I saved $575 for a moment of discomfort

Today, I want to share a small victory.

Like all human beings, I have flaws. One reason for me is that I hate confrontation. It’s a family thing. I don’t know why, but neither of us like conflict. Of course, this feature has some benefits. My brothers and I don’t have too many fights and arguments with family and friends. When we do have a conflict, we do our best to resolve it quickly.

But this conflict avoidance has some huge drawbacks. For example, in trying to make peace, we may be trying too hard to reach a compromise quickly. Plus, we don’t like to negotiate. Negotiations are inherently conflict. No thanks!

In my life, this is especially problematic when I need to stand up for myself. Let me give you an example.

recent, Our roof is leaking. After an initial assessment, I decided that handling one myself was too much for me. I called the local roofing contractor.

“We can go out tomorrow,” said the person who answered the phone. “But the minimum fee for this trip is $250. That $250 can be used for the first hour of labor, then $150 for each additional hour. Plus, of course, we’ll charge you for materials.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

The next morning at 8:16 am the roofing company called me to let me know they were on their way. After about ten minutes, they showed up.

I climbed into the attic with a roofer to show them the problem. “It’s not bad,” he said. “We can fix this very quickly.” They did. At 9:06, the roofer waved goodbye and told me that the office would send an invoice. Since they were on site in less than an hour, I reckon the bill was maybe $400 or $500.

Yes, I noticed the time I interacted with the roofer. I always try to do this when working with hourly contractors. And, as you’ll see, I’m doing it smart.

Last weekend, I received an invoice from the roofing company. They charged me $850. That might be fine if the charges were justified, but no. Line item is ambiguous.

“What’s wrong?” Jin asked. She could see that I was silently getting angry at the piece of paper in my hand.

“The roofing company charged me about twice as much as I expected to fix the leak,” I said.

“Oh,” she said. After ten years together, Kim immediately knew the underlying problem: I was going to have to get involved in conflict. If I don’t want to pay $850, I will have to question the invoice. “You’re going to have to call them, won’t you?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’m.”

I hate every second of it but I did Call the roofing company.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m trying to figure out this invoice you sent. I know your guys have been here for less than an hour, so this charge can’t be time. Did they really use $600 of material to fix our roof? ?” I was calm. I am polite. I’m confused.

“Let me check it out for you,” said the office manager. “I’ll call you back.”

The next day, the man called me back. “I apologize,” he said. “That was our fault. You’re right. We’re less than an hour, and we’ll fix your roof in very little time. Ignore that invoice. We’ll send you a new one for $275. I I’m sorry this happened.”

I know this may sound very, very basic to most of you, but at the moment I am proud of myself. For me, it’s a small victory. I did it despite being afraid of the conflict inherent in asking questions. In doing so, I saved myself $575!

While this did not cure my conflict-avoidance nature, this experience have Proving that standing up for yourself is worth it sometimes when you know you’re right. A few minutes of discomfort produced a profit of $575. It can be said that the rate of return is quite good. Now I just have to keep this result in mind the next time I face the prospect of another uncomfortable call…