Replies

1. 
   Armin_ | Dec 10, 2001 07:23am | #1

   *
   Some people are so cheap birds call them by name!

1. 
   Boss_Hog | Dec 10, 2001 04:23pm | #2

   *Back when I worked in the Chicago area, I was approached by a guy who was looking for some "dead" trusses. (By "dead" trusses, I mean trusses that were made wrong and could be bought cheap) The guy looked over what we had, but nothing suited him. He was looking for a specific size for a vacation cabin he was building on a lake somewhere. He offered me $50 to "accidentally" make some trusses in the size he needed, then tell my boss we ought to give him the trusses for nothing just to get rid of them. This guy was an exec that worked at Commonwealth Edison. (The big utility up there - I may not have the right name) He wore a nice suit, and drove a BMW when he came looking for trusses. The kind of guy that makes you proud to be an American.

1. 
   Rich_Watkins | Dec 11, 2001 03:30am | #3

   *I once was asked to install a retractable clothes line over a clients sink. I assumed that it was for dish towels. A few weeks later I was back at the house and she had zip-lock bags hanging from it. Her husband (a surgeon) went as far as to count the ones on the line and then count the unused ones still in the box. She said he would throw a fit if he couldn't account for them all!

1. 
   Mark_McDonnell | Dec 11, 2001 03:47am | #4

   *True love, eh?Wife had a boss, years ago, that lived in an 8 bedroom / bath house, his own exporting business, cars, you name it...Every Sunday, he would take his kids to the back of the grocery store, (back in the days when the stores are closed) and would lower the kids in the dumpster, have them root out all the thrown out produce, rotten, and take it home and make soup from it.

1. 
   JonC_ | Dec 11, 2001 04:14am | #5

   *Ever read "The Millionaire Next Door"? An eyeopener.JonC

2. 
   gary_weiss | Dec 11, 2001 06:03am | #6

   *Mark,I just can't believe that.Gary

3. 
   Mark_McDonnell | Dec 11, 2001 06:23am | #7

   *Gary,True, true, true,He'd come in on Monday with a big'old thermos of the toxic brew and brag on how he was teaching his kids some lesson.........that part completely escapes me.Sad, but true.....

4. 
   Rich_Watkins | Dec 11, 2001 03:03pm | #8

   *The name of this thread is officially changed to "mental cases".

5. 
   Ron_Teti | Dec 11, 2001 05:48pm | #9

   *If i could do it i would. some of these folks are crazy.

6. 
   Dave_Riggs | Dec 11, 2001 06:34pm | #10

   *Well, I am a class A cheapo according to many. But here's the deal: Thrift is not cheap and as we all know the cheap guy pays more in the end. I still wrench my own car because I do a better job than most shops. If I end up buying new tools, I'm ahead if its a wash in the end. But here is where I'm just plain hard nosed. If it takes 3 guys to do a job in one day, and each collects 250 dollars, the value of the work is 750. If the job is labor and materials the labor is 750 and the materials are whatever. BUT if the job is bid as a total fee, I can guarentee you the bid will suddenly inflate to high cost materials and inflated labor. I'm sorry, but each craftsman is worth a certain range of labor. If I want gold plated, I will pay for the best. If I want a basic service which is highly competitive, I won't be jacked on rates. I am not here to hose a good craftsman nor fund the retirement plan of an idiot. I just would like to get what I pay for. I call that thrift.

7. 
   Ron_Teti | Dec 12, 2001 01:32am | #11

   *dave, That is called a contract. You make a deal with a contractor/automotive mechanic ect and he performs a service for you a home repair/car repair ect. What I dont like is the folks who once they agree to a pice then try to hose the craftsman out of the agreed amount. In the case of my example the lady pulled out a bid for a lessor amount after the work was performed by my bud and demanded to pay that amount.

8. 
   crosscutt_ | Dec 12, 2001 01:51am | #12

   *Then there is the guy, a friend of a friend, who needs a small job done and starts beating me down on price, says he'll pay me cash, then when I'm done he's at work and has his wife write me a check. Life is an education, I just wish I'd learn as fast as I age! cc

9. 
   Andy_Engel_ | Dec 12, 2001 02:18am | #13

   *Then there was the guy I did a railing job for, another contractor. I screwed up and underbid woefully. As a pro, I always felt that I had to eat my own mistakes. I kept quiet and did my job. When I finished, the owner, Doug, must have realized how badly I underbid in his favor. In addition to paying my quote, he gave me a cash tip equal to about half of the difference between that and what I should have bid. I almost cried to meet such a decent person.I've met plenty of chiselers, soon forgot their names. I'll remember Doug for years.Andy

10. 
    Dave_Riggs | Dec 12, 2001 02:51am | #14

    *Actually it took a while to think, but I like this one. A very good general guy I know does great work. He put in a huge, I mean huge picture window west facing in a room with rough cedar walls. "Think you ought to get Low E Argon sir, and maybe some some sidelight vents" Nope. All done in Mid July. They guy doesn't want to pay because the room is too hot. Only as the crew arrived to start pulling out the window did payment arrive. No, he didn't do the replacement job. He walked away. Your own two feet are the best cure for these people.

2. 
   Ron_Teti | Dec 12, 2001 02:51am | #15

   *
   I was talking to a guy, Gary today and we were exchanging stories about cheap people. I used my most recent where the guy wanted me to do a bunch of freebies working next to some contractors that he was paying for a simular job. While he was telling me about the 47K suburban he was buying.
   Then Gary told me about a a old neighbor lady of his who needed some steps repaired. She lived alone her home was in disrepair and she had very little money. So he went over there replaced the steps treated the stringer and shored up her porch a little and didnt charge for labor or material as she said she didnt have have much money. Well she had a medical emergancy and the paramedics came an took her to the hospital. Well they discovered that she had 750K stuffed in her mattress, 750k!!! He went to talk to her and she swore that 750K wasnt much money she was broke. But she did give him 3 bucks for the treatment for the stringers.