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self employment.


yinz n'at

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ive been self employed now for about 7 months. i get a decent amount of work, at least enough to cover the bills so life was good.

 

the past 3 days i took off, just measuring and quoting gigs.. what happened before that is enough to strangle yourself.

 

i had a big sign painting job which was all painted in my studio and installed afterwards on site. it was passed down to me with the bid already done, all specs covered, and a contract signed. sounds like smooth sailing right?

 

i get a rush request put on everything. i got a maximum of 10 days before the place opened and there were 14 signs to be painted as well as me hiring a vinyl guy to do the menus for the inside of the spot. it didnt help it is on some hot corner in the middle of the straight hood. they pay cash which is nice but we will get to that later. i spent 14-18 hours a day in the studio with my homey working on this job.. drinking a little, mad good tree aderol etc etc etc it was fun painting the signs and they looked fucking rediculously awesome. i take them to install and the people are fucking assholes. complain about everything in an effort to get it for free. im mad cool and take everything in stride. install 10 of the signs, the majority are small ones so its easy and goes mad quick. when we get on the boom lift to install the 8x14 foot ones the wind is going 35 mph so we leave and come back.. the sign fixture broke during the night that was already there and it was illegal as shit and dangerous for us to put em in and all hell broke loose. i hired someone who didnt care to put em and now 3 days later they dont want to pay. i am owed about 2000 and have to pay 3 other people so my 136 hours in 10 days is a huge bust and i may have to go to court...

 

though

 

this place has no building license and is now open for business and has no health code stickers so i assume it shut down pretty easily.

 

do i threaten them with that to get my money

 

wait for the dough

 

or wait for the dough then get it shut down?

 

the whole situations fucking blows and it burnt me the fuck out.. anyone else self employed and been fucked over? ive done 50 other jobs and never been burned im fucking pissed

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Don't shut them down, fuck that. Let them be the assholes, but definitely take that shit to court, take pictures as proof of your install, etc...

 

I'm guessing since you said it was supposed to be cash payment that there wasn't a contract... you definitely need to be getting a contract on ANYTHING, if somebody doesn't want to sign one its a major red flag on the likelihood of them paying you. If you don't have paperwork on it its going to be much harder proving the shit in court, but the fact that the work is done might be proof enough to at least recover some of your money.

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there is a contract and i have receipts i wrote them for the deposit and supplies

 

dont want to go to court though i would win but its such a hassle

 

 

Good thing you got the contract. I might even go in there and give them a few options on it:

 

1) Pay me $2000.

2) I take you to court and you pay me the $2000 and court fees.

3) Or I just say fuck it and get you shut down.

 

I'm guessing they'd pick option one.

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there is a contract and i have receipts i wrote them for the deposit and supplies

 

dont want to go to court though i would win but its such a hassle

 

yea i mean your covered then but fuck small claims court its SUCH a hassle like you said, who wants to pay OVER 2k and all that time just to get 2k... i would go there and be polite one more time and bring your paper work, if they dont bite then you let them know they have skeletons and it would be a shame all this great work went down the tubes because they didnt want to make good on paying for work completed...

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im thinking about bringing a law student friend there in a suit and have him go over the contract with them as my lawyer and have lawsuit papers accompanying them, im also in a better mood painting in the studio though

 

eeh, a lawyer would not go to a site ever unless the lawyer is scratch, phone calls always, that would be suspect

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Good thing you got the contract. I might even go in there and give them a few options on it:

 

1) Pay me $2000.

2) I take you to court and you pay me the $2000 and court fees.

3) Or I just say fuck it and get you shut down.

 

I'm guessing they'd pick option one.

 

True. Im usually one though to let those being shady dig their own graves. Reaping what you sow could suck later. You gotta do something though to get your money. If your easy going and think its not worth the hassel and it was only you doing the job Id say fine but you gotta pay people. Theyre not just fucking with your finances theyre messing with those you owe for the help.

 

Sleep on it. Think it over. Be tactful with your words so that you give them a feeling of dominance over them. Id even have a friend fake a city worker and have him come with you and be like "pay the man" and well forget about this..

 

:edit: you know what fuck the games. You shouldnt have to go around things. Go and get your money or shut them down. Even if they get shut down they still owe you either way theyre fucked. Bad business people shouldnt be in business.

