I live with my sister in her home and heard the altercation. I also own a business, and I was…read moreshocked at what I was hearing. How could a business owner say these things to customers over a misunderstanding?
He had no empathy, compassion, or understanding at all regarding what happened. My sister came into my room asking for advice because she was confused, asking if it was normal for a worker to quote a different price even though the owner quoted a higher price. I told her that if that was the case, maybe they were individual workers working with him. She then let the man start working. About thirty minutes later, maybe more, Matthew's worker came. He was also late, which is important to note. My kind sister said, "Let me call Matthew, I'm sure he'll understand." That man showed absolutely no understanding whatsoever.
In the business world, you start to recognize who genuinely cares about helping people and who only cares about money. From what I witnessed, Matthew came across as money hungry. He leads his workers not by working alongside them, but by having them do the labor while he takes a cut. I was splitting the cost of the weed removal, so I was also a paying customer in this situation.
My sister kindly offered Robert food, gas money, and water. I was honestly upset at her for even offering after how rude and demanding Matthew was being. A real business owner would not demand gas money from customers over a misunderstanding. Business owners understand that gas is part of operating a business and is also a tax write-off. The fact that he continued demanding gas money instead of simply handling the misunderstanding professionally was extremely unprofessional. He never once said, "Don't worry about the gas." He was angry from start to finish.
My sister came back into the house asking if I thought I should step in, but she said she was trying to be respectful and believed Matthew would understand once she explained the misunderstanding. I told her she was being too nice. Instead, he treated her like she intentionally caused the situation and then continued demanding more money.
Don't support a business whose characteristics show firsthand how they truly are.
This man heavily uses his past military service to make his business look trustworthy -- "veteran-owned," "military police," etc. But then states his military background has nothing to do with his business. So why advertise it so heavily in the first place? It comes across as trust-based marketing -- using military status to gain credibility, relatability, emotional trust, support, and goodwill from customers. As someone from a military family, and prior service, that was especially disappointing to witness because the professionalism being advertised did not match the behavior we experienced.
Meanwhile, Robert himself was actually respectful, calm, and understanding throughout the entire interaction. Ironically, the worker showed far more professionalism than the owner did.
At the end of the day, misunderstandings happen. What matters is how a business owner handles them. Unfortunately, the way Matthew handled this situation left an extremely negative impression on our household, and based on this experience, I would not recommend this business to others.
