a discussion Mark! I donāt suppose you are in Brittany are you?
We are moving to France in the next few months, for some of the reasons listed in this discussion. I feel in England Iāve actually felt penalised for trying to do the right thing. Iām hoping things will be a little better in France. Itās nice to know there are some good people here. I have a general distrust of tradesmen, through various exeriences. Which has led to me to always tackle as many jobs myself as I can. At least I know they have been done properly then. But cars? No hopeless, not a clue! I just nod and pretend I know what the mechanics are talking aboutā¦
You are missing the point. You ask others to accept you and your ways so surely you can see that you need to accommodate some of them at times.
Itās the SNF policy Barbara, the posters are asked to behave as they would at a dinner party; itās ok to disagree but politely.
Absolutely, Dominic ā¦
eg: ā¦ no chucking bread rolls at one anotherā¦ no bad-langugeā¦no shouting across the tableā¦no slurping drinksā¦ behave nicelyā¦and ā¦ pleaseā¦ try and eat the soup quietlyā¦
yes I know.