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Every once in a while, the contractor wins and this is
one of those stories. This actually happened to me while I was working
on a job for one of my best clients, cousins. I will never forget this
as long as I live.
My client reminded me that these people could be extremely difficult to
deal with and I even experienced this when they asked me if I could help
them pour a driveway on one of their houses.
I told them that I would charge them a fixed amount of money for the
project and they agreed. As the driveway was nearing completion, I
noticed that the man and his wife had left. I asked their son who was
helping me, when they were coming back and he nervously said that he
didn't know when they were coming back.
I waited around for a few hours, and when they returned, they seemed
disgusted and both of them gave me some rather annoying looks of
dissatisfaction. I told them that I was done and I was done a couple of
hours ago and I thought that it was pretty darn rude of them to leave
without paying me.
They both double teamed me and started telling me that I had cheated
them and they weren't planning on paying me the full amount of money
that we had agreed to. I asked them what they thought that I deserved
and they told me half of what we had originally agreed to.
I told them to keep their money and that I would never work for them
again. Within seconds their entire attitude changed as they handed me
over at the full amount that we had originally agreed to and started to
apologize to me. I couldn't believe what just happened, but I did
receive all of my money and this usually makes most contractors
extremely happy.
I don't know what happened to these people or why they treated me this
way, but I did end up working for them again, two more times until they
called me a liar this time and again they were threatening not to pay
me. Here is where the story takes an interesting twist and again, I
couldn't believe what was about to happen.
As I was arguing with the mother and the father, it dawned on me that
the oldest son, who was standing just a few feet away from me at the
time, had been with us while I went over the original contract with his
parents.
I asked the young man if he remembered what I had said to his parents
and this young man didn't miss a beat. He stated that I was telling the
truth and his mother and father quickly became furious. They grabbed him
and took him into the house and I never felt sorry for anyone, as much
as I did for that young man, that night.
Again, I was saved from the persecution of manipulating and lying
clients and this time I never worked for them ever again. Every once in
a while, the good guy actually does win and this is the part of life
that is extremely satisfying to honest people.
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