'About', 'Should be'...

[greenwoo]

I may be having a bit of humpy 'hump day' bit anyone else get fed up/irked by the use of those phrases words in a professional context?

Spoke to a company that sells logs earlier....(no prices or sensible info on their website), bear in mind they're local, about 5 miles away max.
' How much are the logs and for what quantity'

'We do bulk bags or loose tipped which is equivalent to about 7 bags'
How big are the bags
'They're builders bags'
Right but what size as they come in .7/.8./.9 etc
'Well they're builders bags like i said about a metre cube'
ok, so a loose truckload is 7metres?
'about that yes, like i said they're builders bags'

what about cost?
where are you? oh right, well a loose load would be about £400
'about? so could be less then'?
'well no, it'll be about £400'
(wtf??)

what's the moisture content
'err about ......
FFS - really 'about'? nothing positive/definite

and as for 'Should be'
how many bloody times do people use that for 'might be'.....

Better pray that surgeons and the like don't start using those words.....

[b33fy]

Builder talk.. then they wallop you on the back of the head with the VAT.. fookers

[steve m]

The word "about" seems quite innocuous and such an in offensive word, but..

When the about word is used, i would of imagined the price to off been £395/400/405, but reading what Mark has written, it seems the company has no structure, and has employed the village idiot to answer the phone! (Mark, you may have a customer there !!)

Its like the quote or estimate scenario, as a quote is a defined amount and an estimate is an a varying amount that has no top or bottom price

steve

[greenwoo]

err worryingly Steve that was the bloke that owns the Company!

[Martin S]

I get this all the time in my line of work....try buying soil by the ton....it totally confuses them when you ask if its wet or dry

[Alextreme]

I would say it does not surprise me as the guy is by himself working out of a knackered white van selling wood... a bag is a bag in their view. This was my experience for buying timber. Also that elm or birch does not need drying and yes "mate" it is all dry with below 20% moisture even though it was probably chopped less than a month ago and stored in a barn.

[greenwoo]

Nope Alex, not a white man van, a bona fide business which happens to include logs which is a by product of the larger side. Don't know the exact totals, but for sure they employ 5-10+
and yep, have come across the 'we cut it 3 months ago so its ready' brigade....

funnily enough this concept of weight/amount is so common place its a joke. Had a conversation with a guy that delivers our coal. They also do (supposedly) decent logs. We taLked 2 yrs back about £'s and amount and he runs a little open back lorry - a step up from a truck size wise. I can't recall the amount he reckoned constituted a load, but after having told me that it was level with the top of the sides i questioned his maths. Because it was something like 6 cubic metres.....given that the sides were about 50mm high it was 'out' by a country mile.

On that note, if anyone around the sevenoaks-maidstone area or between knows a decent 'log bloke' who doesn't want a kidney for a proper load of logs, feel free to shout out via PM....have a need for about 6-9 cubic metres pronto....
oh and same goes for soft/hardwood offcuts if anyone knows a 'chippy that has waste to dispose of.....

[b33fy]

I got a poop load Mark, about 3 tonnes in Tesco carrier bag..

Speak to you Saturday.

[Nash]

I bet he’s caddie because he can’t weigh accurately and in today’s litigation world he worries about some bum (no not you!) nailing him to the cross (wood joke intended) for being one log “underweight”

Ambulance chasers! Now that’s a topic that winds me up.