I have a small specialist construction company that is based in Lumlukka. We built our new yard and facilities out in the boonies in the middle of what were rice farms. Down our road there are only a few other businesses.
Today one of my staff told me that we had been approached by the company across the road from us and they wanted to rent our excavator to dig a fairly big hole in the back of their yard. She had contacted some rental companies that rent excavators and came up with a list of hourly and daily rates. If they rented an excavator from one of these rental companies they would be up for a minimum of a two day hire and the transport cost to and from their yard which roughly would come to about 20,000 Baht all up.
When I looked at what they wanted done I figured that it would take about an hour or so to dig the hole that they wanted and we could just drive the excavator across the road. In a couple of hours the whole job would be done. So I told her not to bother charging them for doing the job just go and do it. She was somewhat taken aback by my attitude and thinks that if we don’t charge them they will continue to take advantage of us. I figure how many holes could they want dug and what’s wrong with helping out a neighbor?
So is the lass right, am I being a mug?