STOP FISTING ME

STOP FISTING ME

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UGHJHVB	[Nov. 21st, 2009\|08:36 pm]
Weekend job paid up. I was supposed to have from Friday morning to Sunday evening to complete it, but when I arrived yesterday morning the client asked, "Can you get it done by Saturday night?" I said yes, figuring I could rope in an employee to help me, but no such luck. We got shut out of the restaurant early on Friday due to the floor tiling being sealed, so WIX fucked off early, LADY came and helped me, and I did some running around before helping her. I worked until 8PM yesterday and again today and got it all done. I will get a fat reference from this lady, for certains. The restaurant guys are playing hardball with their landlord/investor, not agreeing to hand over ownership stakes. So his money hasn't come through. Last weekend they fired all the contractors but us, accusing them of slowing down on the job. The reason they were all slowing down on the job is that they hadn't been paid, some of them in over a month, some of them over $30k. If I didn't have the direct line to the investor and a budding relationship with him, I'd be walking away of my own accord. But I think I can stick it out as the $7-$8k I will be owed will be a drop in the bucket vs. other payments they have to make. They got their dishwasher and industrial liquids repossessed on Friday... three dudes came and hauled it all out in 15 minutes. What a shitstorm I will have to deal with next week. Gah. They are already so far behind it's retarded. We won't be there for much of next week if I can help it... I know I will get paid when I finish the job because even though I'm not first in line, I'm friendly, I'm owed a smaller amount, and I'm a very squeaky wheel! I finished the day up $840.
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POPOIOIOJIO	[Nov. 13th, 2009\|05:24 pm]
It's been a crazy week at the restaurant. We've gotten a lot done, and plenty of work added on, but the griping from EVERY contractor about not yet being paid became simply too loud to ignore. I needed my deposit cheque for TODAY so I could run the week's payroll, and although it was issued to me 9 days ago, when I checked at the issuer's bank this morning, there were no funds to back it up. Luckily the owner had given me the eventual investor's direct cell number as an assurance that I would be paid, considering that I'd voiced my concerns before signing our contract for the job. It was this connection that saved my ass. I'd been keeping him informed all week, letting him know I needed my deposit to make payroll by this Friday at the absolute latest. At 4PM I met him at the bar where he spends his afternoons. At 4:15 I was at my home bank branch depositing the cheque. Cutting it close there, SOFAHEAD. Despite all my wrangles, I got approved for a pretty sizeable unsecured line of credit. It's at a floating rate of prime + 2.75% but it will take care of the credit card debt I racked up on capital expenditures and main window cleaning company work issues. I finished the day up $5420.
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DENY DENY DENY DENY DENY DENY ADMIT	[Nov. 8th, 2009\|03:18 pm]
I fired BLUTE. I recorded our conversation-- I did most of the talking. She didn't admit to what she did until I was describing every detail of what happened. She was very meek and accepting about it. I don't think there will be any further repercussions.
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IOUWEHGHV	[Nov. 7th, 2009\|12:23 am]
I didn't fire BLUTE yet-- didn't have time. I will tomorrow. RB, the owner of the restaurant, signed my contract and handed me a cheque dated for today-- but told me not to cash it until next week when his investor's funding comes through. This was the exact story that the previous contractor has been strung along with for the preceding month, or so he's told me so far. However, RB gave me the investor's cell phone number. The investor owns 400+ rental units (apartments, businesses, warehouses, etc.) and is expecting my call as reassurance that money is there for me. RB assured me that no matter what, funds would be released so that I'd make my weekly payroll, which is all I care about at this point in time: keeping my crew working. I will call the investor and tell him I need some work to tide us over and boost my cash flow in case the payments from the restaurant are delayed. If I can bargain this inroad into being the guy's full-time painter he has annual work that would keep a crew of two busy all year. No risk, no reward. RB asked me to pull my crew together to expedite the drywall finishing so we can start painting on Monday. I've already given them the weekend off so I may go in to do a little myself. Meanwhile I have to manage how much I tell the general contractor who's owed five figures on the job and who is lagging its completion as a bargaining chip until he gets paid. RB told me to keep it absolutely confidential that I was paid a deposit. A cheque I was told not to cash is not a deposit whatsoever. So I can keep my bond with the contractor, who also has a cheque he's supposed to wait to cash. He doesn't have to know that unlike his cheque, mine is dated and probably cashable. I have a lot of running around to do tomorrow. I finished the day up $290.
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IUOFJ	[Nov. 5th, 2009\|08:43 pm]
