Offered Something Else Besides Money
- Thread starter John506
- Start date
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i once spent a saturday morning on an elderly neighbours roof sorting out a cowboys idea of roofing when i d finished the old boy just said cheers for that i m sorry i cant pay you but i spent all my money on having the cowboys do the work then he went in the house and brought out a pair of old miners boots and said i coud have them as payment.they were about 3 sizes too small and older than me, but he made me laugh so i let him off,only thing that really bothers me about it is that he did nt have me to do the work in the first place.
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oh and another one was my mums extension roof which actually cost me to do about £200 quid in materials and 3 days work nice one mum, my sister does nt talk to me anymore because i charged her for my joiner to lay a new floor in her house why should i pay ? stupid cow. oh and my wifes dad aways pays me in crapy old wilkinson specials tools he did once give me a tile cutter that was decent but then he split up with his bird and she said it was hers and wanted it back. supposed to be dropping it off but aint in no hurry.although i dont charge family and friends there has to be a cut off point like i aint gonna build an extesion for free. family seems to begrudge paying you but are quite happy to pay a stranger £250 for half hours work fixing the washer.
Done half a days work for a pakistani family in west london and was given 63 pence and half a loaf of brown bread!
Done my best to refuse but the lady insisted
Slightly better was a oversized set of pine drawers a customer wanted rid of - re-waxed and used them for a couple of years and then moved house sold the drawers on ebay for £250!! (nearly took them to a charity shop or the dump)
Done my best to refuse but the lady insisted
Slightly better was a oversized set of pine drawers a customer wanted rid of - re-waxed and used them for a couple of years and then moved house sold the drawers on ebay for £250!! (nearly took them to a charity shop or the dump)
Once quoted to mosaic tile a customers bathroom. He was a right jack the lad, not the sort of person i like dealing with to be honest. When i gave him a price he said, "tell you what, instead of paying you, you can have a free ride on a Saturday night in one of my stretch pink limo's" (nice). Funny thing was he said it like he was doing me a favour!
Did not get the job.
Did not get the job.
D
Deleted member 105431
Done half a days work for a pakistani family in west london and was given 63 pence and half a loaf of brown bread!
Done my best to refuse but the lady insisted
That's why I don't work for em.
Built a garage for my brother, in payment he bought me a brand new shiny cement mixer . which he immediately borrowed back.........2 yrs ago .
. which he immediately borrowed back.........2 yrs ago .I got tipped a few years back by a very old and quite wealthy lady. her work was prepaid as she was on a bg contract. all i did was replace a pump... big flanged one but still probly no more than an hours work.
On the 1st day after ten minutes dignoses and having orderd the pump, i left with £20 and a bottle of champagne. triued to turn it down as i'd done nothing, but was told by the grandson if she says take it, you take it . the nex day i went back and completed the work, thanked her for the champers and said we'd drink it when we moved into our 1st flat.
Then we got chatting and i mentioned that my wife(girlfriend at the time) and i had just returned to the land of the flesh eaters by having a huge bacon sarine (packet of bacon and a large baguette ) that weekend and just how much wed missed bacon. she said that she'd strongly recommend m&s bacon as the best although i was adamant that the waitrose was better.
So i went back in the cupboard to do a bit more work, leaned out for a sip of tea and theres another bottle of chanpers in my tool box. Bless her i thought shes forgotten she gave me some yesterday. So i called out to her and along she came with some mince pies for me and i pointed out her mistake. 'oh no' she exclaimed' thats a cheaper one so you can drink that one tonite' so i thanked her again commented on how lovely it was to have the mince pies and ducked back into the cupboard and finished the job.
After i finished i chatted to her whilst finishing my tea and it transpire that she was indeed a real 'Lady' her husband was a Labour Lord back when labour wasnt the tory party in red ties. She had come from a wealthy faminly who believed in passing on a bit to others. fascinating lady.
So when i came to leave she gave me a couple of shopping bags to carry my 'tip'
total tip including previous day
2 x £20 notes
2 x bottles of champagne
2 x packest of m&s bacon
2 x boxes of the mince pies i'd commented on
big bag of kiwi fruit totaly random addition.
and she sent my wife flowers though my work address
never had a tip like it since.
On the 1st day after ten minutes dignoses and having orderd the pump, i left with £20 and a bottle of champagne. triued to turn it down as i'd done nothing, but was told by the grandson if she says take it, you take it
. the nex day i went back and completed the work, thanked her for the champers and said we'd drink it when we moved into our 1st flat. Then we got chatting and i mentioned that my wife(girlfriend at the time) and i had just returned to the land of the flesh eaters by having a huge bacon sarine (packet of bacon and a large baguette
) that weekend and just how much wed missed bacon. she said that she'd strongly recommend m&s bacon as the best although i was adamant that the waitrose was better. So i went back in the cupboard to do a bit more work, leaned out for a sip of tea and theres another bottle of chanpers in my tool box. Bless her i thought shes forgotten she gave me some yesterday. So i called out to her and along she came with some mince pies for me
and i pointed out her mistake. 'oh no' she exclaimed' thats a cheaper one so you can drink that one tonite' so i thanked her again commented on how lovely it was to have the mince pies and ducked back into the cupboard and finished the job. After i finished i chatted to her whilst finishing my tea and it transpire that she was indeed a real 'Lady' her husband was a Labour Lord back when labour wasnt the tory party in red ties. She had come from a wealthy faminly who believed in passing on a bit to others. fascinating lady.
