I know that one of the so-called principles of being in business is that the customer is always right. I take this to mean that, when we finish a job, the people we work for are pleased with the result or, if we go into a business to make a purchase — be it large or small — that we come away happy feeling that we got fair value for our money. Sometimes, in the water well and pump business, the customer who generally lacks any technical knowledge of what we do is, in fact, wrong. In a continuing series of difficult jobs, this article talks about one where the customer really was wrong.
Quite a few years ago, we got a call from a man who was a really good customer. This gentleman called and said he wanted us to look at a job. We met and he, my dad and I drove to a location. This was sort of a government-type business that served the public. I think they may have been a non-profit. It seems our customer was a member of the board of directors and may have been the treasurer. They needed a fair amount of water for their operation. When we got to the site we quickly learned that one of their wells was out of commission.