Karma? He'd have rather gotten paid...

[eltf177]

Obviously, I cannot officially approve of the dose of karma that Old Man got in the OP.

Unofficially, however, I can sit and bask in the schadenfreude.

Is it really schadenfreude if you feel no shame?

[Jay 2K Winger]

Is it really schadenfreude if you feel no shame?

schadenfreude [shahd-n-froi-duh]
noun
1. satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

So... yup! It's schadenfreude!

[LillFilly]

I hope he takes dated photos of his before and after work, to prove that when he left the completed job the roof was, in fact, finished. Not his fault it was vandalized or hit by a rogue tornado afterwards!

[eltf177]

schadenfreude [shahd-n-froi-duh]
noun
1. satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

So... yup! It's schadenfreude!

Not only do these threads entertain, but you learn things as well!

[bloo]

I hope he takes dated photos of his before and after work, to prove that when he left the completed job the roof was, in fact, finished. Not his fault it was vandalized or hit by a rogue tornado afterwards!

He's been out of roofing close to 10 years now so this job was probably 20+ years ago. Maybe 30 or so, I'm not sure. We had to pull teeth just to set up a website for him, the idea of before/after photos would be beyond a hassle for him.

As I said in the OP, he owns/runs bars now.

Much less stressful, I'm sure!

[prjkt]

As I said in the OP, he owns/runs bars now.

Much less stressful, I'm sure!

after reading post from customersruinmylife, and my own observations, I'm not so sure...

[bloo]

after reading post from customersruinmylife, and my own observations, I'm not so sure...

I was definitely being tongue-in-cheek!

Different kind of stress but he's still stressed out.

[XCashier]

He's been out of roofing close to 10 years now so this job was probably 20+ years ago.

So the old skinflint is probably dead by now, and learning the hard way that it's a bad idea to stiff workers...

What goes around comes around, and usually with interest.

[Mondestrucken]

This was realted to me about 35 years ago, and the ending is so perfect that I wonder if it really happened or if this is an urban legend.

Homeowner was notorious for pulling scams and flim flams. He spent a lot of time in court being sued, but to little effect on his scamminess. In spite of being notorious, he was always having something done, and one year he decided to have a huge fireplace put in, basically taking up entire wall.

He welshes on the payment, and thinks he has got away with it until they go to use the fireplace. Tons of smoke pour into the house. Homeowner doesn't want to go to the guy who did the work, because he stiffed him. He has several people come out and look at the chimney: you can clearly see through the chimney.

Finally, homeowner admits defeat and calls out contractor, paying in full in cash what is owed. Contractor smiles and goes up on the roof and drops a brick through the chimney. There is a crash as the brick shatters through the pane of glass that was cemented half way up, and the contractor leaves, paid in full and still smiling.

[bloo]

God I hope that's a true story!

[Zellie Crescent]

God I hope that's a true story!

Me too, that's awesome.

[KatherineB]

Me too, that's awesome.

Sorry, guys!

[Mondestrucken]

I just knew it was too good to be true. That was in Buffalo, NY, in the late 70's when I heard it, so it's been around a while.

Edited to add: At the time I believed it. But over time, I have learned that the stories with the perfect endings are usually urban legends.

[Sarlon]

I've been calling around trying to get estimates on work done on my front porch.

I plan on paying for the work when my finical aide check comes in, so I've told all contractors that have come by about the time frame I plan on being able to even give a deposit.

But then again, I'm a decent human being and not stringing them along....I flat out said, I'm only getting estimates and will make a decision by blah date, and will have money around blah time frame.

Only had one person decide they didn't like those terms, and didn't even come to give me an estimate, but at least I'm honest upfront and not saying "come do this work, oh and I'll pay you in 2 weeks."

[notalwaysright]

I plan on paying for the work when my finical aide check comes in, so I've told all contractors that have come by about the time frame I plan on being able to even give a deposit.

I think most companies would rather have someone who is realistic about cost, over someone who's like "I want an estimate for BEST materials!" And then after several calls/emails, we end up giving them a bid for the LEAST expensive, because not everyone has a grasp on how darn expensive home improvement is. Lots of people get estimates without being able to pay instantly, that's why there is usually an amount of time on the bid. Our price was good for 90 days, and we were flexible if the material cost had stayed the same.

We would occasionally turn down an opportunity to bid, but only if someone told us flat out that price was their only consideration. We basically said, in a nice way, that our company won't be the cheapest and there's really no point in wasting both our time. And we did try to help them understand that a "cheap" roof can end up costing them more over the long run, depending on the quality of the roofing company.