# Are you serious?



## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

I run a lumber mill and sometimes cut for other people.The majority are good people and i help them out.But every month or so i get a complete pain in the ass.They want theyre logs cut next to free and they want all my customers phone numbers so they can sell them the wood?I usually offer them my bank card and keys to house to get a reaction.They just dont get it some people are mentally off..


----------



## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

You should keep a list of phone numbers for adult chat lines. If they ask for your customer's numbers, pass the list on.


----------



## SuperCubber (Feb 23, 2012)

Ed's got the right idea.


----------



## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

thats a good one Ed sometimes they will even ask if i can sticker and dry the wood for free also.


----------



## Gshepherd (May 16, 2012)

I know what your mean, I own a Wood Moulding and Millwork biz and I do get some SPONGES I call them every once in a while. Recently had a guy pull up in a new Escalade and he told me he could not get this 6ft piece of trim at the box store and wanted me to make it for him. I was only going to charge him 30.00 and that is cheap cause it was some pencil moulding and it would have taken close to a hr to set up the moulder and run a few test pieces… He figured it would be around 45 cents a foot. Price of 3/4 round at the box store. He left empty handed. Not exactly the same but someone wanting something for nothing on my dime.


----------



## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

> thats a good one Ed sometimes they will even ask if i can sticker and dry the wood for free also.
> 
> - Joseph Jossem


"Sure can, it just won't be your wood anymore."


----------



## Stefflus (Jun 2, 2013)

The nerve of some people.. -phone numbers!? jeez.

I've had a quite a few of the type that drops by the shop just to get something planed or cut, and when they get the piece in their hands they turn on their heels and vanish. No "thank you", nothing.
One of these was a recurring pestolence, until one day when he came through the door with a 1 hour project instead of the typical 5min. His look was priceless when presented with the 100$ cost of labour, and I've never seen him again


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

That's the equivalent of bringing your own food into a restaurant ,or going to a car dealership and trying to sell your car to customers on their lot.


----------



## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Lately I have been doing studio recordings for young guitarists that want to go farther on the way to stardom. 
I have been charging $50 up front and $30 for a one hour session. 
I supply backing tracks, amplifiers, cords, and even instruments when things go wrong.

When the session is over I make a CD in mp3 format with those raw recordings and for another $500 will edit and mix the music and try to make it sound as good as I can.

It happens that sometimes the artist is SO bad that nothing I do will make them sound acceptable, or even in tune…. I would need $10K to $20K more equipment to manipulate some of those sounds.
(I can use a really good recoding studio and make a recording of a person saying one letter and turn it into the "Poet and Peasant Overture!").

It's amazing that somepeople have no idea how bad they sound and want their money back because I didn't make them sound like Metallica, Roy Orbison,George Harrison or Hank Williams.

The contract they sign states that there are no refunds although I have been taken to small claims court twice. Each time I played the original raw recording and the judge asked the plaintiff if that was them. Once the judge asked them to bring in a guitar or other instrument and play. Both times I won the case.

All of this to say, make sure you have more than a verbal agreement. At the very least make a written agreement. Better yet, draw up a standard contract, have your attorney look at it, and go from there!


----------



## longgone (May 5, 2009)

> I run a lumber mill and sometimes cut for other people.The majority are good people and i help them out.But every month or so i get a complete pain in the ass.They want theyre logs cut next to free and they want all my customers phone numbers so they can sell them the wood?I usually offer them my bank card and keys to house to get a reaction.They just dont get it some people are mentally off..
> 
> - Joseph Jossem


You need a separate pricing system for the complete pain in the ass people. Only way they will learn


----------



## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

They think that you don't know what you are doing. They measure every board I cut to see if it's the right thickness. I tell them how much I have cut, they still doubt it. Ugh.


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

There is a Molding shop down in El Paso I go to once in a awhile, closet place to buy lumber. Every time I go in there I ask if they sell Molding, the first time I asked the lady behind the counter started laughing and then cussed me in Spanish. I give her crap every time I go in there. Next time I am asking for her customers numbers. I might get a beating but it will be worth it, I am prepared though I know more Spanish cuss words now.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Not [email protected], but same type. Customers had to know of me to get me. Guy called me when I did not even have business phone number in the phone book or online. He wanted a new service panel in his house. I told him I did not do residential, only commercial and industrial motor and control work. Being a bit curious I asked how he got my number and why he called. He said he got it off the state department of L&I electrical contractors list. I asked why he didn't call people with ads for residential? He told me their prices were too high.

Being a bit curious about what made this guy tick, I talked to him for a bit as it was in the evening. I had no idea why he even thought any business would be answering the phone that time of day. He told me he was an executive who saved companies that were going bankrupt. He made tons of money and drove a Lexus. He did not tell me why he could afford to pay a reasonable price for electrical work, just that it was too much.

He continued to insist I give him a price for his job. I told him I drove a Ford Super Duty Diesel and if he could not afford residential electricians, he couldn't afford me ;-))


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Another one that I always had a standard answer for: "Do you do side jobs?"

"I am self employed. Every job I do is a side job."


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Side job means no Permits and cheap in my town.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Only guys living in an apartment driving a junker can afford to take that chance! Lots of fools do it for a few extra bucks.


----------



## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

As a high school sports photographer, I have had numerous requests for free photos of athletes so they can be used in their:
school yearbook or
their high school football web site or
magazine

Geesh.
Every one was sent on their way except for two magazine editors that did not ask for free and dutifully paid a license fee for each photo…and they sent me complimentary copies of the magazines.

Some are nuts; some know what they are supposed to do.


----------



## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

> Only guys living in an apartment driving a junker can afford to take that chance! Lots of fools do it for a few extra bucks.
> 
> - TopamaxSurvivor


There are very few Inspectors in town so it is pretty easy to slide around here. If worse comes to worse someone knows someone that can fix it for you. It's pretty much a given around here. It's the Codes Enforcement guys you have to worry about, they will beat you down if your weeds are too high.

Bill


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

My reference was more towards civil or criminal liability in case of fire or wrongful death. Guys without a conscience and nothing to lose can pretty well do what ever they darn well please.


----------



## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

I had to look up your location to see if you could bring your sawmill to my site for some cheap sawing. The
transportation cost to get your mill to you should make most intelligent people realize that you can not
work for free, but no one said that freeloaders are intelligent. At least you have a nice climate to work in,
I visited there when my youngest son came back from Iraq, but I like my Montana mountains too much to
want to stay. If you speak a second language, you could do what a local contractor did, when someone
started talking ridiculous, suddenly all he could speak was Norwegian until they gave up and left him alone.


----------



## KevinL (Sep 14, 2014)

I'm an Instructor at a community college that teaches Tool & Die. You would not even begin to know how many folks want to bring a project in for the students to do….....This could range from wanting something printed on the 3D printer to a mold for fishing worms, to…...well you get the point. I do take on some things, but for the most part I have to say no thanks. I'm more than happy to guide them to one of my advisory board memebers that hire our students but for the most part it's someone trying to get it for nothing.


----------



## woodbutcherbynight (Oct 21, 2011)

I liked the idea of adult site phone numbers and would also suggest as many political party numbers as well. No need to be picky any party affiliation will do, even the Communist Party is acceptable. (laughing)


----------