What a horrible day. The restaurant wasn't ready to go. The drywallers started patching at around 1PM-- my painters did what they could in that time, which wasn't much. I couldn't stick around long enough to meet with the owner, sign the work contract, and cash the deposit cheque-- I went to Toronto for my uncle's funeral. He was a brilliant accountant, and very well known-- to say more would expose his identity which for the sake of my grieving family I will not do. Sadly his daughter was in labour at the time of his death and his wife kept this secret from their daughter until the baby was delivered safely. There were about 60 cars in the procession and well over a hundred people shoveling dirt on the coffin. It was the second time in four months I've been a pallbearer. I returned to the restaurant to find BLUTE already gone and WIX and LADY sharing a drink at the pub below it. We talked over the day and decided to give the contractors three days to finish up the drywalling such that we can work without spinning our wheels like we did today. Thus, a day off tomorrow. I could not stick around to sign contracts with the restaurant owner as I had to return to BLUTE's bathroom to touch up, so I rebooked our meeting for tomorrow morning. I was kind of at a loss for what to do if he doesn't have a cheque or if the cheque bounces, but I resolved to deal with that problem if it arises. As I got to BLUTE's job, the client stopped her car in the driveway. She asked me how well I knew BLUTE, and I told her BLUTE has been employed with me for a week, but she's passed my side-by-side test and that this was her first job working unsupervised. My client then regaled me with an interesting story. Yesterday my client caught BLUTE red-handed in front of her liquor cabinet, with the top off a bottle of Crown Royal! BLUTE was so surprised she dropped the cap on the floor. My client was too stunned and embarrassed for BLUTE's sake to do anything but smile in confusion. BLUTE quickly picked up the cap, said something about "Things keep falling off the shelves" and calmly went about her day. AWKWARRRRRDDD!!!!!!!!!!1111 Ironically, when I was driving BLUTE home after the incident, I was telling her about how other painters had been fired that summer, as if she'd made the cut and was now privy to that information. She divulged that she's suffering from bipolar disorder, and that she'd be taking January to March off for an extended treatment. I am SO LUCKY my clients are easygoing and cool enough to alert me to such a crazy problem without going ballistic; I've worked for plenty of other clients this year who'd flip out and get their neighbours to cancel on me too. Instead I was forthcoming about everything I knew about BLUTE thus far, and we discussed a way to handle the situation so that nobody would suffer any blowback. They were happy with my professionalism and assured me they'd refer me as well as ask me back again to work on their home this winter! I promised them BLUTE would not be present and would most likely not be working for me, either. BLUTE's work was shoddy and needed fixing. Her wall paint was unevenly applied; she didn't tape anything and thus got green paint everywhere on the white trim; her patchwork needed to be redone; she got paint on the towel bar, the faucet, the brand new white melamine cabinets; the trim she painted was overly thin. I worked there for almost two hours and I'll have to return tomorrow for another 90 minutes or so. This alone would be enough to fire her. My next touchup was for the current client's mom! She'd already heard from her daughter about what happened with BLUTE and was quite shocked compared to her wonderful experience with WIX and LADY. I finished the work; she paid me. No problems there. I'm not sure what to do about BLUTE. I'm a little paranoid about what kind of backlash I can expect from firing someone who's got bipolar disorder. Is she going to sabotage the restaurant job if I fire her? Would she be suicidal? Would she do something evil like returning to my client's place and threatening them? Would she threaten ME somehow (stalking, constant calling, a false harassment charge, anything)? I need to ask a professional about this. Psychiatrist, doctor, lawyer, I dunno. Ideally I'd like to meet with her in a public place OR record our phone conversation where I ask her how things went at the bathroom job. I guess the phone option would be best. I'd have to start with itemizing the things she needed improvement on, painting-wise. Then I'd ask her if there was anything else that happened on the job that she thought I should know about. If she came forth and told me, that would be a step in the right direction-- but I'd probably have to ask her about the specific situation and drag it out of her. Anyways, I've got three days to decide about this. There also exists an alternative where I lay her off solely on the basis of her poor work on the bathroom job, but that doesn't address the biggest problem, nor is it fair to my clients. The ONLY way I could give her a second chance would be this. I would need a letter from her doctor explaining that this behaviour is common to sufferers of bipolar disorder (if indeed she is bipolar and not just a lying alcoholic). I'd want a copy of it for my records, and I'd want her to submit one to my client along with an apology in person. I'd need a signed contract from her wherein she'd swear not to drink on the job or steal from a client's house, lest she face immediate termination. I'd also have to cut her pay to minimum wage for a 6-month probationary period whereupon she would not be allowed to be on a job by herself, nor work unsupervised. All that is not really worth it, now that I type it all out. That would be the only form her second chance would take, though. Sometimes I hate running a business. I finished the day up $650.
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HKKBHJ	[Nov. 5th, 2009\|06:07 am]
