was this necessary

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
It might be difficult to impossible to get objective responses to this question. But, I'm interested in what others think.
My woodturning club has a demo day, or two, every year. We try to hire a professional turner to come in for the demo.
Several months ago, I queried Bill Grumbine about his availability and charges. He told me. I passed the info on to our club president.
Yesterday the club president announced the selection of another individual to do the demo. OK, that's life.
I asked the club president if he wanted me to notify Bill that he would not be invited. Club pres. said he didn't think that would be necessary and even questioned me as to why I thought it would be.
OK, my opinion. Just common courtesy makes it 'necessary'. I have corresponded with Bill. Gentleman that he is, he understands.
Now, if you can divorce the fact that Bill is a friend and member here, and be objective and truthful, I want the jury to voice whether they believe such notification is necessary or not.
 
I asked the club president if he wanted me to notify Bill that he would not be invited. Club pres. said he didn't think that would be necessary and even questioned me as to why I thought it would be.
OK, my opinion. Just common courtesy makes it 'necessary'.
If you had discussed a specific date with Bill, yup, definitely. If all you did was ask him what he charged for a demo etc, probably not necessary, but not a bad idea from a courtesy standpoint.

This is a little different situation than just asking some random vendor for a price quote.
 
Hi Frank,
I do think you should have contacted Bill. Because he is your friend you want to be strait up with him and tell him the reason the club will not be inviting him. He will not have to leave this date open waiting for your clubs response. If it is a price issue that is too high being a friend he may reduce it and all is happy. He definatly deserves a response friend or not.
 
I don't know exactly what the conversation was with Bill so you would have a better idea of how formal the inquiry was. Having said that, I believe common courtesy would include a "thanks for the info, they're having someone else demo this time around".

Of course I generally believe in opening doors for little old ladies, saying please and thank-you and all that other stuff is way undervalued and under-performed at this point in history ;-)
 
Hi Frank.

I think that Bill deserves a note telling him that the club had selected another person for the demo. Bill has demonstrated both on the forum and at his picnics that he is a true gentleman, and for that reason deserves feedback regarding your inquiry. Just the polite thing to do.:)
 
I queried Bill Grumbine about his availability and charges

I agree with you Frank. You asked about Bill's availability and it was possible he was holding that date until he heard one way or the other from either you or the club. I would think that it would be just common courtesy not to leave the man hanging!
 
If there was any discussion of a specific date then somebody should let Bill know just so that he is not holding that date for any reason. If there was no discussion of a specific date then Bill is a tradesman selling his wares and I assume is used to not getting every sale. Speaking as a tradesman who sells his wares, I don't want people ringing me up or writing to me every time they haven't bought what I sell.:) In that instance it is certainly not necessary.
 
I asked the club president if he wanted me to notify Bill that he would not be invited. Club pres. said he didn't think that would be necessary and even questioned me as to why I thought it would be. OK, my opinion. Just common courtesy makes it 'necessary'.

Frank,

I think you answered your own question.... :dunno:
 
Frank,

I agree with most of the others: the virtuous position here is to give everyone as much information as gracefully possible. In other words, letting Bill know it's unlikely something will work out is what I'd want to hear if I were him. On the other hand, if the club president said something like "We don't want no Pennsylvanians around here who use those confounded skew chisels", well, I'm not sure I'd want to hear about that... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Give him a responce as "Thank you, BUT................."

That is the problem with the world today, people dont care about other peoples feelings!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Common courtesy and professional courtesy. He could very well have saved the date so no one else gt it. If he wasn't informed, he could have lost a gig. Your club president needs to think things through a little more. Just MHO, of course. Jim.
 
Thanks all. In fact, I'm a bit 'ticked' with our club pres. for his attitude. Pretty self-centered as I see it. I had given Bill a general date but don't know if he penciled it in on his calendar. No matter, simple courtesy demands he be notified. But, as said, we are losing that a lot in today's society.
From a more pragmatic standpoint. This simple courtesy may keep him amenable to accepting a future invitation which I hope is possible next year.
Fact is e-mails are cheap and only take a minute. Same with phone calls.
 
For me if someone asked me if I would be avaible around a certain date for some work, yes It would be nice to be told of not being needed.This could cuase him to tell others that he might already have plans. For this reason I try to get back to the person as soon as possible. It makes life easeir on both parties, plus he would be likely, if called back to possibly reschuled if they want him on a later date.
 
I can't count the number of times I've spent 25-30 minutes doing some quick math and providing a detailed answer to an Email query on 'what would it cost for....'.

Most of these are people shopping price, but it would be nice if they'd take two minutes and at least acknowledge that they got my reply.

So I guess I might've sent him an Email that said we'd gone with something else... 'necessary' or not.
 
Doesn't matter who it is..............................If you don't want to be remembered as a CLOD, contact, thank for giving you the information, explain that they chose someone else at this time.

JMO................. Bruce
 
Hi Frank :wave:,
Having contacted Bill yourself makes it your responsibility to contact Bill yourself.
Doing unto others as you would have others do unto you is a good mirror to look into, and I believe addressing that was the manly thing to do.
Your president was just coming from a different place and that's okay.
You did right getting back with Bill.:thumb:
Shaz :)
 
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Frank, you already know the answer to this. And I agree, common courtesy makes it necessary. But there may well be more to it than that. Most professionals may well mark calendars based on such queries and giving them the necessary feedback on such negatives "frees" them to set other appointments, or make alternative plans. The fact that your club president didn't think of this isn't all that surprising. A large number of folks today have the mindset, "It doesn't effect me, so why should I worry about it?" Others just don't take time to think about such things. No, it doesn't make it right, but such is the society in which we find ourselves... unfortunately.
 
It's not 'necessary' to inform Bill but given it would take less time to send him a note than reading just one of these replies it would be a worthwhile courtesy to shoot him an email, particularly if he is a friend and/or you ever want to do business with him again.

Greg
 
Frank...
My guess is that Bill will be your friend longer than the current club president will hold that office. You seem to be a pretty good people person, and imo your first responsibility is to treat Bill as a friend and respected colleague in whatever way makes sense to you. Let the other dude trip along his insensitive path as he will, since he's not likely to show up as even a tiny blip on your life's radar (there are many other less gracious ways to say that...feel free to substitute).
Cheers.
 
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