Specks in Pictures

[PurplePerson]

If you are opening a picture for a customer to see before they take it home, and you did not assemble the picture, and there is a speck of dust in it, do you tell the client and take it back to fix it. The same if you see a slightly uneven mat.

Of course this irritates the framer who did the picture. What is the correct route to handle this.

Perhaps you would let the customer take it home and if they saw the speck, let them bring it back and compain the framer who did it.

:confused:

[PurplePerson]

I am not speaking of Jana!

[Barb Pelton]

As much as I hate to admit it--this happens. I apologize to the customer and tell them it simply is not up to my standards and I'm so sorry that we didn't catch it, but we will do it right then and there while I finish up their ticket and chat for a minute (and offer them tea or coffee). If they can't wait we'll offer to deliver it to them ourselves. It's never really been a problem outside of being embarrassing. I've even had people say, "oh, let me see...well, I can't even see what you're talking about--i'll just go ahead and take it". I've had one or two even admit that if they'd seen it AFTER they'd gotten it home, they wouldn't have been too thrilled.

I'm just afraid that if they get it home and notice that something is off, will they take the time to bring it back in? Will it leave a sour taste in their mouth about the quality of workmanship they received from your place? I try to get everyone that works at my store to think of it as a team effort, so we do the best we can for the customer. We preface these times by announcing "quality control!" before we jump in and say "this isn't up to snuff and has to be done again" and everyone knows they can approach me with the same thing. I don't always make the person that originally fit it to redo it either. IF it's convenient for the customer, then I do, but the point is to get it done asap if the customer is there.

[Jana]

Ha ha. Yes, she is. And it wasn't a piece she worked on. I mean, we're talking about a piece of sweater fuzz 3/8" long which was discovered simultaneously by the customer and me when the she was inspecting something else about the picture. Upon closer inspection, after the customer left, 4 or more white specks were discovered on the mat. Our esteemed colleague needs to have her cataracts fixed! (That's another subject - how do we get her to do it?)

I think there are certain parameters in which we can work. This one was out of those parameters.

Oh, and the other one wasn't slightly uneven. It was noticeable, but I didn't bring it to the customer's attention. It got fixed along with the first picture.

It's ok to talk about this here, because we have an ongoing debate about quality control and how to address these situations when they crop up.

[Janet L]

Barb, I don't have to reply....u said EXACTLY what I wanted to say. I scrutinize my work very closely. It's rare to find a problem when showing it to the customer, but those incidents will occur.

Made the mistake of getting a haircut BEFORE opening my shop one morning. Never again!

[PurplePerson]

Jana is right that our biggest problem right now is sweater fuzz and she just happened to be the one that caught it yesterday. However, both of us have to deal with this problem.

Our co-worker does have cataracts and I more than Jana am just horrified when I see something wrong in the picture. I feel awful hurting the co-worker's feelings, but I want the picture right.

Jana speaks up better than I do and I have just not known how to deal with the problem.

Does anyone have more ideas on how to deal with the com-worker? I really like her a lot and have difficulty hurting her feelings. Sometimes I take back the picture and then redo it without her knowledge. At the same time, I think she probably needs to know the picture was not right.

[Janet L]

Maybe y'all should consider relieving this employee of the final closing of a framed piece. Let her do everything except paper the back....give it to one of you w/better vision. After you are assured that sweater fuzz or whatever is not in existence in the framed work, then give it back to her to paper and wire.

[MarkG1]

I agree with Janet. The relieving of duties sounds like a good plan.

At our shop if there is more than one person working, when we complete a project, we all get to check it out for anything wrong. Some projects, like shadow boxes, I like to leave in the shop for a day or two befor I call the customer, just to make sure nothing comes loose.

More than once, I've had to take a piece apart either while the customer waits or have them leave it if they don't have time to wait. When this happens, I blame my co-worker for what is wrong. (She said, she doesn't mind. :D )

[Ron Eggers]

I work alone, so I have to blame Framerguy.

It's a stretch, I know, since he's eight hours away, but the customer doesn't have to know that.

[Jana]

I am "lucky" to be near-sighted. When I take my glasses (tri-focals) off I can almost see molecules! No, seriously, I can focus very well on things about 4 inches away. It's not great for the posture though.

