At one company I worked for, there was a secure site I had to visit from time to time. It was a pain to visit because, before I even arrived, I first had to get written permission from an authorised person on-site, give a date and time when I’d arrive, and potentially be subject to body searches. The person I’d meet would have to come round and escort me. And there were various other restrictions. However, these were the rules for all outsiders with no exceptions, and the company was strict about requiring all staff to ensure that any potential visitors were aware of the rules.

On one visit, I arrived at the gatehouse with all my documentation, etc., in readiness to be escorted through. Ahead of me were two other visitors who were arguing with a security person.

Visitors: “We just want to do [certain physical work]!”

Security: “You need to have an invitation. You can’t come in without authorisation.”

Visitors: “But we’ll be done in twenty minutes, tops!”

Security: *Getting exasperated* “No, you have to get authorisation first. You cannot just turn up!”

That was just a summary of the back-and-forth discussion I overheard.

After a while, some phone calls were made, and someone was willing to give the visitors an authorisation there and then. The person escorting them said pointedly:

Escort: “We can’t do an emergency authorisation every time; you have to get authorisation before you come.”

Some weeks later, I heard that the two visitors had turned up a second time. Once again, they didn’t arrange an appointment and insisted on arguing with gatehouse security. Again, someone gave them emergency authorisation.

However, after they left, the company decided to simply cancel the whole contract. The two visitors had been doing some basic groundwork in advance of the installation of something expensive. The whole contract would have been a major piece of work for the contractor.

It seems senior management, on the basis of the haphazard behaviour of the two visitors doing initial work costing perhaps a few hundred quid, felt it was too much of a risk. The contractor had effectively thrown away a contract worth many millions because they wouldn’t supervise a couple of people doing a couple of quick and simple jobs.

I do real estate photography. I am often flabbergasted by how stubborn some people can be when they are absolutely, categorically wrong — with written evidence — but will not back down and say, “Ah, sorry, you are right.”

For the last month, I have been trying to convince a client she has not paid me. She is convinced that she has because she can see a note in her banking that she initiated an EFT (electronic funds transfer) payment to me. She is ignoring — studiously — my questions about whether she received any confirmation emails, which are always triggered when an EFT is accepted/deposited.

She and I both know she did not receive such an email.

She keeps sending me screenshots of her banking with the debit/credit columns cut off, so I can’t see that there is no debit to her account, but I know there is not one. She has not, however, done a search of her own accounts to confirm that the payment was actually withdrawn — and if she were to do this, she would confirm the payment was initiated but not completed.

I’ve suggested she used a malformed email, but until today, she would not acknowledge that. However, she tells me she sent the payment to an unmonitored email owned by my payment company. I contacted their support via chat, and they replied that there was no way her payment would have reached anyone. They checked my account and confirmed that no payment from her existed. I took a screenshot of that message and sent it to my client.

I don’t know what to do with people who would rather carry on for a month than just do a facepalm, say, “Sorry, that was a dumb move on my part,” and pay up.

I suspect she’s going to continue to refuse to pay me. I provided photography to this client previously about ten years ago and encountered the same issues; she’s very not tech-savvy and tends to go off before doing appropriate checks.

It’s so bloody frustrating for a sub-$200 payment, particularly as the listing I shot for her sold within ten days.

When my elder brother was barely two years old, he already had a reputation for being even more rambunctious than the average little boy. It got to the point that my parents needed to get a fence installed between the back porch and the backyard to keep him from escaping into the yard without supervision and sneaking out into the street from there.

When they contracted someone to build the fence, the work order explicitly said that it needed to be suitable to prevent a child from climbing over it. The work order got signed off, the fence got built, and then Mother got called over to inspect and sign the work off.

Mother took one look at the fence and declared that it was not fit for purpose. It was not childproof. The workmen tried to argue with her that she was mistaken. The foreman swore up and down that the fence would work.

Mother: “[Brother], come here, please!”

My big brother barrelled out of the house, did not even pause for one second to scale the fence in its entirety, and was right at Mom’s feet before a few seconds had gone by.

Brother: “Yes, Mommy?”

The fence was removed.

Related:
Oh, Brother! – Part 8
Oh, Brother! – Part 7
Oh, Brother! – Part 6
Oh, Brother!, Part 5
Oh, Brother! – Part 4

We are a bunch of contractors working for a small machine shop. A walk-in customer has come in asking for a custom part. We run through the details, and he agrees on a cost.

Customer: “What if I needed the part today?”

Coworker: “There’s a rush fee of [total].”

Customer: “That’s fine; just hurry.”

Coworker: “So, that’s [total].”

Customer: “I’ll run to the bank to get the cash. Please just get started as it’s urgent.”

This should be the first red flag, but some customers do pay with cash, so we get started. He comes back and we have the part ready for him, but when he hands over the cash to my coworker…

Coworker: “This is only half the amount.”

Customer: “Yeah, things are tight right now. Just don’t be a d**k about it and I’ll get the rest to you.”

Coworker: “We can’t give you the part unless you pay in full up-front.”

Customer: “My dad gets stuff from you guys and pays you back all the time.”

Coworker: “It’s likely he’s an established client with an earned amount of credit. You’re a walk-in customer we don’t know.”

Customer: “Well, we need to do something because I need the part now. I’ll pay you the rest in a month or so.”

Coworker: “Fair enough. 

And with that, my coworker steps behind the counter, cuts his part in half on one of the industrial saws, and gives him one of the halves!

Coworker: “We’ll give you the other half in a month or so.”

Cost to us: an hour or so of labor and a couple of dollars of material. The look on the client’s face? Priceless.

I work for a flooring company that deals with many private contractors. We have a regular contractor who is always a jerk to us, but today, he is being particularly awful and abusive.

Contractor: “I’m here for my order.”

Me: “For which client?”

Contractor: “I don’t know. Just look me up.”

Me: “I can’t do that. I need to know your client’s name, contact information, or order number.”

Contractor: “You see me here all the time. Just look me up! Jesus Christ!”

Me: “Without that information, I can’t help you.”

I happily move on to the next customer. [Contractor] stands around glaring at me for a minute before he gets the hint that I’m not going to help him and storms off.

He comes back a little later with some snide look as he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and makes a call. He gets on the phone.

Contractor: “Hey, it’s [Contractor]. I’m at [Floor Store]. Yeah, they lost your order.”

Then, he looks at me and tells me the client wants to speak to me. Normally, I refuse to speak to someone on a phone that isn’t mine or a company phone, but this time, I’m done. I oblige and take the phone from him and bring it to my ear. Before the customer can say anything, I say:

Me: “Hello, this is [My Name] from [Floor Store Warehouse]. I’m here with your contractor. He doesn’t know what your name is and didn’t have any of your contact information when he came in earlier. If you could give that to me, I’d be happy to find your order for him and load him up once I verify he’s authorized to receive it.”

His smug smile is replaced by a blank stare of horror. The customer responds.

Customer: “I see. My name is [Customer].”

I shuffle through my files and find his order.

Me: “I’ve found the order. Is [Contractor] your contractor?”

Customer: “Not anymore. Please hand the phone back to him. I’ll arrange a pickup at a later date. Thanks for your help.”

 I never saw [Contractor] again after that.