We start the restaurant today. I have to go to my uncle's funeral so WIX is taking charge as foreman. He also has to get the contract signed and collect the cheque. I will cash it this afternoon when I get back from Toronto. Not the ideal way to start a high-profile job! Two of three small scramble jobs didn't get finished. BLUTE's cutting and patching needs work and her job needs a third coat anyway which wasn't her fault. There was a forgotten patch in the bathroom at WIX's place too. Only LADY's job was 100% perfect, although it was the easiest and simplest task, but noted anyway. I finished the day up $300.
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I7WEHGWNEB	[Nov. 1st, 2009\|07:34 pm]
Meeting with WIX. He likes LADY but we both agreed her crappy attitude and beyond-the-task traits trump her effectiveness at the actual task of painting. We both think she'll leave of her own accord at the end of the year. Finished our big job for one of my favourite clients. She's so great. I gave WIX an inflated cash payment on his commission at the restaurant job. This commission was supposed to be paid out when they make their final payment-- they haven't even made their 50% deposit yet. WIX came out honestly and told me he needed it for his medication and his rent. He's catching up from three weeks of no work. That puts me slightly tight for cash flow this month, but hey. I will produce some other small jobs and bring myself back up to speed. I finished the day up $3090.
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BUYYTV	[Oct. 30th, 2009\|11:38 pm]
The restaurant job is on. I confronted the owner with the observation that the pace of work in there has slowed to a crawl and in my experience this means there's no money left to finish the project. He hemmed and hawed and agreed to revise our financing terms. I get half the money for the job on this upcoming Tuesday, and the other half 7 to 14 days after opening day, with a final payment of Dec. 1 at the latest. But half up front covers all my labour costs and most of my paint costs. The labour costs are tricky because my payroll runs weekly, but my paint is ordered for Nov. 1 and as such isn't due to be reconciled until Dec. 31. So the project is a go. The rest of the November work will compensate for any major delay or shortfall. I can just run a second crew on jobs that will pay quickly, and get caught up. My returning client is overjoyed at the job we did in her new house. We picked up some slack from another drywall contractor who was bogging the project down, working on my client's place 6 hours a week and focusing the rest of his time on his own house. I have a few hours left of finishing-off stuff to do with BLUTE tomorrow, and I'll get a nice fat cheque just in time to cover my first ~$2k payroll plus my mortgage payment (my tenants rearranged their car payments and told me they'd be 6 days late). Close call. BLUTE turned out to be a great painter with a great attitude. Professionally, that's all I care about, but if I were to describe her further, I'd say she's pretty cute. She's definitely HALLSY's type. I hope to give her full-time hours ASAP. LADY kind of has a perpetual bad attitude which I hope BLUTE can fix through contagion. Good attitudes beat bad ones, right? LADY is as sweet as pie as long as she's getting a regular 40 hours per week. Anything less, and she's grumpy, uncommunicative, and looking to jump ship. For the time being it's worth dealing with, because her experience is good for big jobs. But if she jumps ship I won't be too sad about it. It's hard to keep up with booking 120 hours a week, but that's my challenge! I bought the last four pumpkins from the supermarket and only two of them had a bit of mould. They all had one good side to carve a face in. My wife and brother joined me in carving some pretty shoddy and silly faces. I can't wait to roast the seeds... MMMMMMMM I finished the day down $10.
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OPIYBFVT	[Oct. 19th, 2009\|08:48 pm]
The painters killed a cheapo shed staining job for some friends of my family. It was a very low price and I can't believe I didn't lose money on it. What's important is keeping them as busy and happy as possible while I land a big sucka job. My wife is busy pounding chicken breasts into kotlety (Polish cutlets) for a late dinner. We're gonna watch the 'Ffice and chow down together. My mom dropped off some nice trinkets from my aunt's place. I'll be cleaning the windows there this weekend and then it goes up for sale. We think the neighbour will buy it and gut it or maybe tear it down, to have a ridiculous huge lot in a very pricey Mississauga neighbourhood. In exchange for doing the windows I get her washer, dryer, and fridge. Good deal! I am so pumped to have bought the entire Silver Spur's laser-disc karaoke collection for $300! It's well over 100 discs that retail for $8-$35 apiece on Ebay... here are some of the ideas I've had so far: Halloween karaoke party get a projector and do weddings/bar nights/whatever in hilarious '80s wear as KJ Vocal Motion check the copyrights, rip 'em all, and create an awesome karaoke YouTube resource/blog just keep them in my living room for a few parties, then sell 'em on Ebay when I get bored of them open my own Karaoke bar (HIRSTY is on board) Also, I wrote the last invoice in my book of 50 today. I aim to finish another book off in 5 months, down from 10. Feeling pretty good about life. Except for my huge debts, things are pretty great. I finished the day up $390.
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BHGGVHFTYFTR	[Oct. 16th, 2009\|04:20 pm]
