If you have had something broken in your house or you’ve done some renovating projects on your property, you’ve dealt with various tradesmen before.
Since you’ve clicked that article, you’ve probably noticed that tradesmen typically strike homeowners as somewhat harsh or too serious, which leaves you wondering “why are tradesmen so rude?
Why Are Tradesmen So Rude?
1. They Think They’re Underpaid
According to various reports, the average tradesman’s income in the United States ranges anywhere between $28,000 and $50,000 per year, with a median annual income of around $38,236.
While this is slightly above the national average income of 31,133, most tradesmen think that they’re highly underpaid when compared to the amount of time and effort they put into their work.
Of course, not all tradesmen are underpaid, and some of them make a pretty good living. However, the majority of them still think that they deserve to earn more.
Additionally, self employed tradesmen usually don’t have insurance, so they’re always at risk of huge medical bills in the case of an accident.
The anger of their financial situation always has an impact on how they react and respond, which comes off as aggressive and rude.
2. You’re Arguing About Their Rates
If you have a renovation project or something that needs fixing in your house, you’d contact the tradesmen to come and assess the job.
Typically, the tradesman will see what he needs to do, and come back to you with a quote, whether it’s a fixed price or an hourly rate.
As previously established, tradesmen already think they’re underpaid, so they’re always annoyed when customers start arguing about their rates.
Some tradesmen might be open to some haggling but dragging the discussion too long doesn’t end well.
In fact, even if a tradesman accepts a different rate, they’ll probably cut corners while doing the job.
3. They Feel Disrespected
Since tradesmen only attend trade school and don’t need a college degree to do their job, they always feel that people look down on them.
As a result, it’s very common for tradesmen to act defensively regarding their social status, especially since many people think that tradesmen aren’t smart.
4. They Hate It When You Interfere
Whether they’re carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc, a tradesman’s job is always surrounded by some risk, so they have to be vigilant and focused all the time while working to avoid accidents.
However, a lot of homeowners will constantly interfere while the tradesman is doing his job, which can be quite annoying for many of them.
This is particularly special when customers keep giving them remarks on how they do their job or compare them to other tradesmen.
Of course, not all tradesmen are against a friendly discussion about the job, but it’s always important to make sure that it’s a suitable time to ask questions or wait until they’re finished or on a break.
5. You Could Have Called Earlier
When something goes wrong in a household, many people immediately release their inner handyman and try to fix the problem themselves, hoping to save some money in the process.
Unfortunately, when the project doesn’t go as planned, some people may end up making the problem a lot worse.
In some cases, people also use solutions that have irreversible effects or take a long time to undo before heading on to fix the original problem.
For many tradesmen, fixing an issue is a lot easier than fixing a botched job because they don’t know the extent of the damage done, and therefore, they get frustrated and speak with passive-aggressive tones.
6. Depends on Their Background
In some cases, the rudeness of a tradesman comes from their background, which varies from one individual to another.
This includes a wide variety of problems, such as poor upbringing, poor social and communication skills, anger issues, alcoholism, etc.
It goes without saying that not all tradesmen come from the same background, so you have to judge every personality differently.
7. They Work Very Long Hours
A standard week will typically have around 40 working hours, which is usually by working 8 hours a day for 5 days.
However, tradesmen’s jobs require them to work a lot more hours in comparison. In fact, to make a decent living and get jobs done in time, some tradesmen work up to 60 hours a week and on weekends.
8. They’re Having a Bad Day
This one is fairly simple but it’s still a major reason why some tradesmen are a little ill mannered.
Simply, a tradesman might be having a terrible day before arriving at your doorstep, and some leftover anger might cause them to act in an unpleasant way.
In the tradesman case, this can happen for many reasons. For example, since they’re fully responsible for their work, calls and complaints are very common throughout their day.
They might also have come across some frustrating fixes in the morning that ruined their day, got underpaid for a job, or had an accident that made them do their work at a loss.
9. Makes Them Feel Powerful
As previously mentioned, most tradesmen will work with a fixed hourly rate and they’ll give you a quote after inspecting the job, although this may vary depending on where you live.
With that being said, many tradesmen believe that being rude and insolent makes them intimidating and powerful, which gives them a better status when negotiating the price of the job.
Also, there’s a very fine line between confidence and arrogance, which many tradesmen cross when they get defensive or have their skill questioned.
10. Lack of Communication Skills
Working as a tradesman is as far from an office job as it can be. While office workers always need to improve their communication skills to write formal emails, tradesmen life doesn’t involve any of this.
For that reason, their communication skills are always limited to their interpersonal differences, as they don’t need to work on them.
Similarly, people who work in services like shop assistants and waiters typically rely heavily on tips, so they usually have to be overly nice, even if they have a bad day. On the other hand, most tradesmen agree on their quote before working anyway.
Additionally, tradesmen’s workday is typically working in silence or with other people who don’t need formalities in treatment, so their communication skills are rarely trained.
11. You’re Just Unlucky
Last but not least, although we’ve already discussed various reasons why tradesmen can be a little bold or rude, you should know that it’s not a “one size fits all” case.
In some cases, you might just be unlucky to encounter a rude tradesman or someone who is having a really bad day.
Although first impressions do last forever, you might want to give tradesmen another chance and change your perspective when you’re dealing with them.
Final Thoughts
This wraps it up for today’s guide which shows you brief overviews of the reasons why tradesmen are sometimes very rude.
Like any profession, some people would be much easier to deal with than others. When it comes to tradesmen, the previously mentioned reasons can explain why they can have less tolerance than others.