So when i came to leave she gave me a couple of shopping bags to carry my 'tip'
total tip including previous day
2 x £20 notes
2 x bottles of champagne
2 x packest of m&s bacon
2 x boxes of the mince pies i'd commented on
big bag of kiwi fruit totaly random addition.
and she sent my wife flowers though my work address
never had a tip like it since.
where to start...obviously been in this game too long..
fixed a neighbours roof, had to drive 15 miles to borrow the old mans roof ladder, mine was further away, replaced a couple slates, 'bout an hour and was given 6 eggs.
the next neighbour more than made up for it though, she insisted on paying me and my mate £40 each for about an hours work.tried many times to give it back but she insisted.they dont make em like that any more, plus it was a sunday!
last big job given two antique botanical prints, very nice up in front room!
fixed a neighbours roof, had to drive 15 miles to borrow the old mans roof ladder, mine was further away, replaced a couple slates, 'bout an hour and was given 6 eggs.
the next neighbour more than made up for it though, she insisted on paying me and my mate £40 each for about an hours work.tried many times to give it back but she insisted.they dont make em like that any more, plus it was a sunday!
last big job given two antique botanical prints, very nice up in front room!
I've always tried to make a rule of 'not making money from close friends or family'. And tbh i never get exploited for it. My family are decent and whenever i need something they're always there to help, so its all good.
However, my gf, gawd bless her, seems to prostitue me out to all and sundry for general diy jobs, plastering re-fitting bathroom, fixing computers (which is my main line of work anyways).
She kindly offered my services to her friend who was ill and manically depressed. Her other half, can't call him boyfriend as he has since has a sex change (???) was a complete fluck up. An incompetent of titanic proportions.
Anyway, as a birthday treat we decided to decorate her living room. I ended up stripping all the plaster off, re-boarding, re-skimming, re-painting, re-plumbing and after that ripping the carpet up and putting laminate flooring down and through the hallway to the front door.
THEN....about a year later when she she needed the bathroom doing so she could sell the house, i completely ripped out the bathroom, re plastered, tiled, refitted, layed new flooring etc........then she got repossessed.
I never charged a penny for all the work, indeed it actually cost me over £100, she was declared bankrupt so obviously had no money.
I felt like i'd been kicked in the b0ll0x when i realised how many weekends i'd spent there for FREE only for the house to be repossessed.
Her bf, Matt, is now her gf Evie .......... words fail me.
The good thing about this is that i learned a lot about how to do certain things in a better way without screwing up my own home , so my diy skills have improved because of it.
Oh, and my current 24sqmt extension project which was estimated at around a £20k build, is costing me about £7k because my friend is helping me do it and not charging a penny. All the materials are bought through his trade accounts thus ensuring maximum discount and he comes out when he can and does what i cannot or do not know how to do. He builds exensions as his job so i'm getting the best help possible. Sure it takes longer to do as he fits me in around his other projects, but we couldn't have afforded to do it otherwise, so we're happy with the arrangement.
In return i fix/supply any computer needs he has. Hardly an equal balance, which i did point out to him, but he shrugged and said "you're a mate!"
Karma......its all worth it ya know!
However, my gf, gawd bless her, seems to prostitue me out to all and sundry for general diy jobs, plastering re-fitting bathroom, fixing computers (which is my main line of work anyways).
She kindly offered my services to her friend who was ill and manically depressed. Her other half, can't call him boyfriend as he has since has a sex change (???) was a complete fluck up. An incompetent of titanic proportions.
Anyway, as a birthday treat we decided to decorate her living room. I ended up stripping all the plaster off, re-boarding, re-skimming, re-painting, re-plumbing and after that ripping the carpet up and putting laminate flooring down and through the hallway to the front door.
THEN....about a year later when she she needed the bathroom doing so she could sell the house, i completely ripped out the bathroom, re plastered, tiled, refitted, layed new flooring etc........then she got repossessed.
I never charged a penny for all the work, indeed it actually cost me over £100, she was declared bankrupt so obviously had no money.
I felt like i'd been kicked in the b0ll0x when i realised how many weekends i'd spent there for FREE only for the house to be repossessed.
Her bf, Matt, is now her gf Evie ..........
words fail me.The good thing about this is that i learned a lot about how to do certain things in a better way without screwing up my own home
, so my diy skills have improved because of it.Oh, and my current 24sqmt extension project which was estimated at around a £20k build, is costing me about £7k because my friend is helping me do it and not charging a penny. All the materials are bought through his trade accounts thus ensuring maximum discount and he comes out when he can and does what i cannot or do not know how to do. He builds exensions as his job so i'm getting the best help possible. Sure it takes longer to do as he fits me in around his other projects, but we couldn't have afforded to do it otherwise, so we're happy with the arrangement.
In return i fix/supply any computer needs he has. Hardly an equal balance, which i did point out to him, but he shrugged and said "you're a mate!"
Karma......its all worth it ya know!
Karma is all very well, but I don't think that Sainsburys take it in return for a trolley-load of shopping.
It's all very well to say "think of your family", but what of the family who rely on you to earn money so that they can eat, and have a roof over their heads?
That's reasonable to a little extent, but if someone is losing money on materials, or is missing out on paid work then it's extremely unreasonable.
It's all very well to say "think of your family", but what of the family who rely on you to earn money so that they can eat, and have a roof over their heads?
Actually that one doesn't sound at all bad... They weren't in downtown Baghdad were they?
That's quite sad - I can pretty much guarantee that he would have been very upset that he was unable to pay you.
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