Apostrophe and the proper use!

[lynnfrwd]

I'm a grammar person, too! Spent most my life correcting other people's grammar. Cajun's are the worst ... Love you Perry...and I'm not talking about you. Folks from Kansas are just as bad (Joe). Makes me so mad when he sends out newsletters without my input first. But, it's all good!!


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[dbfletcher]

Well I believe you work reflects you! Yes you can laugh all the way to the bank big Al, but I won't make a sign incorrectly! I guess I am just a snob! But I have yet placed an apostrophe incorrectly! I explain to the customer it is grammatically incorrect and I rather not do the sign if they insist I add an apostrophe incorrectly!

Anyway I guess I am considered the apostrophe police! So I will keep my comments to my self and grit my teeth when I see an apostrophe used incorrectly!! I just wanted to help those who did not know!

Ike

How do you feel about explanation points? (just giving you a hard time Ike!)

[lynnfrwd]

I love explanation points!!!!!


Has bugged me ever since I wrote it...it's EXCLAMATION....!!!!


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[Ike]

Remember the Golden Rule. "The Customer is Always Right". If the customer is happy I'm happy

Sorry Leo I don't believe in that golden rule, the customer is at times misinformed! All my customers have agreed with me, like I tell them....sorry I will not do profanity, gang signs or gang related or improper use of an apostrophe! I am the opposite if I am not happy then the customer will not be happy!

But like I tell them you have the right to be wrong!

Ike

PS I didn't mean I will stop posting I just will stop harping about an apostrophes! Oh explantions points are at the users discrection!!!!! I am not always the best at grammar, but I try!

[Ike]

I have a question after thinking about Leo's comment about if the customer is happy I am happy. I ask this in the same gesture of the use of proper grammar. I am going to use Al's quilts/ wine stands for my question. Would you be happy selling a stand knowing there was something wrong with the product? Say a cracked board? The customer does not notice the crack, but you know of the problem. The customer is happy so what do you do? A. Let the customer go and hope it won't continue to crack? B. Glue the crack? C. Replace the part with a error free board? Myself I would fix the stand correctly!

Okay what if the customers wants the board to be cracked? Knowing it will soon crack all the way. Would you sell a stand to this customer? Even if they would be happy? You get the money and you are happy? I would refuse to sell a product made by me that did not pass my high standards! The same goes with proper grammar, the customer may think it is correct. However it is a product made by me and I may lose a sale.....

Well I am through with my fit!!! Lol thank for listening !!!

Ike

[badbert]

Wow Ike! You are psychic or something! I just faced this exact dilemma! I made a carving for my cousin, the board I used, lent itself perfectly to fit the pattern. The even horizontal banding of the grain was perfect for the carve... One small problem... a crack. I debated this problem for a little while, I finally decided, that I didn't create the board, and it was recycled. I darn sure was not going to waste it! I filled it in with epoxy, working it into the crack as deep as I could. After it hardened I sanded it smooth, and carved it the next day. I told my cousin about the crack and showed her how I repaired it. She loved it anyway! And agreed with me that the grain was worth an almost invisible crack. If it becomes an issue, I will take care of it. But she will pay for the next piece of wood to carve it with! LOL
I consider myself a person of high-morals. But I am also a person that likes to make people happy! I once sold a car, for what I payed for it, (three years prior) and told the guy it needed a motor. I was honest with him, but he still wanted the car. I was happy, he was happy.
I don't think a questionable apostrophe would be an intent to defraud someone. LOL But I do see your point. When I worked at the Lincoln/Mercury dealer, our used car lot used to wholesale any trade-in that was not a Lincoln/Mercury. We used to get fantastic deals! The owner of the Dealer would not have his name attached to anything, but, a Lincoln/Mercury vehicle. I asked him why he would take a loss on these vehicles when he could have profited from their sales. He told me it was because he would have to rely on the reputation of other dealers, to repair those vehicles. And that meant his customers would be "AT" other dealers.
If another sign-maker see's the mistake, he could ridicule your sign without your knowledge. And use it as an example to steer customers his way.
But while we are on the subject of apostrophes. If a name ends in S such as Willis. The proper apostrophe for plural would be Willis'. What would the possessive apostrophe be? For example. You make a sign that say's " The Willis' ". Meaning there are more than one member of the Willis Family. But the sign hangs on their house. So the sign could mean that the family owns this property. So what would be correct? " Willis' " , " Willis's ", or " Willises " ? I think I will avoid this in the future by using "family" or "home" after the name!

[lawrence]

I think it is just difference in what all of us think our role is as both craftsmen(women) and what we believe the role of the customer is.

I personally will let a customer know if something is in error, but if they still want it that way I will document the order the way they order it and press forward. It's not a matter of getting the money and running, it's a matter of treating the customer's wishes with respect.

My recent ribbon signs are an example-- I knew that the black lettering on the dark background was not going to show up as well as white or silver lettering would have and offered that suggestion to the Commander. He still wanted the black lettering on a dark background. IMHO It would have been wrong for me to have refused to make the piece because I believed that his choice was wrong. If I had pressed too hard or said that I wouldn't make the piece as he wanted because I thought he was wrong I think that I could still consider myself a craftsman, but I could not consider myself a businessman. There is honor in both.

I'm not saying that you don't have the right to run your business the way you choose to do so Ike, I'm just saying that it doesn't make the choice to take a different path any less honorable. You can still be a craftsman and put out a less than perfect product. I notice every flaw I can in my pieces and make a decision on how to treat it. Some I fix, some I replace,and some I leave because only I know about the flaw and I have to make a business decision because I am charging my customers. There isn't a person that works with wood that doesn't make a concession at some point-- it is up to us to decide where we limit that concession. Charging a customer 10 hours labor to make something PERFECT when the customer only asks for a 3-hour job is the wrong way to treat a customer. At the same time, eating those hours it takes to make a product perfect is not the model of a successful business. There is a reason that Holtey planes cost $7000+
http://thebestthings.com/newtools/ka...tey_planes.htm
It is because Karl Holtey uses the business model "perfection at any cost". I charge that this is not the only successful and honorable business model.

IMHO, meeting the balance between compensation and the total satisfaction of my customers IS my final goal as a businessman. Anything else I do is self-aggrandizing, and while that has value... it is not relevant to the business itself though it has merit on my role as craftsman.

Lawrence

[mathman]

But while we are on the subject of apostrophes. If a name ends in S such as Willis. The proper apostrophe for plural would be Willis'.

A plural shouldn't have an apostrophe in it. The plural of Willis would be Willises. Willis' would be ownership of something by Willis. Looked those rules up this past year for "Willys" (make of my 1950 truck)....

[ladjr]

Ike
You missed my point. If the customer doesn't get what they want they will not give recommendation to friends for you. I just had a project that they wanted full names on one side and shorten names on other side. It looked unbalanced and I pointed it out, but I made it the way they asked.

I do not do this as a business. I only make projects I like and give them away for free. I'm retired and do it to relax. I have great respect for those of you that do it as a business and I love seeing your projects.

My father was a Carpenter and had a great shop, however he didn't want me to follow in his foot steps, so I ended up in a office and now I enjoy working in my shop.

Sorry for my life story but I wanted you to understand where I was coming from.




Leo
Life is to short carve something today

[badbert]

A plural shouldn't have an apostrophe in it. The plural of Willis would be Willises. Willis' would be ownership of something by Willis. Looked those rules up this past year for "Willys" (make of my 1950 truck)....

But this is exactly my point, the sign could be both, correct and wrong... depending on intent. Plural or possessive. LOL