Yikes! Uncle Kinky Moves Back
To Girhippoville where Mr. Not So Neutral and his enmeshed adult son, the Mechanic live. Uncle Kinky was always embarrassed of his hometown being too hick and rube. He moved to the "big city" which is really an inner ring suburb of the closest mid-sized city here decades ago before I even knew Chef.
He became frightened of all the smash and grabs/carjackings in his inner ring suburban neighborhood and sold his house mid last November only to buy a plot of land back in the Old Homestead.
This sort of frightens me because now we have two huge gossipers in the same area. Uncle Kinky is Chef's only full blood brother who has disowned him/shunned him for getting divorced from the Girhippo. He is extremely manipulative and duplicitous.
Also In recent developments, Chef has cut off communication with his oldest half-brother, Seasoned Citizen because Seasoned Citizen's adult son said a few things that Chef didn't like while looking for no/low cost furnace installation from Chef.
They all live in Girhippoville and keep in close contact with the three ferals. I fear they will all coalesce into some big reunification attempt which is the last thing Chef needs--he has plenty of work customers, projects at home and the rentals to work on. He has been getting more requests from "old friends" that hasn't heard from in over two decades out in Girhippoville to work on this and that which he has politely refused up to this point.
- thinkthrice's blog
- Log in or register to post comments
Comments
They all want your DH's labor
All these mooches want your DH to do work for them at the ''family price" or free.
Time for Chef to go on the estimate of work model with these...
Time for Chef to go to the estimate of work model with these...people. Not that I would give them people status if I were him.
When he gets the "Hey Chef! Buddy, I have a HVAC problem that I could use your help with." he should tell them sure, he will be out on X date at Y time to scope the work. A scope the work call to walk the job will cost them $200 but if they sign the work order for him to complete the work, the SOW service call fee will be waved.
No more favors. While I get that networking is a huge opportunity for business growth, giving it away for free is not. I have learned the lesson of working with close friends and family. It rarely works out well. It nearly cost my HS BFF and I our relationship when I had to fire him. He filed for unemployment which I contested due to his actions. I won. Which did not help the situation. It was a delicate thing to contest when I was instructed by my business partner to not say a word at the UE hearing. My partner was the acting President at that time. I did not say a word. I just presented the Judge with a screen shot print out of my BFFs ranting profanity filled resignation message. It took us a few years to reconnect after that. Fortunately over the decades since then we have rebuilt our relationship and are exceptionally close.
It is one thing to get together with dad, a brother, friends, etc.. to work on a project together. It is something else entirely to provide the services of your livelihood gratis. A F&F discount is one thing. but it cannot be so much that it makes the work unprofitable or gives the F&F individual leverage. For damned sure Chef should not put any of his money into supplies, etc... without a signed contract.
IMHO of course.
Has Chef got his completed classic car back yet? If not, time for a service lean on their property for the HVAC work he did for them. And he should not forget to apply the penalties and interest charges for their failure to do the work agreed in exchange for his services. Using the IRS penalties and interest schedules for upaid taxes. Sending the quarterly penalties and interest invoice is a multi pronged thing. It is cathartic to rub their nose in their shit, it is entertaining to listen and watch their victim tantrum, and.... he can drop the occasional, I am really going to love owning your shop if you do not get my car done and pay the penalties and interest to clear my Trade Lien.
A "trade lien," also known as a mechanic's lien, allows contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers to claim an interest in a property if they are not paid for work or materials used to improve it.
See how his slime relatives like that.
Of course the whining and crying chorus will rise over it being faaaaaamily and it should not be about money. But, making a living is about money which IMHO makes these things very simple, black, and white. Do what you say you will do and pay your damned bills. Or..... your property will become my property. So to speak. Tradesperson's work their butts off and it chaps my ass to no end when people take advantage of them. People need the hard lesson that if they do not have the skill or desire to do it themselves, then STFU and pay your bill.
Yes, more of Rags' no gray area world.
Not sorry.