After setting up my painters at today's job, I went back to the uptown restaurant to try and hang around until the owners got there. The place was completely empty, but a big guy was watching me peer through the windows. I remembered from one of the workers' descriptions that this was one of the owners, so I introduced myself, brought him up to date on what I'd told his partner, and got him to walk me through the place to do a proper quote. It will still be between $10k and $12k, but I ain't complaining! I was in pure confidence mode. I think wearing regular person clothes for the first time in 3 weeks had something to do with it. I'd say it's 90% booked. I got the ground work laid and got some pricing from the paint store, and he asked me to keep the week after next open, so that's what I'm doing. Presumably he and his partner will talk over the weekend! Yessss! I also put an official quote forth to the general contractor for the really hard brick job for the really picky customer. I tactfully asked him to manage his client's expectations so that we could, at most, complete the prep this season and paint it first thing next season. This one seems to be 96% booked. Locked up yo! We finished today's job. Maybe it's Friday syndrome, but my painters didn't do as good a job as I would have. There could have been more scraping and the old windows were cut in badly. Still, it was a shed, and the client didn't want to go look at it with me-- she just paid up. I offered to do touchups in the spring for free. LADY missed a few spots. She is not being careful enough. She also didn't want to vacuum the paint chips out from between some rocks and some garden dirt, despite WIX's insistence that that's probably what I wanted. He ended up doing it. I am gonna have a talk with her on Monday. Shades of SSSNAKESSS, getting too comfortably employed? I already don't want to send her to the judge's interior job that's booked for next week. I'm gonna send WIX and a new girl, BLUTE, that will be part time until I can book enough work to give her full-time hours. I prepared some cash to give to the main company-- three jobs completed for which I owe them commission. I'm kind of spooked to drive over there in the new truck, but hey. Probably nobody will be around, in which case I'll have to try again later. I finished the day up $1060.
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JHVWEJVGH	[Oct. 15th, 2009\|06:13 pm]
Days like today are the reason I love running my own business. I do a TON of shit all over the map! Up at 6AM to get the truck ready. Ate a quick breakfast and went to the new jobsite in North Waterloo to set up. Got my painters ready to go, then drove to pick up my new 32' ladder and some window glass, then continued to the next job to replace a window pane in advance of our painting work. On the way, I saw seven trucks parked in front of my favourite building in K-W and perhaps the whole world! They are renovating the Bauer estate!!! OMFG!!!!!111 This building is beyond description. It's a mansion, about 160 years old, on Union right near King St. on the border of Kitchener and Waterloo. It's tucked behind some massive trees and a huge front lawn, and there are a couple apartment buildings and some regular sized houses that surround it, so it's hard to even know such an amazing building is there. I pulled up into the driveway and started asking roofers if the project manager was around. They were really cool-- they eventually told me he might be inside. Finally an excuse to walk right into this place! I found a new steel door in the back that had been installed as a temporary, secure main entrance for the workers. Inside was absolutely breathtaking. Disney couldn't build a better haunted mansion. Custom textured fleur-de-lis patterned wallpaper. Ancient oaken woodwork that made me feel like I was 4 feet tall standing beside it. Hand-sculpted plaster mouldings. To build something of this size and quality you would probably need $100M. It just wouldn't be possible in this age. Lots of dust, a few braces supporting the 2nd floor (of 4 or quite possibly 5). I wanted to take pictures to post on the internet but I mentally slapped myself for distracting myself with the thought and just wandered around as much as I could allow myself before following the sounds of people working. (MYSELF) Two guys were taking up some flooring in a room that looked like a secondary pantry. I must have had the world's biggest grin on my stupid face. I just started gushing about how this was my favourite building in town, and how lucky those guys were to be working here, and if I could get the project manager's number. The younger guy gave me the construction company owner's card!!!!111 Gonna call him tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 I let my imagination run away while replacing the window pane, which took an hour or so. Then I went home to eat some lunch and write up the work order for tomorrow. I went back to the current job to drop off the client's key so my painters could lock up, and the client came home, marveled at the good job they were doing, and went inside. I drove to downtown Kitchener to get some low-temp alkyd semi gloss for tomorrow's job at my home ICI, but they didn't have any left. I stocked up on some sundries I was lacking and went to quote an exterior painted brick job in Cambridge, just south of Old Galt. I met the Scottish project manager on site. The brick was in bad shape, in need of a lot of crappy work in the cold, and the client is extremely picky and thinks he knows everything. What's worse is, the client won't tolerate an unfinished paint job, and insists the work