Ramblings

When I read in the news about all the financial shenanigans going on out east (Bennie Madoff, AIG, bailouts, sub-prime loans, etc.), I realize how fortunate my family and I are to live in the Midwest, where virtues and values are solid. It seems that on the East coast and West coast it's every man for himself. Out there, if they can get away with embezzling, cheating, lying and fraud.....go for it! Their children grow up thinking its perfectly acceptable to do less harmful drugs (pot & coke), drink, be promiscuous, break the law, because there aren't any consequences. They seem to think they are entitled to their behaviour.
In the Midwest people care for each other and aren't always looking for ways to get ahead by using shortcuts. They work hard and are honest with customers, friends, and fellow citizens. Sure, there are a few bad apples but they are few. Case in point. Several years ago my wife and I decided to add on a 3-season porch to our house. We got bids and chose one that was a little less than we though it was going to be. After Ron was complete with the porch, we decided we wanted some extra interior work done in the porch. We asked how much the additional work would cost and he said "nothing". He had money left over from the original bid and it was enough to do the extra work. He bought supplies and began doing the extra work. During that time I had a causal conversation with him about how my front steps were sinking. I asked if I would have to tear out the whole stoop or was this something that can be fixed. He said "I'll go ahead a fix them for you". He dug out around the steps, jacked them up, re-cemented them in place and poured the small sidewalk that he had to destroy. At no extra cost to me. And he did it all under the time limit that he first estimated for just the porch.
A second case was one spring we decided to have vinyl siding put on the house. Lyle (who was a contractor) was very busy and wasn 't able to get to it until the fall. However, he called us a few weeks later and had us meet him at the lumber store to pick out the siding color and type. This was almost 5 months before he was going to begin to do the work. It seems the lumber store was having a sale on siding that month and he wanted to save us money. We picked it out but didn't have to pay for it. It went on his account. When he started the work that fall, he originally thought it would take 3 weeks to complete. It took him 5 days short of 3 weeks.
He did a wonderful job and did an excellent job of site clean up when he was done. When we asked for the bill (we hadn't paid anything yet), he said he would bill us. 3 weeks later when we still hadn't got the bill we called him. He said "Oh yea, I've been pretty busy and haven't got to it yet". We got it about a week later and it was a little over $2,000.00 less that his estimate. We called him again and he said " Well, it didn't take as long as I projected and I was able to return some on the supplies I didn't need!" Tell me that would have happened on the West coast or East coast or for that matter any large city. We now need to have our roof re-shingled. Lyle is going to do it for us. Again, the lumber store was having a sale on shingles so Lyle met us at the store, about a week ago, to pick out the color. Although he won't be shingling for about 2 months, he put them on his account (saving us money) and will bill us when the job is complete. Obviously when someone asks us who would we recommend for contracting work, Ron and Lyle are highly recommended by us. The liberal elite, out east, wouldn't know how to deal with someone like Ron or Lyle.