Free Advise Rant

Yup it is a downfall of any job. Anyone with any knowledge of anything is at risk. Friends, family, co-workers and strangers are always asking something or another. No one wants to pay for the service or knowledge, but why not? Maybe they think you should do them a favour.

We all do it. Admit it! I do to. My sister is working at a lighting store currently. I was asking her the other day about bulbs for my light. The difference between those new natural day light bulbs and regular ones. My mom is a teacher, I have a friend who was having some problems with her daughters teacher so i asked my mom for some advise of things they could do at home with her to help her studies. My dad is a retired RCMP - I used to ask him about work all the time! My brother does drywall on the side...you know if I ever had to finish something I would ask him for a favour to save some money!!!

I am a travel consultant. Everyone asks me for prices - like I know them from my head. Everyone asks me about deals. Everyone asks me about my opinions on hotels, destinations, the price they already paid (I mean really, WTF is up with that?). But the thing that pisses me off the most that I must rant about are the people (the "friends" and family) that ask me about somewhere, get me to price it out and then never really planned on booking it here anyway.

Now......dont get me wrong. I am in the service industry and that is part of my job. And I know that I will do a lot of work and people with price it out and go elsewhere due to one factor or another. This is reality with my job. BUT it is the people who get me to price things out for days on end and come up with different ideas each day and never book with me anyway that really get me going. These so called friends that think they can just use me and my time to get all their info free because they dont want to spend the time researching or they thing I am their own personal wealth of experience and knowledge.

I have an aunt who used to constantly call me to get rates for flights. Then I wouldnt hear from her again but I would learn that she went and booked elsewhere.

I have a cousin who would get me to price and price and price but never go anywhere.

Even my dad calls me up to ask questions for his friends, get prices and info but they never book with me. Why? Because they are in small town Saskatchewan and they book there.

But the real kicker are the people who come into the office with a 2 inch high stack of printouts from the internet. No we (and when I say we I mean I) do not match internet pricing. Simple as that. I dont have to waste my time. But these people want the info on the resorts that they have chosen because booking online doesnt give it to them. Huh....really? Well maybe you should pay me to book and get the info and personal experience!

That is all I wanted to vent on today. Hope you are having a great day!