be finished this season. We're rapidly running out of exterior painting days, especially something that absolutely requires good weather, like large expanses of exterior brick in bad shape! The project manager has a set budget for the painting. I took pictures and notes, and told him I'd come up with a quote and an estimate of the hours it would take, then check the long-range forecast to see if it would be possible to complete the job in the time we have left. It's about a $2800 - $3500 job to get this brick done right, as a ballpark guess, but I'll crunch the numbers later tonight. I stopped into the Cambridge Sherwin-Williams to get my low-temp alkyd semi-gloss. They were out, dammit! But they were also having a 35% off sale on sundries so I loaded up on sandpaper and stuff to the tune of something like $250. Then I went to the TSC store in Southwest Kitchener. Had a catch-up conversation with M J, then got the stain for a job we prepped earlier this week and will complete on a rare day above 10 degrees Celsius next week. Nearby was the job where I replaced a rotted-out pillar base with sculpted cement. I headed over, painted the final coat over my work (which turned out quite well actually!), changed a high light bulb for them, and collected a bit of cash for my trouble. On my way to the Sherwin-Williams in Kitchener I saw a Location Closing sign over a safety footwear retail store. I was planning on trying to stretch my safety shoes over the winter despite how badly they reeeeeeeeeek, but they had insane discounts. Usually you pay $150 for a good pair of plastic toe, reinforced heel, breathable safety shoes. I got two pairs, one the exact same brand as I was wearing, for $90. Sweet deal! I picked my alkyd semi-gloss at the paint store and drove home. Put away all my gear, cleaned up a bit, and now I'm gonna barbecue a HUUUUUUUUUGE BURGER. I will follow up on the big classy Uptown Waterloo restaurant/lounge interior tomorrow in person. I finished the day down $590.
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HWVT	[Oct. 14th, 2009\|07:18 am]
Starting two jobs at once today, which is always hellacious. I will be calling customers in the evenings this week to book up some window cleaning work for the next couple of months. M J will take care of that. Big clients paid up-- I kind of finished three jobs at once yesterday. Still on the hunt for interior work-- started calling my list of outstanding interior quotes. I finished the day up $3060.
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NMMNM	[Oct. 6th, 2009\|05:47 pm]
LADY is working out great. I collected on one job and I'm about to collect on the one I completed over the weekend. I did a 9-minute job for $20, too. Yay me. I wish I could be visiting the Caymandias! Been listening to Pretty Ricky for two weeks straight!!!!1 I finished the day up $1300.
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POKPPLLPLK	[Oct. 1st, 2009\|04:14 pm]
It's been awhile!!! My new painter, LADY, had her first day today. I had to fix some of her work-- a few areas that she powersanded that needed to be scraped first-- but otherwise, she is MILES better than both SSSNAKESSS and SSSON combined (and cheaper than them both combined, too!). I also had to tell her something twice, but the amount of self-direction she showed more than made up for that. Instead of rummaging around in my paint kit and wasting time, she opted to use her own gear whenever what she wanted wasn't at the top of the kit when she looked at it. I think she will kick ass. A bunch of cheques came in today... including the one from the hell job! Five weeks after I invoiced them, but hey, I got paid my $2/hour and I can pay down the credit cards against which I charged all the paint. I was supposed to start work at the master painter's house this week, but we've got rainouts happening three out of five weekdays and he insists on sunshine only. We will have to bump him to next spring, most likely. Otherwise, I am waiting on some bigger interior quotes to come through, and once my new painters are in line with my expectations, I will take a break from painting and sell, sell, sell. LADY is pretty cool. She has a son who's older than me, and she genuinely enjoys painting. She's worked for some of the better companies in the area, and they treated her like shit. With me she has a chance to build a female-friendly company environment the way she wants, and I think that will encourage my other new hires to be hell of classy. It is a step in the right direction for my company, I think. On easy exterior work she busts her ass and will beat most hours budgets. Once things get trucking I will give her a substantial raise. I have another new painter, GRAF WIX. He's also well older than me, and was running his own small-time company that just did interiors. He has a crazy eye for detail and as such has booked some massive, high-profile interior jobs. I have insurance and an official company setup, so it looks like I will just straight up absorb his company. He seems happy to hand stuff over to me for a commission. I "lent" him my insurance in the form of allowing him to be my subcontractor for a nice Time + Materials job he booked for himself, and as thanks he threw me a quote that turned out to be very large. (I don't know whether it will be booked for sure yet, but it seems likely.) GRAF WIX hasn't actually done any work for me yet, and I think the only problem with him will be that he will go over hour budgets on the side of caution in some cases. I will manage that over the next two weeks. I finished the day up $2840.
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GOOGLE ENGRISH

