I have been giving a lot of thought lately to how blessed we are at Baker Design Group and how much I love my job; and one of the biggest influences on that overall feeling is our clients. In a world of rude behavior and ungratefulness, I must admit we receive very little of this, definitely a rarity.
Design Clients invest good money to get their homes and businesses to have a good look, function well for their lifestyles and, overall, change the way they live and work in those environments. Though we pride ourselves on not be dawdlers, the process can sometimes drag out, especially when you have items that come in damaged or there are some unexpected backorders. This presents time delays and frustrations for both ourselves and our clients. But what has amazed me is how understanding and kind our clients are even when I feel they should want to pull somebody’s hair out, maybe even mine. Recently this has been more flagrant. We’ve installed wallpaper that the pattern would not go on straight, we’ve had lamp shades galore come in with blemishes, and may I add, (these have been from five different lamp sources), backorders on custom furniture and credenza’s we were never told about only to find out at time of delivery, “oops we are still another four weeks out”.
It may seem like this is no big deal in the big scheme of things, and we remind ourselves weekly: this isn’t life or death; but, to good people going through the process and enduring electrical, paint, wallpaper, flooring, construction, lighting, plumbing and then the final day of install, it can become intrusive and frustrating. So that leads me to the final part of my thoughts.
Our clients are just nice people. Sure there can be frustrations, but in all honesty they are understanding and cooperative and always grateful. I mean GRATEFUL. We have received flowers, hand-written notes, gift baskets, fine wine, dinners at their home and numerous emails to thank us. Many of our clients have provided full spreads of food and drink on the days of installs, always worrying we have everything we need and going out of their way to provide us with well-nourished and fun installs. They even worry about what music is playing and making sure everyone is out of the home or working in a different office at the time, so we can do our job effectively and have the ‘big reveal’ at the end of the day. At the completion of our projects, we are reminded by them that we truly did change the way they work and live, which is always our greatest goal. So going back to the beginning where bad-manners can be a popular action towards others in our culture, we see little of it. Thank you BDG Clients…..we are truly blessed!