Purp uses magnifying devices. They help, too, but I feel woozy using them, kinda like looking in a fish aquarium.

So, back to our problem...there's a bit of pride involved in our co-worker's attitude. It's been an ongoing struggle. (She doesn't "Grumble." She doesn't have a computer.) She's a very hard worker and does get a lot of work done. We just need to institute a consistent, democratic quality control system. Sigh. No one wants to hurt anyone's feelings. I will mention things, because I tend to be a bit outspoken.

I make mistakes, but fewer. I admit my mistakes. This is the first job I've had, where I have a lot of confidence. I have tried, as had Purp, to increase my framing knowledge and skills. I want the customers to be happy and return and mention us to their friends. It's such a downer to take something out and start to rave about it, and then spot a glaring problem.

[Framerguy]

Heck, Mark blames everyones' bad framing on ME!! (Even Walley World's readymades are blamed on the Framerguy)

Go ahead Ron_, blame all you want on me, I have thick skin and a strong back (and a little black book where I keep all this stuff for later "correction").

If anyone else needs a good "blame" reference, feel free to use me. Just give proper credit for the blame, .................... you know, ............like the address so they can send cards:

The Total Picture
Somewhere in Appleton, WS
c/o Ron_Eggers

(who will make sure I get all the cards and letters)

Framerguy

[Cliff Wilson]

When I spot something wrong I insist on correcting it! Even made one customer leave a piece they said was fine. I know of two referrals from that customer already and I haven't been around that long. I always make angry loud noises and complain about the quality of help these days while quietly mentioning that I am going to be very careful when I hire my first employee. Obviously my technique will change as I hire help, but the end result won't.

I wish I could give you advice on the employee, but in my 25 years in high tech (had 50 - 60 engineers working for my at times) I came to believe that (except for legal documentation stuff) every person is different and needs unique treatment. However, usually being upfront and explaining the problem and asking the person how WE are going to correct it works best. Most empoyees are harder on themselves than you ever could be and will often be very creative when you make it a team problem.

[JPete]

I can identify with this employee since I too have early stages of cataracts. I will try to explain some of my problems and then maybe you can print out and show it to her. I do have a spouse as my co-worker and although it is frusting we work around it.

I not only have early cataracts (most know they will not do anything to fix at early stages) but I also have a stigmatism (sp) problem which will really skew the looks of a mat so I do a lot of measuring with a good steel tape.

I can not tolerate too much light so I turn down the light, take off my glasses and get really close to some work but that doesn't always work when spotting mistakes. I try and leave final fitting of frames to my spouse and then sometimes tell him his bifocals create dust!

We always recommend re-doing immediately when we spot a mistake. Often those mistakes, as does the bits of a sweater or a hair, will not fall into vision until the frame has been moved a few times. Heck thats what makes it custom. tongue.gif

Do your co-worker a favor and be honest about her problem and try and work out the problems. She probably needs the job and in the long run will appreciate it.

We blame all our mistakes on the framer guy. Even spelling.

[Framing Goddess]

At Christmas time when we are frazzled and harried, we institute a policy of always having a second pair of eyes inspect the piece after we dust seal it (and before we fit it,) just for insurance.
Every now and then we'll do it throughout the year "when Mercury is in retrograde," for example. No questions asked.

The Goddess, as you all know, is a very gentle and tactful person, but what is this business of worrying about hurting people's feelings? Just tell her. It is what it is. You are not slamming your co-worker, you are just addressing a minor issue on the job. No need to fret over it. No need to make a big deal over it. She obviously doesn't see well enough to do the final sealing, she needs to realize that now (if she doesn't already) and just deal with it and have someone else give it the final look-over. It happens.
If she gets hurty feelings, tell her that "it's just picture framing, after all."

[Jack Cee]

Tell you customer that the work is not up to your standards and fix it or let the framer fix it.

