A Load Of Nonsense

I work for a commercial contractor. We’re installing refrigeration cabinets into a local convenience store. I’m doing a site assessment and tell the store owner:

Me: “So, the subfloor is weak and needs to be strengthened in order to hold the weight of the refrigeration cabinets plus products.”

Store Owner: “But… what about the empty refrigeration cabinet? Will the floor support that?”

Me: “So yes, it will. But once you fill the cabinet, it will be heavier.”

Store Owner: “No, you are mistaken. The products will be placed on shelves.”

Me: “Yes, the shelves inside the cabinet. The weight still goes onto the legs of the cabinet.”

Store Owner: “No, the shelves take that weight. We don’t need any modification to the floor. You’re just trying to force me into paying for extra work.”

Me: “Sir, I can say with 100% certainty that the floor will not support the weight of the shelves when fully loaded with products.”

Store Owner: “But the shelves are not touching the floor!”

Me: “They’re not suspended in mid-air either!”

He kept pushing back, so I gave up and let him call the office to complain about my being obstructive.

In the end, the sales team had to tell him that he was right but that we had miscalculated the weight of the cabinet and the floor would have to be strengthened just to hold even the empty cabinets. No more objections.