Bites me again!

[SuperBuickGuy]

Why is it that every single flipping time I really help someone out without charge or drastically reduced charge; they seem to think that I need to do more for them?!!! I just got a note from someone I did work for (for free) who now thinks I owe them $64.00 for the filing of the thing I did for them.... I would never mention that I helped them avoid a 10,000 judgment.... $64.00 and they want me to pay it.... grrrrrr

anyway, my rant is over - has anyone else been made a chump by someone you did a favor for? care to share?

[Weldangrind]

Re: Bites me again!

Sorry to hear about that.

I once had a neighbourhood goof who was no longer allowed to borrow my tools because he never returned them, or he broke them. He waited until I went out of town, then he borrowed my Shop Vac from my wife (who couldn't bring herself to say no). He subsequently used it to clean out his dishwasher after the pump quit.

I had no idea. About a month later, I went to clean out my Shop Vac, and found it full of compost. :P He failed to clean out the dirt that was already in the canister before he began, he failed to remove the dry filter and he failed to clean the canister when he was finished. He is the type that takes and takes, without ever giving or being thankful. I'm glad that he moved away.

[jays67]

Re: Bites me again!

Yep happens here too.
my buddy who is like a brother I help all the tim he ask me to do a rear end for him I said ya then he says it is for a friend of his
I told him a price and he was like "but it is for me as a favor"
I told him I am doing it as a favor this is the price and he could not figure out why I was charging him
worst is I was asking stupid cheap labor price
some people don't get it

[Thumpin455]

Re: Bites me again!

You are not alone. The ex's idiot brother was one of the worst. I rebuilt two transmissions for him, one twice because he was to stupid to fill the thing before he hopped in it and floored the gas. The second one my ex goaded me into driving 90 miles in the middle of the night, stuffing TH400 parts I had already built for one of my tranys with the 6 disc clutches into his truck and getting it running. I told him the cost of being able to use my parts and me driving 180 miles and staying up all night was I got the entire trans back and I wanted the 454 when he scrapped the truck. He sold it to some other guy and stiffed me on it.

Prior to that I picked up a 76 Gran Prix, nice car had a strong running 350 in it, nice interior and a decent set of tires. I was going to use it as a driver and a work car. He calls and says his car is broke and he doesnt know what to do, the ex says he can borrow the GP. He comes over and gets it, I get home from work and tell him it has to be back in two weeks. Two months later I get a call from my bud who lives near where this idiot was working. My bud tells me he tried to sell him the wheels and seats from the GP and that he is parting the car. I hitch up the trailer and drive out there, I find it with a torn up pass side quarter, a shattered windshield, missing the drivers glass, one bald tire and one rim bent from him driving on it with the exploded tire, and 4 bent pushrods. He threatened to call the cops and tell them I was stealing his car, and that he had parts sold off it and the kid was coming to get them. I said call the cops, I have the title, bill of sale, and you have wrecked a perfectly good car the ex LOANED you.

Their spawn of satan mother let him live in my house when I went back to the USAF in 2000, and according to her since I had base housing he didnt need to pay rent. I couldnt rent it to anyone else because he was in it, I had to go home on leave and evict his ass. I found the house with broken windows, holes in the wall, dog piss and shit everywhere, the carpets were torn up, and he stole the fridge and new oven I bought before I left. He also stole a bunch of tools and car parts I had, including a roll away, because he said I took the carb off his truck while I was in South Carolina.

The ex and her entire family feel that the world owes them just because they exist. They think they are entitled to whatever they want and they have no problem with using people or even stealing from them. To call them a waste of skin and oxygen is being incredibly gracious.

There have been others but few as grievous as that family.

[Weldangrind]

Re: Bites me again!

You win Todd. :o

[Runner1972]

Re: Bites me again!

You win Todd. :o

Yeah, that's pretty much a royal screw over.

Anyway,
The last time I did work on a car was a ex friend's 74 Nova, that thing needed to be put back into the field it came from . Instead of him trying to do some work on it, I did most of it including a tune up on it. It was all simple stuff and I'm doing all the work?

