Scammed, delayed, missing - - Why??

We seem to be targets for poor “customer service.” This might be typical, but we only have our own experiences to impart. We ordered “custom made furniture” from one of the markets. We were *supposed* to have a dining room table, chairs, and some other pieces within a couple of weeks. The carpenter came to our apartment 3 weeks later - - he had had dengue fever, his grandmother had died, his daughter had a baby, and he hadn’t prepared any of the furniture. Our driver of the first couple of months left for his hometown in Himachal Pradesh for a week, and then never returned. (He spoke to us after 2 weeks saying that his wife was ill. No word from him after that.) Any number of workers and craftsman make appointments to come to our apartment to fix something or other and then never show. Adam has arranged multiple meetings with breeders about getting a new puppy. They make promises and don’t return calls, or they return calls and say that the puppy they had planned to bring has some genetic disease and isn’t suitable.

We muse about what might be going on. With respect to the puppies, Adam was concerned that Amnon had done too good a job negotiating down the prices, and that the breeders were dis-incented to work with us. (But why agree to a price, and then become scarce?) Another theory, not unrelated: They have a puppy for us, but then get a higher offer from someone else, and so need a fast excuse to back out at the last moment. (2 puppies we were about to get “fell ill” and were therefore not delivered.) With respect to the missing driver (and our missing first housekeeper), Amnon opined that I was at fault for making them feel too important to us and too much like family; they then conclude that they can “go missing” for a month or so and we will be eagerly awaiting them whenever they return. We have heard that erratic appearances for drivers, housekeepers, workmen are not uncommon. But that also begs the question - - isn’t this a community eager for employment? Why treat these business opportunities so cavalierly?