I recently had a framed silk painting come home for repair or wrinkles in the silk. The customer said that we did not stretch the silk properly for mounting on the stretcher bars. Since I am the only one in the shop I fixed it and called the customer to come and take it home. As she left, she informed me that she had hanged (hung or placed) it under a sky light that leaked during the last rain storm and it got wet. I do not understand why there were no water markes on the glass but then those things happen mysteriously. She is a good customer so I will chalk that one up to experience with a reminder to be sure and ask more questions. I guess my reward was a hug when I loaded it into her van.

Jack Cee

[fttom]

I can understand where Purp and Jana are coming from. Last year, when I worked part-time, one of the other people who worked there could not/would not take any kind of suggestion or critism - constructive or otherwise. She would get angry, bounce up and down, and spin in circles. She could do no wrong, according to her. When she did things right, she was a pretty good framer. However, when she did things wrong, it was awful for us all. I cannot tell you just how many of her mistakes that one of the others of us had to fix. That's one of the reasons that she is no longer with that shop. She had no vision problems. She was just hard headed and would not change her ways. She would cut mats off center, or crooked, leave trash in pictures, get stains on mats, or prints, you name it. She did it. We have make all sorts of excuses for her work to customers, and had to re-do I don't know how much. It was never easy dealing with her at any time, and the only answer was to finally fire her. I hope that Ya'll's problem does not come to that. I sure do feel for you, though. :(

[PurplePerson]

I tend to think that each employee needs to be dealt with individually according to their personality. Each person takes critiscm differently. You can't lump everybody into the same strategy.

I know bosses have their own peronality quirks and they treat their employees accordingly. But that is not the most efficient route.

The three of us in our shop each react differently to criticism.

Jana and I are very concerned with doing things right. If Jana is yelled at, she tends to yell back. I am more likely to cry. Both of us want things to be exactly right, but I don't do well being yelled at. After a yelling I then do everything wrong. If I am simply told logically, I am fine and with my personality, I try to never make that mistake again (of course, not always successfully). Being yelled at is never productive with me. I also do better when the boss tells me what I did wrong.

Jana will have to tell you what works for her. We all have different things to make us click.

Our co-worker tends to think of framing as a job. She is also my friend. However, it falls to Jana and me to correct things gone wrong with her. I do the thing over, if I can get by with it. Jana presents the problem to her and she gets angry. Who knows what the right thing to do is? I need to get some guts, but I also need a plan.

And how close should we examine each thing presented to a customer? If we examine each inch in front of a customer, they examine each inch at home. It is right to be examined before being wrapped, but how far do you go when you hand it to the customer? Should we just notice obvious errors that pop out to us?

Personalities and feelings do matter to improve productivity

[Framerguy]

Quote from fttom:

When she did things right, she was a pretty good framer.

This doesn't sound like a good framer to me. It sounds like she had many more bad faults than good assets and should have either been diciplined or fired from the get go. I would not tolerate an "attitude" like that in my shop.

I am the boss and owner of my business and am ultimately responsible to each and every customer for the quality of the work done in my business. If an employee doesn't understand the sense in that statement, he/she would be looking for a more "understanding" boss.

End of story.

Framerguy

[Frank Larson]

I have a similar but different problem. I hang framing done by other shops. When I notice a problem should I mention it to the end customer or let them find out for themselves? I've actually seen a 6" long black hair in a piece with white mats, what do I do? I have on occasion called the frame shop and quite often their attitude is "it's there now so let the customer notice or not!". Some of the shops have me bring it back then pay me for a return trip with the repaired piece but not all shops care that much. I guess the real question is; Should I be setting the standards for the framing that I'm installing?

About the framer with cataracts. I am an expert.....I've had both eyes fixed and believe me, It's the best thing that ever happened to me. My distance sight is better now then it was at the age of 12 (when I got my first pair of glasses). I do need to use reading glasses now where I used to just take off my glasses to see up close. The biggest change was in the colors I see. Amazing! Looking through cataracts is like looking through a smoke filled room, a sort of brown yellow haze covers everything.

Her reluctance may have something to do with the expense. Does she have health insurance? Most insurance will pay for at least one eye and some will pay for both. The cost is usually around $3000 per eye. How valuable is this employee to you? Maybe an offer to help with the expense would help? It may be fear of "going under the knife", and a good eye doctor should be able to work around that.

