We must be doing fine

I’ve stumbled across an economic indicator that analysts and experts never mention. And if the indicator is accurate, the economy must be doing well.

Car sales, holiday shopping, interest rates, clients requesting custom work – these are all indicators of how the economy is doing. I’ve discovered another, which I’ll illustrate with four very recent examples.

1) I need some remodeling work beyond my abilities and called a contractor who came over, made some great suggestions and took a lot of notes. He said he’d get back to me in a couple days with an estimate and time frame for the job. After not hearing anything I contacted him. He’d decided not to do my job after all, but couldn’t be bothered to call and let me know.

2) I also need some minor electrical work done. I don’t do electricity, so I called an electrical contractor recommended by a neighbor. They took my number and info but I didn’t hear back. Called them a second time, they took my info once more and I waited for a return call. Nothing.

3) I called a second electrical contractor and had the exact same experience.

4) We have an issue with one of our garage doors involving that big torsion spring. I don’t know a lot about garage-door repair, but the one thing I do know is that the torsion spring is definitely not a DIY project. I called a garage repair place. They took my info and number and, again, I just never heard back from them.

When the economy is bad, nobody turns down jobs no matter the size. At the very least, efficient communications – the most basic being a simple call back – are essential to earning a living when times are tough.

Based on my experiences lately I can only assume the economy is really, really good right now.

A.J.