@checkouttime quoting this brought it more to my attention than the first time. Not beating up on you here, I just realized how relevant it is to the OP.
In Mexican culture, since, as you say, people don't like hearing no, and it being a face-saving culture, then the person who would say no instead says "mañana." Only tomorrow never comes. It's a culture of refusing to be pinned down to a firm yes or a no, to giving a direct answer to a direct question and actually following through on it. And don't dare mention it. I asked a maintenance worker who's supposed to fix my ceiling when that would happen and he said, "mañana." I replied, "The day of tomorrow, or Mexican mañana?" His face showed a flash of irritation, he got a little more erect, and said, "The day of tomorrow." Guess whether my ceiling has ever been fixed. One just has to let shit go, or it gets "unpleasant" for daring to get frustrated or "demanding." Even things like contracts and laws cannot be counted on to be honored or upheld, they're more like signposts of what to try to get around if you can, and those with more power can. A whole culture like that. A culture where males have more value and more authority, and where abuse is rampant, where laws don't protect the poor or even the rich, where those with the most power rule, and there is always someone waiting for the opportunity to knock them down. It's like a culture of spoiled little boys getting away with as much as they can, being indulged, and victims never getting recompense or justice. This truth is unpleasant, but if people would be truthful and hold to promises and contracts, isn't it possible the entire culture would be more pleasant and less hurtful?
I know exactly what this person is...... an absolute arsehole. and i will explain exactly this persons attitude
so if i remember right you were renting somewhere. so the workman does the maintenance on the property. he works for the landlord who pays his wages. his attitude is the people paying the rent aren't important, he looks down on them/you. what idiots like fail to realise is that you/the other tenants are the ones who really pay his wages. do you have to ring the landlord to report any jobs that need doing? if the tenants don't need work doing, this guy is isn't needed. he's that braindead he doesn't understand that.i had a similar situation where a landlord i worked for the tenants were used to getting nothing done, didn't ring jobs in etc. i totally changed that, i used to get the tenants things i thought needed doing, a lot of the time not even asking the landlord. not just to make money for myself, because i thought the people deserved to be treated this way. after all they pay rent, they should live a certain standard. now i don't know if the persons on a wage rather than working for themselves. i feel like they may be picking and choosing, what work they do. but even some self employed people work this way....do all the easy jobs and neglect the rest. i have a feeling that if you complain/more you complain. the less likely they are to do the job. they like the authority/power over you they have. the landlord might not actually be bothered if the person was self employed, it would save them money. if they are a landlord with just a few properties, most of the time these people don't put some rent aside for repairs. then when a big job is needed to be done, they scrape around for the cheapest person(big mistake). i know you mentioned about the males having the power etc. even if you had not mentioned that, i would of took a guess that the person treats women different to men. i have seen it so many times where women, don't want workmen in the house and feel uncomfortable in this situation. now me personally, that has never happened.why? because it all about knowing how to behave and act in all the different situations. you have to know how to treat different people. and definitely not by lying to them.
now me as a workman
i am entering a persons home. rented or not, rich or poor makes absolutely no difference.alot of my work was word of mouth, i never advertised.i have worked in footballers, soap opera stars, businessmen's...........middle class, lower class. from mansions to some seriously poor living conditions.
1st off, the person needs to feel comfortable with you entering their home. be it rented, or their own. it doesn't matter.a person paying you directly or you doing work for a landlord.same difference, they are both earning you money. when you enter their property they deserve to be respected, its their home at the end of the day. now every person is different, you have to know how to behave in each circumstance. in my eyes its not something you can teach. i had old people, young people,LGBT, rich, poor. now i had to work hard to gain peoples trust. mainly due to the fact of them having a person similar to what you mentioned doing the job for 20yrs before me. alot were suspicious, uneasy at 1st. now even doing the job properly, they aren't used to that. sometimes they question what you are doing, they aren't used to being treated this way. then comes into play knowing your job and how to explain things to people. the person doesn't even need to understand what you are talking about, they can tell when someone knows what they are talking about. used to do jobs for really cheap for the tenants i worked with, as i was pretty much around 5 days a week and they weren't well off. sometimes i did something for free(people question why?). in turn i would hope i would get more work from them passing my name on etc(doesn't always work).
at the end of the day its about attitude, management of different people/circumstances. I did every job i ever did 100% no slacking ever. if you are going to do a job , you do it properly or not at all is my way. and every person is equal, they all earn me money. i earns alot of money, but you know what seeing people happy, job satisfaction is priceless.having a women say your work belongs in an art gallery(were talking about pipes here lol), someone who doesn't know my job(i don't mean that in a nasty way) you know you have done something well, thats a special feeling you can't buy. its hard work and i loved my job, there was never a day when i woke up and didn't want to go to work. my mates used to moan when a few of us who did the same job were in the pub, its all we would talk about was work lol (bet i sound a right bore!!). you get out,what you put in.
problem now is people just see my job as a money earner, want to put minimum effort in. treat people like shit, lie to them. honestly it used to piss me off so much, i wondered how people got away with stuff, it amazes me sometimes. this is 100% true, any person i ever did a job for would never ring any one else for work. even if it was another trade, they would ask me if i knew someone as they trusted me that much. now that is something i was so proud off, like i said moneys good, the job satisfaction is another level. not for the attention, because its what people deserved and making them happy is what its all about, its there hard work they deserve nothing less
i'll give you an example of a situation
i get a call to a job. twenty something, on her own with a few children. guy does a job, gets most of the money and wont go back. i get asked to look at the job, a friend of hers knew passed my name on. so i go to look at the job, she thinks its just a simple thing.she wants me to finish off what this guy has left and sign his work off. i don't sign others work off, ever.but said i will look over the job anyway(not for money).another person had looked at job and was willing to do it, but i was asked to look also.
I turn up and the guys installed the appliance wrong, i explain to her its not a little job. i need to totally relocate the appliance, thats she has already paid alot of money for.now i know every regulation (its amazing how many people know very little, considering its their job!). i explained to her what was needed and how much it would cost. the problem is she's already payed, I AM not happy at all. i don't want her to have to pay. So i told her to message the guy and told her what to say.basically it was all the faults etc, so when he read it he knew someone knew exactly what they were talking about. she got a reply this time! he begged her to let him come round and fix the problems. no chance she told him, i was the one going to do it. he said to her he would pay whatever i charged just don't report him!
well that wasn't good enough still. he was told to pay all the money back, that way he would think twice before trying it again. maybe people might not agree with that , i think some people only learn one way. but thats an example of how i treated a person i had never met before, i despise people who think they can do things like that to others.
and like you said GPE the laws etc don't always help people. so i used my own law, its called pick on someone your own size.who can fight back!
i haven't read all the post yet either lol, i started replying after i read the 1st part lol
sorry for the essay!