[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:02 am]

LOL at this Google Docs error screen!

http://docs.google.com/DocAction?action=errorhelp&err=dnwd_misc&errMsg=Sorry%2C+that+file+is+corrupt%2C+or+an+unknown+format.

We were unable to download this document because of this error:

Sorry, that file is corrupt, or an unknown format

This error message comes from the converter we're using, and hopefully tells you what you need to know to fix the problem.

If not, and you have the desktop word processor installed on this computer, there are another other easy way to download the document:

Using the Clipboard

Open the document in Google Docs.
Type Ctrl-A to select the contents of the entire document.
Type Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard.
In the desktop word processor, create a new document.
Type Ctrl-V to paste it in.

You should now have the document open in the desktop word processor.

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GUHHHHH	[Sep. 16th, 2009\|05:10 pm]
SSSNAKESSS called and I fired him. It feels shitty to fire someone whom you know depends on your money, but that's business.
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NMBBBVBVBVBV

[Sep. 16th, 2009|04:03 pm]

LEGENDARY day.

At the last minute, M J and I rearranged our schedules so that he would take my place in London working on a big job for CRAZY EDDIE (whose business is kicking ASS, by the way). So I was left with a hole in my schedule. As luck would have it, I got a referral quote for some window cleaning. Since M J was busy and I couldn't hand it off to him, I bumped my painting work ahead and offered to quote the job this morning with the option of producing it immediately if they liked the price.

They liked the price, so I got to work. I cleaned the insides first and had a great, long chat with the clients. Then I went and started cleaning the outsides.

I was on a ladder at the front of the house, and just happened to look down and to my left. Guess who I saw, about 4m away, walking in the side yard next door?!?!?

BIG BOB! BIG fucking BOB, who just took a bath on buying my red Tacoma back from me as a result of our failed franchise deal, got an eyeful of my shiny new green Tacoma sitting in the driveway next door. With ladders stacked on it in the exact configuration his trucks use. Somehow he didn't see me. I bet he thought it was M J, whom he'd recently found out had started a competing window cleaning company.

I saw him first and got the hell down off the ladder with my heart racing. I hid around the side of the house until he'd left, but I knew his anger and curiosity would bring him back. I just needed some time to get my story straight.

The first thing I did was inform my current client of some of the backstory. She agreed to keep a lookout for him.

Sure enough, when I was cleaning the window right beside the front door, I saw BIG BOB's truck reflected in it. My client was right at the door, giving the evil eye to what was effectively a competitor's vehicle blocking her driveway. BIG BOB realized it was me and not M J, and started calling my name. I composed myself for 3 seconds, put a smile on my face, and prepared to bring the fucking pain if necessary.

SOFAHEAD: "Oh, hi BIG BOB!"

BIG BOB: "So, you made me buy your Tacoma, then you bought one again, and now you're washing windows?!?"

SH: "No BIG BOB, I bought my painting van. This is my vehicle, but I bought it with a loan from my old trading partner 'cause I needed something to serve my commercial window cleaning clients with."

BB, ignoring what I said: "Are you working for M J?"

SH: "No way! This is my vehicle! I was as surprised to hear about his business as you were!"

BB, ignoring me again and calling D-CASS on his cell: "D-CASS? We have some new competition. SOFAHEAD is a window washer. And he's using a Tacoma."

SH: "OK, BIG BOB, but I'd like to explain--"

BB: "See you later!"

He started driving off and I turned to go, but he went around the cul-de-sac and yelled back to me:

BB: "Oh yeah, you can forget about getting any more painting referrals from my [main company]!"

He drove off. I felt so fucking EXHILARATED. I had a laugh with my client.

