Community Update

Our experience with St. Louis Stair and Wood Works consists only of an enormously unprofessional interaction during a bid. The company consists of a husband and wife duo, Dennis and Mary Jo, who we learned about through word of mouth and an article on the online Woodworking Network. They seem to be very well respected for their craft, which is what we were looking for on our stair project. What we quickly learned is that they are highly unprofessional, condescending, and aggressive.

The first sign that things might be off began when my wife called to schedule the bid. My wife found Mary Jo to be rude and condescending -- without knowing anything about us, Mary Jo suggested that we were a naive young couple that had no idea what we were getting into with a historic rehab. That may have been the case eight years ago, but we are on the home stretch of a nearly full gut rehab, and we have done the vast majority of the work ourselves. Nonetheless, we were excited to have them come bid our project because they seem to be talented. We figured that talent sometimes comes with eccentricity, which we can handle in stride.

Dennis and Mary Jo came to our house to bid the stair project (one new stair and one restoration) on 10/19/13. Although they still had an edge of condescension and bickered with one another like an old married couple, which they are, the bid visit was pretty normal until Dennis asked me about my work. I told him where I worked. He further pried asking what I do. I shared that I work in sustainability and said nothing more. I make a point of not being preachy about the work that I do because I know how politicized aspects of sustainability have become. Without skipping a beat, Dennis asked if I said "disdainability." I laughed it off and kept the focus on the stairs. They then asked my wife what she does. When she shared that she works in public health they rolled their eyes and chuckled in an odd way. Not wanting to read into their reactions, we kept the focus on the topic at hand: stairs, banisters, and spindles.

Without any provocation from me, Dennis asked if I believed that global warming was caused by human activity while making
clear that he did not believe so. Taken aback that a contractor would be starting a political debate while bidding a project, I responded that yes I do and so does 97% of the climate science community (NASA's Climate Change website has extensive documentation on this topic). Nonetheless, I told Dennis I had no interest in having the discussion and unambiguously told him I wanted to stay focused on the stairs. He persisted and essentially asked me to prove 30 years of climate science to him on the spot. We invited them to our house to bid a project, not to have a debate and certainly not scoff at our careers and question the fundamentals of our work or our knowledge. At this point, both my wife and I were again clear that we wanted to keep our relationship professional and not discuss the topic Dennis was now pushing on us.

Regardless of your perspective on this particular topic, I hope you will agree that contentious topics (religion, politics, etc.) have no place in professional interactions.

At this point, Mary Jo had the good sense to head towards the door and call to Dennis that it was time to go. Like a fixated zealot, Dennis persisted on the topic despite our many requests to focus on stairs and continued asking me to prove that climate change is real and caused by human activity. At this point, I began to herd Dennis towards the door and told him that I had a feeling based on our conversation thus far that there is nothing I could do to change his mind. Now at the front door, but still inside the house, Dennis got right up in my face and accused me of calling him stupid, when I simply said that I did not think I could change his mind. With Dennis still inside my house, getting closer to my face and continuing to accuse me of calling him stupid, I somehow managed to herd him over the threshold, told him to forget the job, and slammed the door in a cloud of disbelief at what had just unfolded.

In my career and throughout my 8-year home rehab, I am certain that I have worked with many people who have different perspectives and beliefs than I. We all do every day. Yet, the vast majority of the time, all of us in the work force have the professionalism to focus on our commonalities and forge strong, productive, and often wonderful working relationships despite the differences that exist.

The antagonism and lack of professionalism we experienced with Dennis and Mary Jo of St. Louis Stair and Wood Works is unparalleled in my working life. It felt like Dennis came to my house to pick a fight, not bid a job. Despite our repeated attempts to direct the conversation back to the bid, Dennis seemed intent on insulting us and starting a conflict. No one, regardless how skilled, has any right to treat clients or prospective clients the way Dennis and Mary Jo treated my wife and I.

We are fortunate to live in a world full of skilled people. We strongly encourage you to avoid this company and give your business to talented folks who will treat you with the basic level of respect that we all deserve.