It is perplexing and irritating beyond words at one and the same time, and that represents a gross misunderstatement. Why it is that people who initiate contracts, verbal or otherwise, who maintain old contacts for the purpose of keeping a service business going, all too often fail to meet the objectives of the most basic nature when they themselves make the appointments.

When I answered the telephone early this week the male voice on the other end recalled his name and his company to my memory, asking whether I might be interested in having our exterior windows cleaned, as usual, for fall. I would indeed, I responded. And mentioned how puzzling it had been when he hadn't shown up as scheduled in the spring to clean the windows.

He apologized profusely, said his secretary had been a problem and he had, as a result, fired her for keeping sloppy, inaccurate and undependable records. As a result of which, he went on further, he had lost almost half of his traditional clients. I commiserated. Said how glad I would be to see him so our windows would get the attention required.

The appointment was set for Thursday, at ten in the morning. Thursday dawned, ten o'clock passed, then eleven, and the succeeding hours as well with no sign of his van and equipment. Nor were we contacted with any kind of explanation. Another day has passed with no sign of the errant service-provider.

Twenty years earlier we had first been contacted by the company and they had regularly cleaned our exterior windows. If we weren't home when they happened by, they left an invoice in the mailbox.

We always paid a bonus to them, exceeding their price for the job. The business owner was very pleasant, always had a helper with him and the two speedily and efficiently did the job in no time at all. They carried with them the requisite ladders, cleaning equipment and professionalism.

The current business owner is someone who had worked with the original owner. I make no claims to having any deep understanding of human nature but the laissez-faire manner in which many people in the service industry seem to pursue their interests is confusing, to say the very least.