15 minutes later, I got a call from D-CASS. He wanted a rational explanation, and he came to the right person, because he wasn't going to get it from BIG BOB. I explained to him that my new Tacoma was a separate business deal funded by my old trading partner (I had DAVYPMAN in mind for this story) and that it wasn't part of my original plan to extricate myself from the main company, but that's how it happened. He asked if I planned to advertise my branch of the window cleaning company and if I planned to be a direct competitor. I told him window cleaning was only one of a whole mess of services I still offered, and probably wouldn't make up more than 5% of my business-- I planned on advertising as a painting company with related services. He asked me if I was working with M J and I told him I wasn't, and that I'd talked to M J and gained the understanding that he'd kept his company secret from me because he knew I was on such friendly terms with the main company. He confided to me that BIG BOB was reacting emotionally and that he was still bent out of shape over discovering that M J, once his friend, was now competing with him aggressively. I told him I still planned to honour the agreement I'd made with the main company, including remitting commissions, and that I understood if BIG BOB was hurt, but that it wasn't my intention. D-CASS assured me that our agreement was still intact as long as I didn't plan to compete with them directly. I finished our conversation saying, "I don't intend to make an enemy out of you or anyone, because I get more business being on good terms." D-CASS understood.

I talked with M J afterward and we worked out that to the main company's knowledge, we will not be in cahoots for some time. If they pry, I will reluctantly admit that if I am in a bind, I subcontract some of my window cleaning work out to M J, and not to the main company simply because their rates are so much higher than mine.

I did the smart thing and opted NOT to underquote BIG BOB for the job he quoted next door to my client. However, my client enjoyed the story of the cutthroat Ontario window cleaning industry as it unfolded on her driveway. She witnessed first-hand my professionalism and BIG BOB's lack thereof. Then she took some of my cards and vowed to give me the window cleaning contract for everyone else on her street. (At least two of those houses' contracts currently belong to the main company.)

Later, I told M J the story. If BIG BOB is this freaked out, it's becase he has reason to fear competition from our end. He told me at a shop barbecue a few months back that his current competition wasn't worth worrying about, but turned to me and said, "Now, if SOFAHEAD ever starts a window cleaning company, *that's* when I'll start worrying."

OMG, I knew my short term pain would pay off, working for the main company and smiling while they screwed me around. It's just nice to get a little payoff and a hint at things to come.

Unrelatedly, I couldn't fire SSSNAKESSS yet. He left my brother's place early yesterday and didn't show up there until noon today. I want to make sure a) the work there is finished and b) he no longer has access to the place, before I deliver the bad news. Just to cover my ass.

I finished the day up $190.

