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Over the years I’ve had difficulty persuading window cleaners to clean my windows, mainly because the windows that really need cleaning are a good 15 feet off the ground above 10-foot deep lightwells surrounded by spiked railings. Perhaps understandably, this arrangement appears to be window cleaner kryptonite. Nonetheless, surely there must be one or two out there who would know how to deal with this setup without, let’s say, dying, but every one that I’ve asked has all but fled screaming. So when a few years ago I found someone had put a post-it through the front door saying “WINDOW CLEANER” with a phone number, I was on the phone in less time than it took you to finish this sentence.
I think I know how this normally works. You arrange with a local window cleaner that they will come round to your house on or around a certain day, when you may or may not be in, and you then pay them soon afterwards on a basis suitable to both parties. File under “not rocket science”.
I found myself talking to the window cleaner’s wife. “When will he next be around?” I asked.
“It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “He doesn’t have a fixed schedule. He travels all over the place.”
“Oh, all right,” I said. “So how do I arrange this?”
“Well,” she said, “on a day when you’re going to be at home, you call in the morning and see if he’ll be in your area that day.”
“Seriously?” I said, after a pause. She became slightly defensive.
A couple of weeks later I found myself at home for the day. Out of curiosity I rang the number. “Is Steve going to be in south London today?” I asked.
“No,” said his wife. I haven’t bothered since.
So my question is: am I missing something here? Is this actually a fantastic business model I simply haven’t grasped? Have I just not understood how I stand to benefit here? I only ask because every six months or so I get another identical post-it through the door, so I guess he’s still making the window cleaning work for him. But how?
I think I know how this normally works. You arrange with a local window cleaner that they will come round to your house on or around a certain day, when you may or may not be in, and you then pay them soon afterwards on a basis suitable to both parties. File under “not rocket science”. I found myself talking to the window cleaner’s wife. “When will he next be around?” I asked.
“It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “He doesn’t have a fixed schedule. He travels all over the place.”
“Oh, all right,” I said. “So how do I arrange this?”
“Well,” she said, “on a day when you’re going to be at home, you call in the morning and see if he’ll be in your area that day.”
“Seriously?” I said, after a pause. She became slightly defensive.
A couple of weeks later I found myself at home for the day. Out of curiosity I rang the number. “Is Steve going to be in south London today?” I asked.
“No,” said his wife. I haven’t bothered since.
So my question is: am I missing something here? Is this actually a fantastic business model I simply haven’t grasped? Have I just not understood how I stand to benefit here? I only ask because every six months or so I get another identical post-it through the door, so I guess he’s still making the window cleaning work for him. But how?
From today’s 
A colleague has just discovered that this time round the Tutankhamun exhibition, which she remembers from 35 years ago, does not feature the famous mask, and is now reconsidering—“I’m very shallow,” she says—whether or not to go. It does seem to be an odd decision; it would be kind of like Men At Work doing a global anniversary stadium tour and refusing to play “Down Under”.