F-17: Rude Response

 Statement of the Case: Engineer A was resident engineer on a construction project, with the
responsibility for monitoring the quality of materials used and inspecting the work quality.
Occasionally, changes were necessary to the plans and specifications. Since these changes were
not included in the construction contract, the contractor was paid extra.

Engineer A monitored

the changes and approved these extra charges on behalf of the client, when they were

appropriate. However, Engineer A often disallowed claims for “extras.” In fact, Engineer A had come to believe that the contractor submitted a very low bid for this contract, expecting to make a big profit on the “extras.”

Near the end of the project, the contractor submitted a claim for an extra payment that was

clearly inflated and unreasonable. Engineer A was infuriated at the unprofessional attitude of the contractor and even angrier that the contractor would believe that a professional engineer would agree to such flagrant over-billing. In anger, Engineer A simply scribbled a rude four-letter expression across the claim in large letters and returned the document to the contractor. The contractor complained to the client that Engineer A was unprofessional and vindictive in refusing this claim (and in refusing several earlier claims) and sent a copy of the rude note as evidence of Engineer A’s unprofessional conduct.

Questions: Was Engineer A’s conduct unprofessional? When faced with unprofessional conduct, is it acceptable to respond with unprofessional conduct? What should Engineer A have done?

Outcome: After a long discussion with Engineer A and a review of all the earlier claims, the

client eventually agreed that the contractor was indeed over-billing the client, but the process

subjected Engineer A’s judgment to an embarrassing and unnecessary challenge. Engineer A felt that he was humiliated in the eyes of the client.

Authors’ Comments: From time to time, we all are tempted to commit unprofessional acts that we might later regret. However, when we are representing a client, it is even more important to be restrained, courteous, and fair. Engineer A could have avoided this embarrassing episode simply by treating the contractor with professional courtesy (as required by the Code of Ethics), regardless of the provocation. Engineer A should have reviewed the claim and then written a short but professional note to the contractor, denying the claim and listing the reasons.

Expressing anger, especially in writing, is usually a very poor idea.