Most people do the right thing (my chosen headline)
I try to assume everyone is generally decent until they prove otherwise. If they weren't, society would be impossible; government or no government. Good people don't need to be governed, bad people can't be, and smart bad people become government.
Look for problems, and you'll find them. If you treat people as you want to be treated, most will meet you halfway.
My dad and I recently set up his motor home in a small, privately owned RV park. While we were eating lunch about 20 miles away, one of the park owners was fiddling with the water spigot and negligently turned on the water to the motor home's "black water" flush-out hose. "Black water" is the RV euphemism for sewage.
As we were heading back, we got a call saying water was running out of the motor home. Why they didn't turn off the water as soon as they noticed is a mystery. When we got back to the park, it was worse than we feared. Water was flowing out of the RV anywhere it could escape. The "black water" tank had filled, breaking the toilet valve, and was overflowing into the motor home, and beyond.
Inside the RV was a horror show, particularly for my mom's cat who had stowed away and was awaiting a ride home.
We cleaned up the mess the best we could, readied the motor home for travel, and brought it back for cleaning and repair.
The RV park owners gracefully offered to pay for damages and cleaning.
Now, you can say this isn't how things always work out, and you would be right. Some people would say "not my problem". But, would you patronize their business ever again? Would your word-of-mouth advertising send them new customers? How long would they stay in business?
In a free society this would be the norm, rather than the exception. In fact, I believe it already is-- outside of government-- since people who depend on you making the choice to voluntarily spend your money with them want to keep you happy.
Only those you are forced to pay-- government bureaucracies-- can completely ignore your satisfaction. What do they care? If you refuse to pay for their services, they will send armed bullies to either get your money or kill you.
On the other hand, the free market works, even when crippled by having to work around government's made up laws. I'm happy to give it a chance.
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Wow, that would be an expensive restoration if they agreed to do it according to industry standards :-0
ReplyDeleteYou don't clean porous materials that are contaminated with sewage, so flooring and walls and bedding should be removed and replaced.
Yikes, what a mistake to make!
A professional RV cleaning service has been working on it for 5 weeks now. I don't know what all they are doing, but they apparently have disassembled it. My mom was asked to pick out new tile and carpeting a couple of weeks ago.
DeleteI'm really glad to hear that, especially for your father (and his health!). The last thing you want is for him to be sleeping in a contaminated environment like that.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it would have been cheaper (or at least comparable) to buy him a slightly used new-to-him rv, rather than go through all this.
Dang!