I see many opinions here, but I think the one that stands out most is the concept of customer service. If you treat your customer right, even if that means eventually losing them, you will come out ahead in the future. Word of mouth is a strong marketing tactic, but can also bite you if you don't act properly. For instance, let's assume that you take what I consider the selfish route and decide to only do what the contract states and no more. Your customer will notice and in the future may not use you, but worse they may provide a negative comment to other potential customers.
If instead you remain professional, courteous, and service oriented to what's best for your client, they'll be your best marketing department. Remember, companies are made up of people. What happens when a manager or exec from your current company leaves for a new company? The way you treat them will affect their thoughts and decisions about bringing you to a new client with them.
As professional engineers and developers, we should always take the high road and act with the best interests of our customers/clients even when it seems as if we're being screwed. It will help you in the future and also keep you from getting ulcers:-).
But emergency rooms are still required to treat the grievously injured, insured or not. What if there had been a life on the line, someone trapped inside the building. Does some kid have to die because his dad was to cheep or too stupid to pay a fee?
I understand why this happened this way but I don't see why it couldnt be structured differently. If wilderness rescue can charge a lost hiker for finding them without that hiker having to pay a $75 fee ahead of time just in case they get lost, why cant the fire department charge someone who didn't pay the fee up front. Obviously the fee for putting out the fire should be a lot more than what the person would pay if they just paid in advance but it should be an option.
pets died. Granted that they're not people, but a life is a life. The pets (and even children) would have no choice in the matter as to whether their owner/parent paid the fees. I agree that everyone should pay their dues. Having a welfare state is not good. However, I also believe that we as humans and neighbors should be willing to help out in dire situations such as this. I think the damage caused by the fire to this point and then to the house, far outweighed a $75 bill. Also, we really don't have all the info around what that bill was do we? Was it specifically for fire related services? or was it a parking ticket? Are we really going to let someone's house burn over an unpaid parking ticket in the future?
ISBN: 9780805358353
Pascal : Programming with Style, A Brief Introduction
Lamb, Richard
Although written with Pascal it's good info for any programming language.
My 15 year old is also good with math, but she's academically good all around. She wants to pursue a career as an artist. I'm all for that. Even though she has the aptitude to be an engineer or scientist, that's not what she loves. I'm choosing to guide her into something that she loves to do and then it's her responsibility to find out how to make a living doing it. If she has a passion for it, she'll find a way to do it for life.
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I see many opinions here, but I think the one that stands out most is the concept of customer service. If you treat your customer right, even if that means eventually losing them, you will come out ahead in the future. Word of mouth is a strong marketing tactic, but can also bite you if you don't act properly. For instance, let's assume that you take what I consider the selfish route and decide to only do what the contract states and no more. Your customer will notice and in the future may not use you, but worse they may provide a negative comment to other potential customers. If instead you remain professional, courteous, and service oriented to what's best for your client, they'll be your best marketing department. Remember, companies are made up of people. What happens when a manager or exec from your current company leaves for a new company? The way you treat them will affect their thoughts and decisions about bringing you to a new client with them. As professional engineers and developers, we should always take the high road and act with the best interests of our customers/clients even when it seems as if we're being screwed. It will help you in the future and also keep you from getting ulcers :-).
But emergency rooms are still required to treat the grievously injured, insured or not. What if there had been a life on the line, someone trapped inside the building. Does some kid have to die because his dad was to cheep or too stupid to pay a fee?
I understand why this happened this way but I don't see why it couldnt be structured differently. If wilderness rescue can charge a lost hiker for finding them without that hiker having to pay a $75 fee ahead of time just in case they get lost, why cant the fire department charge someone who didn't pay the fee up front. Obviously the fee for putting out the fire should be a lot more than what the person would pay if they just paid in advance but it should be an option.
pets died. Granted that they're not people, but a life is a life. The pets (and even children) would have no choice in the matter as to whether their owner/parent paid the fees. I agree that everyone should pay their dues. Having a welfare state is not good. However, I also believe that we as humans and neighbors should be willing to help out in dire situations such as this. I think the damage caused by the fire to this point and then to the house, far outweighed a $75 bill. Also, we really don't have all the info around what that bill was do we? Was it specifically for fire related services? or was it a parking ticket? Are we really going to let someone's house burn over an unpaid parking ticket in the future?
Agreed. I read several of the docs and I don't see where they're advocating what is in the summary. Why try to propagate fear?
ISBN: 9780805358353 Pascal : Programming with Style, A Brief Introduction Lamb, Richard Although written with Pascal it's good info for any programming language.
My 15 year old is also good with math, but she's academically good all around. She wants to pursue a career as an artist. I'm all for that. Even though she has the aptitude to be an engineer or scientist, that's not what she loves. I'm choosing to guide her into something that she loves to do and then it's her responsibility to find out how to make a living doing it. If she has a passion for it, she'll find a way to do it for life.