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I'm not gonna say you should get them shut down but I would definitely use it as leverage. Go take a bunch of photos of the place being open without permits, though.

 

Oh yeah, make sure to tell them that you let everyone in the hood know that they don't take care of working class people like you..."See all those signs? I made those and now they won't pay me...do you really want to give them your business?"

 

Or just get a hold of Earl's cousin. That will fuck any restaurant as surely as God made green grass.

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i opened that thread and lol'd the place used to be a kfc and that got shut down cause they couldnt keep rats out.. i put a sign in by digging 14 inches down and sticking a post in a cinderblock... that we got from a knock down burnt out house behind it, shit was hood and looks mad official

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there's a radio show in the bay that takes calls from 12pm-1pm M-F, and Sunday for 3 hours and dispenses free legal advice. listen to the show, call in, and explain the whole thug thizzelle. He'll tell you what your options are, such as whether it's worth hiring a lawyer or if its better to just handle it yourself or...? i listen at work from time to time, he handles every dispute under the sun.

 

http://lentillem.com/

 

http://www.kgoradio.com/sectional.asp?id=25969

 

thumb_Len_tillem.jpg

 

and if you do this, definitely let me know. i'll wanna be tuned in.

 

 

...or just ask earl. he's a lawyer, right?

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Some one tried this shit with me a few years ago. I did some graphic work for this fashion line. I kept getting the crazy run around. Things like, 'our factor hasn't sent the money', or 'the LC didn't go through'. Blah, blah.... I finally had a lawyer make a phone call. I had a check by the end of the week. No one wants to deal with court it's such a hassle.

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giving them the shits over their health and saftey is a good way to get your money.

i dunno how it works where you are but i'm guessing that you have to pay for court and lawyers an shit.

i work for a self employed man with a small business, and work closely with others in the same boat.

we live in a town with about a population of 180,000. in certain hoods, there are certain people. these people have big fists for hire. they'll usually take about 20%-30% of what you're owe to give the person holding the money a good fuckin' kick-in...

however it's usually easier to give the poofter with the large house and bank account a swipe across the jaw with a hammer yourself.

 

in future i would reccomend drafting up a contract, for every job, no matter how small, getting you and the customer to sign it. with a witness. and not drinking or smoking on the job. if i ever tried that, i'd be the one gettin' battered left right and centre.

also. from about 3 and a half years of experience, i've come across a good few customers sounding exactly like what you've described. fuckin' arseholes who'll pick at every little thing to knock money off their final bill.

unless you've really taken the piss and overcharged these dildos by a great deal, they shouldn't have a leg to stand on.

(especially if you cut it off to claim your hard earned money)

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My dude, I was raised up to be self employed. I've seen this shit 100's of times. I had it happen to me this summer for 15000. Stay on top of them! remind them daily if you have too. If you have to do some minor free-bee do it..............nothing over the top just enough to get that cash. Now one thing a lot of people don't know when it comes to small business is that a lot of times it is not worth going to court over small amounts of money. Lost time,lawyer,wages etc; you gotta eat it some times, i know al ot of you are americans and suing is the norm but in canada its not as easy. Now if you are not a registered business that PAYS TAXES and or this agreement is for cash, you are pretty much fucked. Please stay on them reminding people that you are a hard working guy that kept up your end of the bargain is always good, and then use the leverage of heath and safety...............but they're not making money neither are you!

 

 

 

 

 

I just cemented a christmas tree to some bitch mother fuckers door in the middle of the night durring our work x-mas party.REVVVVEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNGGGGEEE IS SWEEEEEET!

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Sue them. Small claims. It costs like $100 to file a lawsuit in small claims. You can easily do it yourself. Look it up online in your city. Or, get a lawyer, but tell him that your not gonna pay him more than $300.00 or say something like that, just discuss it with some lawyers, you have to get your money man, youll get most of it, but it wont cost $2000 to get $2000 in this type of situation,, Id say itll cost you a maximum of $400. and no time at all, its all paperwork, you dont have to be goijng into court everyday, its mailing a letter, or having it filed and stamped.then they send it to the people that ripped you off, then they have to answer, if they dont, they have to pay, if they dont, they get their wages garnished or bank account frozen and you get your money. OH THEY PAY FOR COSTS, so id and when you win, they have to pay for your filing fees and maybe even attorney fees if you get one.

 

<-----Barak Hussein Obama, harvard grad, profesor, president

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