But, but, HE wrote the orders!
I will say that there’s one thing about getting service professionals. Especially in both a slump or a boom, they don’t want to go to your house. Why? In a slump, it costs money. They have to bring their experienced guy in for a day, have them drive 40 minutes to your house, spend 30 minutes on an assessment, and then drive back. And then they might not even get the job and their time (and therefore money) was wasted. So if possible, send them photos, send a lot of photos, and a good description, and if it’s a normal job they can quote it right from their desk and not spend their time.
In a boom, same thing. They’ll have to pull their experienced guy off Very Important Job for Longtime Customer that Pays Well to go to your house and do a quote for a job they might not even get. Yanno, whatever. We’re making enough money here with Longtime Customer, let them go to someone else. We have a full week next week anyway with Second Customer.
I’m just sayin’…this is probably the reason for a fair amount of no-call professionals.
Of course he did. That’s not the point, in his mind. He doesn’t have to take orders from anyone, even himself! 
I meant my last line to be more separate from the explanation. Craigslist is the most extreme version of this phenomenon, but I’ve had people I actually know go radio silence on me. And not, like, jilted exes or someone with a good reason to desire no contact.
Craigslist, oh craigslist. I just have to tell this story. Last time I was moving, I put a bunch of stuff on craigslist, including a bookcase. A woman emailed me about it, then called me about it, then called at least 5 more times to reschedule. There was a friend with a truck, and something something. She was very long-winded. All of this on the same day. Every time, I said “fine” to the new time, because it didn’t put me out. I was at home all day boxing things up and cleaning up my place, and no one else had expressed interest. She didn’t show up. Finally, maybe an hour or two after the last proposed time, I called her.
Her: “Oh, I took a look at it and decided it wasn’t what I wanted.”
Me (confused): “What do you mean? I’ve been here all day and you never came.”
Her: “I drove by and saw it from the street. It looked like it was in bad condition.”
Me: “How could you see it from the street?”
Her: “It was outside by the curb.”
Me (dawning realization into dam breaking on my accumulated annoyance): “Do you mean the broken bookcase that’s been snapped in half and stuffed in my garbage can? The one that’s a totally different style and color from the picture in the ad that you called me about six times?!”
Christ.
Ok, I’m done. That felt good.
The stupid; it burns, doesn’t it? Great story well told.
I agree with the OP and I think it all started when punching people in the face went out of style.