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IUOWCTB	[Sep. 15th, 2009\|05:19 pm]
SSSNAKESSS took off early from my brother's place yesterday, so I can't fire him until tomorrow. I finished the big job that consisted of 18 hours' worth of his work being completely redone by me. I was in the lurch and fixing to finish the exterior painting season on my own, but I got a great hookup from the girl that works at one of my home paint stores, about a really conscientious guy, older than me, whom she's known a few years (he's also her customer), who asked her if anyone was hiring a painter that day. Sold! I put a kijiji recruitment ad up. I asked for a lot, in order to discourage shitheads: personal information (name, address, SIN, contact info); detailed resume; cover letter explaining why you think your skills and abilities make you a good fit for the job; at least three specific references. Here's one of the two (so far) response emails I got. 26 year painter to good a painter to sudmit all your requests sorry for wasting my time Where the hell do you even begin with something like this?!? Obviously it didn't dignify any measure of response, but I'm showing it to everyone. It was even short enough to tweet-- LOLZ! This is totally representative of our (Canadian and American) overblown sense of entitlement, our meatheadedly sorry excuse for a workforce, and our failure to prepare our children to succeed by misguidedly programming them with unfounded high self-esteem at all costs. I cashed the cheque for the big job and they booked about $1500 more work with me, which I can do this season if I have time, or first thing next season. I also helped M J out for a couple hours' work at one of his jobs. Nearly all the money in is flowing out, though. $2500 worth of paint bills (but I'm completely caught up, in that and payroll too). Truck payment on Friday. I'm in OK financial shape, and if only the hell job payment would come in, I'd have something significant to put down on my credit cards too. I finished the day up $3820.
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IUOWEHEWHG	[Sep. 10th, 2009\|09:04 pm]
SSSNAKESSS has been talking back to me and defying my orders on basis of his bullshit "experience". He is close to getting fired. I kicked him off the current high-profile exterior job and sent him to do some retard-simple painting at my brother's rental place. I game him idiot-proof instructions and he still called me to ask what to do while the patchwork was drying. (A painter with 9 days' experience, let alone his claimed 9 years, would have been checking his work, noting slow dry times, and patching more thinly to compensate, then cut in some rooms with paint while waiting the rest of the patchwork dry time.) He can't get over the fact that he has to answer to me, and even though I school him every five minutes on something he's doing laughably wrong, his pride prevents it from even sinking in. I spent the past two days completely redoing the prep work he'd done (and painted over, partly!) and for which he'd been paid for two days. Instead of using the power tools I provided, he limp-wristedly clawed at this house with a long-handled scraper and-- get this-- a 220-grit FINISHING SANDING SPONGE. Toilet paper is about as abrasive. The worst is, he's started talking back to me like I'm the idiot. He had instructions on the lid of his can of primer: "Spot prime bare wood only." I drive up to the jobsite to find him lazily priming over layers of old paint. I asked him what the hell he was priming and he said, "The garage door!" and made a screw face. Then he said an empty "sorry" and finished up. I waited five seconds after he walked away and called him back to prime the three glaring huge spots he missed. Gah. I also sold my old fridge. I finished the day up $60.
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KJWMNBWMN	[Sep. 3rd, 2009\|10:27 pm]
I am very glad my wife will be home on Saturday. I miss her like Hell. Interesting twist to the Hell Job, which I finished up this morning. The contractor, DVD, is kissing my ass. But wait, there's more! Let me first tell you about my day. SSSNAKESSS and SSSON finished up the job for my best customers in the morning while I was at the Hell Job. I made SSSNAKESSS clean a ton of Duration off my 24' ladder... he is too messy. Green and brown oil paint from he'd previously splashed all over my ladders rubbed off on my best customers' sparkly white eavestrough, right over their front door. It was the last straw and I cracked down on him for being so messy. I compared it with my 32' ladder, which I've had for NINE EFFING YEARS and still wasn't as dirty as the ladder he'd been using for the past month. I gotta hand it to him, he is determined to meet my standards. I'll make a high-quality painter out of him yet. His son is extremely slow-- I can do in one hour what he does in a full day-- but his attention to detail is excellent, his learning curve is steep, and his autonomy and common sense about what to do next are developed even better than his dad's. (I blame SSSNAKESSS' deficiency to think for himself on a career of mindless factory work where you're paid to do nothing more than what you're told.) So I see great potential in SSSON, who told me today that he really likes his job and that he wants to do part-time weekends with me all year, and then come back full-time next summer. I can dig it. I booked a small referral job around the corner from my best customers, and I'll be producing it myself Saturday morning before I pick my wife up from the airport. When I got back from doing the quote the painters were just finishing up the work. We pulled away from the job, cheque in hand, at 2:30. We were each given a $20 tip, to boot. This is how I want every job to turn out. I grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Guelph to do some paid finalizing work to the hella tricky job I did all by myself in June. This job was the one next door to DVD. I was on the phone with M J, painting the front door, when I overheard MRS. DVD telling her kids, "That's SOFAHEAD, he painted our house too." I jumped down off the ladder and offered immediately to do some touchups DVD had mentioned. So when DVD came home, he found me painting his house. He shot the shit with me a little awkwardly, as if I'd never tried to bail out on his Hell Job. His wife came outside and we were all talking. Almost as an afterthought I mentioned I'd finished up the Hell Job that morning, and he thanked me. I kept it classy and didn't mention money once. I think I have mended this fence. When we talk later, though, I will assert that I don't want to do any more work for him if all he's going to give me are underpaying Hell Jobs. One more interesting thing. I got an email from D-CASS this morning regarding my meeting at the local Toyota dealership with BIG BOB next Tuesday-- the meeting where I sign a piece of paper and am thenceforth completely free of the main company. The email said, "FYI-- BIG BOB is kind of angry at the kilometre overages and the condition of the truck, and wants you to pay half the [$400] transfer fees." I thanked D-CASS for the heads up. Now I know that I DEFINITELY can't drive to the dealership on Tuesday-- it would be taken as an act of war by BIG BOB, and knowing BIG BOB, he'd have a hissy fit and try to call off our deal. So I'll bike over, sign the papers, and then, when he asks for money, I'll be classy and convivial about it, but I WILL FINALLY GIVE HIM AND HIS COMPANY A PIECE OF SOFAHEAD'S EFFING MIND. I finished the day up $2800.
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