After that tune-up, he would just show up expecting stuff to be fixed, I can only be nice for so long.

The final straw was the night he showed up to my house at midnight cause the throttle spring snapped after he went to see his girlfriend, that broke the fat chicks back and I told him to get lost and lose my number. Didn't see him for a long time till he showed up at my job looking for me to fix another car he bought with the money of the said Nova he sold.

[ch1ll]

Re: Bites me again!

ahh thumper? all this happened before she was your ex? right?

[tcbnj]

Re: Bites me again!

You are not alone. The ex's idiot brother was one of the worst. ....There have been others but few as grievous as that family.

I don't think I will ever complain about in-laws again. For me , this tale is a new low in humanity

[Abrasive]

Re: Bites me again!

No where near as bad as the ones above, but I had a kid ask me to do some wiring in his car for him. Wanted some gauges installed and some other misc wiring tidied up. He is one of those guys that I just never clicked with, but I knew he didn't have the know how and didn't have a lot of money, so I agreed to help him out. He showed up with a friend of his, very nice young lady who was very polite.

A few hours later, after I was finished and just making sure everything worked, I notice some sort of fuss going on with the guy and the girl he brought. They were standing over by a good friend of mine that had just come over that day to hang out. I also noticed the guy I did the work for had some money in his hand. After a few minutes, he came over and handed me a 10 dollar bill. It was cool, I wasn't expecting anything, but the fuss still had me bothered. I pulled my buddy who was over by them to the side and asked him if this guy had borrowed the ten from the girl. If he had, I was going to give it back to her. My buddy said, "No, he was trying to get her to break it." LOL! Now granted, I was doing it for nothing, but the fact that he didn't think 3-4 hours worth of wiring wasn't worth the full ten bucks bothered me.

Still bothers me every time I think about it. I don't cut him any slack anymore. When he asks for help now, I shoot him a price I can live with. He either gets it done or he doesn't.

[meatwagon]

Re: Bites me again!

Who parts out a borrowed car? That punk deserved a reality check, gratis

[Barry Donovan]

Re: Bites me again!

I was chump for years... it took law and god to stop a retarded parent (true story).

I did learn some more along the way.

never have a project near a broke group of "friends" claiming they can help. It is very simple.

Even my own brother did something outrageous, when on a drinking binge...

so this rules out broke, and drunks, "stuck head" dads... no matter what deal could be conjured.

bye bye family. #1 lesson... "get out bro!"

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Bites me again!

Not sure how to phrase this without sounding like a total dick, but anyone who manages people for a living can probably relate.

The employee who is guaranteed to bite you in the ass at the worst possible moment is the guy who you've "bent the rules" for or given him or her slack out of sympathy or some other reason.

That's the guy who, when you need him for something will be nowhere to be found or he's the guy that when crunch time hits and you're expecting him to step up as thanks for your generosity walks out the door.

Made too many of those mistakes when I first started managing people at 23 years old. Lesson learned. Everyone has to play by the book.

Brian

[Thumpin455]

Re: Bites me again!

Not sure how to phrase this without sounding like a total dick, but anyone who manages people for a living can probably relate.

The employee who is guaranteed to bite you in the ass at the worst possible moment is the guy who you've "bent the rules" for or given him or her slack out of sympathy or some other reason.

That's the guy who, when you need him for something will be nowhere to be found or he's the guy that when crunch time hits and you're expecting him to step up as thanks for your generosity walks out the door.

Made too many of those mistakes when I first started managing people at 23 years old. Lesson learned. Everyone has to play by the book.

Brian

Brian you hit the nail on the head when it comes to managers and supervisors. The worst Airmen I had did exactly that, and they found themselves having 'remedial training' quite often. Some people just dont get it, some figure it out quick.

