I get a sick twisted thrill

[Maggot]

Calling people and telling them I have their jobs held hostage until they pay what's owed from the past 90 days. They say stuff like "I have a crew going Tuesday" and " I 've had some setbacks since we talked last" I reply with "Got a credit card?'

[QueenBee]

Definitely sick and twisted. But that is what adds to your charm.

[sally]

I know that feeling.

[crash]

Early last year I had a company owe me quite a bit for some work I did for them. I chased them for about three months and in the end I just gave up. I hate chasing money. I just wrote it off as a bad debt at tax time. About two months ago they rang because they had an urgent issue with a pretty specialised piece of equipment that nobody could give them an answer for. They got in contact with me and I almost laughed. They guy says "Oh we'll pay the bill right now, even though you were ripping us off". I think to myself, sheesh, way to smooth someone over. I told them I wouldn't be lifting a finger in their direction until the money was in my account.

Next morning, invoice is paid in full. The guy rings me and says when can you be at the airport, we'll send a plane. I say "Oh, in about 10 months." He gets all pissy and starts yelling down the phone. I say "Hey asshole, now you know what it feels like to be fucked over, not much fun is it?"

I never did hear how that all ended up, but I know they had a major shutdown..

[sally]

Our commercial jobs always pay even though they take their sweet ass time. It's mostly the small residential customers that try to fuck you. I had this old lady tell me she broke both of her hips and she's sorry but she has bigger fish to fry now. When I told her I'm going to have to put a construction lien on the property she said "you do whatever you need to do honey, I have to go now" and hung the phone up on me. I looked it up and she owns the fucking house so even if I put a lien on it nothing is going to come out of it until the old bat dies or tries to sell it, and even then the expense of filing the paperwork exceeds the amount of the job. So that was another old lady freebie. We get fucked by more old ladies than anything.

[crash]

When you call a plumber or an electrician or just about any other kind of tradie to your house here nowadays, they will look at the job, give you an estimate and you swipe your card on the spot. No pay, no work.

[Maggot]

As an ex- pot dealer I think that's fantastic. I have a customer that last year, he spent around 800,000 dollars, everything on a black credit card. He wears pointy shoes though.

[sally]

Our credit card is on file with the suppliers of course, they don't deliver anymore materials until the last bill is paid. But as far as the contractor getting full payment before the work is complete, that is unheard of here. Everything is either a deposit for the larger jobs and paid upon completion for the smaller. Most people are normal and just pay you, but you always get a dick head out of the bunch. My job is to track them and listen to their bullshit.

[Maggot]

Our credit card is on file with the suppliers of course, they don't deliver anymore materials until the last bill is paid. But as far as the contractor getting full payment before the work is complete, that is unheard of here. Everything is either a deposit for the larger jobs and paid upon completion for the smaller. Most people are normal and just pay you, but you always get a dick head out of the bunch. My job is to track them and listen to their bullshit.

The stories I could tell. I bet you have more than you can remember. Its like stepping into a viper pit with viper sperm smeared on your ankles sometimes.

[blueberryhill]

Your experiences remind me of some renters I had way back in Rapid City, S.D. I bought a really old home and had three rental units from one single family home. You wouldn't believe the excuses for not paying rent, sneaking out in middle of night and taking furnishings from the one furnished unit, having pets, puppies and everything else that wasn't allowed in the lease. I had one man who lived alone and was on disability because of alcoholism. Of course I didn't know this at time of the signing of rental agreement. He went several months without paying rent and I didn't want to go through process of eviction. I called Social Security office and advised them that he spent all of his paycheck on alcohol at 1^st of month and never had money for rent. They told me they couldn't control how he spent his money. I suggested they might want to ensure he paid monthly bills, especially rent, since they were enabling him to keep being alcoholic and weren't helping him (you'd think he would have been working with some social worker re his disability). So. to the Government's way of thinking it was up to him whether he wanted to pay rent, buy alcohol, or whatever. Thirty years later, nothing much as changed as far as the efficiency of our Government. This is not a political statement, just a fact of life in the USA. Sigh deeply!

[Duchess]

There was a time that one could file complaints with the horsemens association for unpaid bills and you wouldn't be able to get your horse in to race, that was a very good deterrent but I think that may have been discontinued, I don't actually know for sure, it's been a long time since I was involved in that aspect of it.