"Some days are better than others". That's what they say. For the past week or so the jobs have been 'others' time after time. A couple of days ago I got an out of town job. Normally these don't bother me. Out of town means more money. But come on I had to drive an hour out of town to open a truck. Working time, two minutes. Then an hour to get back. Then when I'm six blocks from home I get another call. I have to drive an hour out of town in a different direction, spend two minutes opening a car and then an hour back. Sometimes I honestly believe that the boss thinks there are about three of me. While I was on my way to the second long distance job I got a call to open an apartment, roughly two miles from my home. No way I'm going to turn around and go to that job when I'm almost half way to the first one. The boss and I had a few words. Fortunately he agreed that I needed to go to the job I was headed to first. Today, I had to open the office at a store in the mall. Now many times when you start talking about business's, you are talking about industrial type locks. Almost impossible to pick and filled with an overabundance of moving parts. I swear that I believe the people who design these things do so with the idea that the more parts they put in them the more they can sell them for. Anyway I'm neck deep in getting this door open when I get a call to go to the other side of town to open an apartment. (Sorry boss, I can't abandon one job to go to another.) So the next guy has to wait. And wait, and wait and wait. Did I mention that industrial locks are a pain in the neck? I got at least three texts from the boss about the next job before I was finished with the one I was on. I answered only one text with the words, "I'm busy". So what happens? I finish the job I'm on and go to the next. I get there and the guy has the unpickable Smart Key locks and doesn't want them drilled. The landlord wouldn't like it. Besides he has gotten in contact with somebody who has a key and is on his way over. Plus the guy doesn't see the sense in paying a service call fee. This is a neighborhood where EVERYONE has a Smart Key lock and the screens are screwed into the window frame. NOT a nice place to be. I wasn't going to stand around and argue about it. My life is worth more than a few bucks.
Speaking of the industrial type locks, why do people feel the need to put them on their houses and/or apartments? Recently I got to a job, there are four apartments inside the building. The door leading into the apartment block has an industrial lock. Thank The Lord the customer knows at least one of her neighbors and they come out to open the outside door. Now the door to her apartment has an industrial lock. I worked on that thing for better than a half an hour, trying to pick it, wound up drilling it and while we have industrial locks at the shop, I'm the "emergency guy" meaning I don't carry those kinds of locks with me. Now I have to put on a temporary door knob so she can lock the door, then run to the shop, pick up what she wants, and go back to install it. Oh, I forgot to mention, the customer wanted the same thing that came out to be put back in. She didn't want to upset the landlord.
On top of all of this, let me highly encourage everyone reading this to NEVER buy a Nissan Rogue. I got mine because of an emergency. It, and the dealership, have given me nothing but trouble since the day I bought it. This year more money has been spent on that thing than it is worth. Happily it was mostly either insurance or warranty jobs. Most recently the drain from the sun roof started leaking into the inside of the car. THAT fried out the electronics. That was to the tune of $4100. Insurance paid for that, BUT as I'm pulling out of the dealership I hear this awful grinding noise from the rear end. I made a U-turn and went back to the dealership. They inspect it and tell me that the rear differential is going out. That is supposed to be covered by a lifetime warranty. We'll see. The point is that the Rogue is a vehicle to be avoided.