Mom lives across the river and needed a quote on a basement bathroom conversion. She went to these guys because her family's from Lyndhurst and she worked in Lyndhurst for years. Well, Lyndhust sure thinks a lot of itself these days. It turns out that if you build a bunch of condos by a landfill, you get the idea that "money's coming into the neighborhood." Their quote was absolutely reasonable, but they made it sound as if they'd never get to her project and that it wasn't worth their time. Now even in Northern Bergen, West Essex, and Morris, you wouldn't get this kind of treatment. There are contractors in Jersey City and Hoboken who make livings stacking these kinds of jobs and hiring subs. But to small-time a retiree that way? To make her feel insignificant just to prove how busy you are? It's a bad way to conduct business. Oddly, there was a really nice plumber from Kearny who offered to do it for a similar price and even brought my mom cream puffs from Texieras.
I'm going to say this as politely as I can: Get over yourselves. If you're going to make a big stink over Italian pride and "Italian" statues, maybe try treating your fellow Italian-Americans like you give a damn about them. Because I know one Italian-American who's giving her plumbing business to a kind Portuguese business from now on. read more