I am a generous type guy, I will help people out if they need it and often for nothing. Its just how I am, easy going and its not usually a big thing to me. However if I do something for someone I kinda expect to have a favor returned, but usually its helping me move a couch, not anything like moving a body. That gets me in trouble with the very select few who are prone to taking advantage of generosity. Not all do, but a few have surprised me.

First one was a kid who said he would buy my 72 GTO for $600. He came out to the farm with a friend of mine, picked up the car and left a note saying he would pay me tomorrow. I bought a 76 Gran Torino 4 door from his dad for a whopping $60 cash, and pulled it home so it was mine free and clear, but I had not yet received any money from the kid. The same bud who told me about my idiot brother in law, happened to be the guy this asshat sold the wheels from my GTO. This is before I actually met my bud, and he is one of the people who I would trust my life to and if he needs any car parts that I have he knows where to get them, but that is another story. I ended up repossessing the GTO with the entire front end missing, a 350 Pontiac stuck in it with all sorts of problems, and he shot a red tailed hawk and since it didnt die he put it in the car for a while. Wounded hawks are unfond of being kept in old Pontiacs.

My bud who seems to be watching my back all the time is named Ray. He is a Master Tech in both cars and trucks, and he won an ASE award last year and they flew him to Texas for the ceremony. Ray has been my best bud since I was 16, he is definitely the kind of guy you want on your side, since he isnt nearly as generous as I am, nor as forgiving. If you earn Ray's trust he will bend over backwards for you, but trust lost takes a long time to recover, if at all. For all the shitheads I have dealt with over the years, I have had 3 friends like Ray. People like him help me keep some faith in humanity. He still wont give me back the original Rally II wheels to my GTO though.. Its fair on his end, its the other kid who still owes me. If you have any extra 59 Chevy stuff laying around let me know, Ray is into those winged monsters in a big way, I need to do something special for him here shortly.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Bites me again!

gee , sounds like another day in my house

[Woodward_Dreams]

Re: Bites me again!

You are not alone. The ex's idiot brother was one of the worst. I rebuilt two transmissions for him, one twice because he was to stupid to fill the thing before he hopped in it and floored the gas. The second one my ex goaded me into driving 90 miles in the middle of the night, stuffing TH400 parts I had already built for one of my tranys with the 6 disc clutches into his truck and getting it running. I told him the cost of being able to use my parts and me driving 180 miles and staying up all night was I got the entire trans back and I wanted the 454 when he scrapped the truck. He sold it to some other guy and stiffed me on it.

Prior to that I picked up a 76 Gran Prix, nice car had a strong running 350 in it, nice interior and a decent set of tires. I was going to use it as a driver and a work car. He calls and says his car is broke and he doesnt know what to do, the ex says he can borrow the GP. He comes over and gets it, I get home from work and tell him it has to be back in two weeks. Two months later I get a call from my bud who lives near where this idiot was working. My bud tells me he tried to sell him the wheels and seats from the GP and that he is parting the car. I hitch up the trailer and drive out there, I find it with a torn up pass side quarter, a shattered windshield, missing the drivers glass, one bald tire and one rim bent from him driving on it with the exploded tire, and 4 bent pushrods. He threatened to call the cops and tell them I was stealing his car, and that he had parts sold off it and the kid was coming to get them. I said call the cops, I have the title, bill of sale, and you have wrecked a perfectly good car the ex LOANED you.

Their spawn of satan mother let him live in my house when I went back to the USAF in 2000, and according to her since I had base housing he didnt need to pay rent. I couldnt rent it to anyone else because he was in it, I had to go home on leave and evict his ass. I found the house with broken windows, holes in the wall, dog piss and shit everywhere, the carpets were torn up, and he stole the fridge and new oven I bought before I left. He also stole a bunch of tools and car parts I had, including a roll away, because he said I took the carb off his truck while I was in South Carolina.

The ex and her entire family feel that the world owes them just because they exist. They think they are entitled to whatever they want and they have no problem with using people or even stealing from them. To call them a waste of skin and oxygen is being incredibly gracious.

There have been others but few as grievous as that family.

Holy!