Maybe if you share my experience with her it would help. My last eye was done by Pacific Cataract Institute based here in Washington. They specialize in cataracts only and have people come from all over the world to have their eyes fixed here. Not only are they the best they're the least expensive. They do the operation in their own facilities, the waiting area is carefully decorated to help relax the customer, soft colors, music, comfy furniture etc., I fell asleep before an exam once. The people working there are very friendly and cheerful (required for employment!). They have everything set up almost like an assembly line, prepping one customer while operating on another. The total operation from prep to being kicked out the door (after pictures with the staff) took less than an hour. No pain at all. Bandage came off later that day. I did have to wear a guard on my eye at night to keep me from rubbing it it my sleep. It can itch a little at first. Also had to limit my lifting for a week or so. They didn't want me to strain hard enough to make my eyes bulge for some reason!

[PurplePerson]

I think our co-worker fears the operation. She has insurance. Your experience may be valuable to her. I will print it out and save it for the oportune minute. I think the surgery would be the answer, if she would do it. Her cataracts are ready to be removed, her doctor says.

She is important to us. She does a most of the general, more simple things and mat onlies. We really need her for that. She likes the work she "specializes" in. She would prefer not to tackle the "fun to Jan and I" stuff. She frees us to do these things.

When Marie bought the frame shop, her goal was that the 4 of us would never have to go find another job, ever. Profit was secondary.

We really do need her.

I ask her to look at my work for stuff I don't want in it and she ejoys doing that. She uses a magnifying glass to do it, so I know she cares. But she rarely askes me to do that for her. Probably, I should offer. She works almost entirely with me and we enjoy a good relationship.

Perhaps I could suggest that we start doing that routinely for each other.

[ 02-14-2003, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: PurplePerson ]

[PurplePerson]

AAAAAAAAA! I never edited my previous post. I flipped the Edit button without editing.

My comment is off topic. My poor dog has cataracts so bad that she just ran into my ironing board. It costs $1400 per eye to have surgery for her.

[fttom]

Tom, had it been left to me, I would have bounced this nutball out on her butt the day she started. However, I was the part-timer, and not the owner of that shop. Our manager was/is a lot softer hearted, and more willing to put up with BS than I am. She was willing to put up with this for almost a year, until she caught her stealing. Then, she bounced her out the door. I just kept threatening her enough so that she stayed mad at me, and left me alone. The fact that I'm almost 6'tall, and she was only about 4'10" helped a lot. I can be very intemidating when I stand up, and I did that a lot around her.

Purp, as for the eye surgery, there's also a great place in Chattanooga, adjacent to Erlanger, that is just an eye hospital. My daughter had eye surgery there, and there is a wonderful specialist there. If you need a referal to there, just let me know.

[PurplePerson]

Susan, Thank you for the information.

By the way, the co-worker is 4'11". I am an even 5 foot. Our owner is 5'8". If I stand on a stool, we are the same height.

I gather all the stuff on the floor and gets the stuff on the top shelves.

[fttom]

Purp, I was taller than she was when I was sitting on my scooter. You can imagine what effect it had when I stood up! :D

[Jana]

We have a good eye clinic here, too. Problem is one doc says she needs the procedure - another doc there says not yet. That's one of the things that's frustrating about this situation.

As framers and co-workers we say it's time! I'd be pretty scared to have anything done to my eyes, though, so I understand her hesitation. I do think everyone, if they live long enough, eventually needs cataract surgery.

[EllenAtHowards]

We have a 'designated eyeballer'. We say, "Botz, come Eagle Eye this." That woman can see stufffff... so find out who has the best eyes in the shop, and have that person EE before the dustcover goes on... no feelings hurt that way. At least we hope.... ;)

[PurplePerson]

We have come up with a plan that I think is workable. Since our co-worker does not seem to take offense with me, as much as everyone else, I am going to suggest that she look over all of my work and I will look over all of her work. That way we will not have to worry about how our work looks to the customer.

I think she will go for that.

We're going to give it a shot.

Thank you all for your input. You brought us to this decision.

[ 02-15-2003, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: PurplePerson ]

[matt]

Always the truth. It will make you feel good.