We had some sprinkler work done in the front yard this week (leftover from last year). The contractor was found on the internet, through a site that lists contractors and has reviews and such. They had all positive reviews, in addition to being named "Wild Willy's" When we heard that Willy himself would be coming to look at the job, we were giddy with anticipation as to what 'Wild Willy' would look like. We of course imagined an aged Ted Nugent fan, maybe a wolf tattoo... but in reality Willy is a clean cut, well dressed guy in his 30s who wears one of those bluetooth thingies in his ear. He said he'd email a contract over, but it never arrived. We called the night before the work was to be done, and the office girl said that she hadn't sent it yet. The guys came, dug a hole, pulled out a tree and a shrub (which made Lo cry out of sadness for tree death until Daniel told her that every time she leaves the bathroom light on, she kills trees), fixed the pipe, and put the dirt neatly back in its place. The work is now done and there was no discussion of the contract, billing, or payment. Of course it will be paid for but you would think that a job that costs several hundred dollars would be better watched over by the business doing the work.

Then a thought occurred to me:

In this day and age, with business slow and payments probably slower, the contractor probably figured he has as much chance of getting paid without a contract as with one, and it kept his crew busy for a day instead of sitting around the shop, so it was worth the gamble.