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A job nearly ends in a fatality...and not to me for once...
b>Category: Jobs, Work, Careers
Originally posted in the Breakfast Club in February 2008
There may be some jobs that have made me madder, but the one I'm
about to talk about here got me mad enough to bite the heads off of
1/2" carriage bolts. Usually I don't show emotion, and prefer to
seethe on the inside, but this time I was ready to knock the fools
pins down (or drag him down to the Mudd Bogg for a mid-afternoon
trashin').
The story begins in Bucks County, PA in the winter of 2003 when a
car collector came to me to have some work done on some parts for a
couple of his cars. These were classic Rolls Royces... we're talkin
big time here. We ain't talkin a Henry J or a Nash Metropolitan... I
had to make an engine part for one car, and repair an exhaust
manifold for the other. Meeting this guy, who we'll refer to as G.E.,
I thought, He really seems like a jerk, but hey, this job won't be a
problem. He was the type of person who always has to get his way. He
could talk a dog off a meat truck. He had business cards that
referred to him and his wife as "Sir" and "Dame"... he had knighted
himself, I reckon...
So I did the job and he was happy with it, happily paying cash. I
could live with that. This cat may not be so bad afterall...
A few weeks later, I went to look at his car collection, which
included a Cadillac once owned by Elvis, and took my camera along.
That was in January 2004, I believe. It was a good day...things were
really goin great.
In June of that year, he called again, wanting me to fix an antique
muffler, and also to fabricate steel and aluminum sheetmetal panels
for a '51 Rolls convertible -- the one and only one of that model
ever made. Parts can't be bought for cars like that, they have to be
made. So I made the panels at my shop, took them to his shop
and "fine-tuned" them until they were right (one of my mottoes is "Do
it Right or Do it Twice...I won't quit on a job until it's right).
With the panels installed, he paid me and I went on my way.
August... G.E. called wanting some custom trim pieces made for
the '51 Rolls, in the form of a chrome tailfin down the middle of the
rear deck lid, and some fancy trim pieces on the rear fenders, just
behind the rear wheels. The tailfin was first. I spent about 15 hours
fabricating it and getting it perfect, using a laser to make sure it
was straight as a string. Then I presented it to G.E. and fitted it
on the trunklid. He proceeded to pick it apart, complaining that I
had made it out of steel instead of brass; and finding other things
wrong with it (it's gonna be chrome-plated, fool). He wouldn't let me
work inside by this point, so I had tools out in the driveway and was
reshaping it to meet his standards. That same day, I made templates
for the other trim pieces, which I would make from 22-gauge mild
steel sheetmetal. The next time I was there to fit the finished
pieces he told me he'd changed his mind and didn't want them. Ok...my
blood runs cold, I don't get mad...
Oh yeah, along the way, he wound up giving me a cast iron bench to
repair. "Put it on my tab," he said...uh, yeah...
That same month, G.E. told me that if I could do some fancy aluminum
panels for the back of his '39 Rolls, he would pay me cash on
the spot. No problem, I said, and did all the sketches, whatever was
needed to get started. I bought the aluminum ($74), and spent more
than a full day shaping these pieces until they were flawless. I took
them to G.E.'s shop to fit them up. He already didn't like them
before he saw them...when he DID see them, he went topside, and right there
in front of me, he stomped the fire out of the panels and destroyed
my work, callin me everything but a human being in the process, and
telling me what he thought of me.
I didn't find this particularly nice. Actually, with help from from a
couple of his mechanics, I did keep from breakin his fool neck. I was
mad enough to kill when I got out to the truck and left two black
rubber marks on the asphalt in the driveway. Somehow I managed to get
back to the shop without getting stopped for 90 in a 45 zone...
We sent him a bill for the work I had done. He sent it back, crumpled up with a letter threatening legal action because I didn't uphold
my end of the deal. So I just let it drop. I was about done with PA
and didn't need to get into the legal stuff. He kept lawyers on
retainer, I didn't...I was just a poor ol' country boy tryin to keep
my head above water. Total paid for the tailfin, trim pieces and
aluminum work -- about 80-90 hours in all - $0.
That cast iron bench? I brought it to VA. Take that, G.E....
And you wonder why I'm on here a lot? I gotta get rid of stress somehow...
Originally posted in the Breakfast Club in February 2008
There may be some jobs that have made me madder, but the one I'm
about to talk about here got me mad enough to bite the heads off of
1/2" carriage bolts. Usually I don't show emotion, and prefer to
seethe on the inside, but this time I was ready to knock the fools
pins down (or drag him down to the Mudd Bogg for a mid-afternoon
trashin').
The story begins in Bucks County, PA in the winter of 2003 when a
car collector came to me to have some work done on some parts for a
couple of his cars. These were classic Rolls Royces... we're talkin
big time here. We ain't talkin a Henry J or a Nash Metropolitan... I
had to make an engine part for one car, and repair an exhaust
manifold for the other. Meeting this guy, who we'll refer to as G.E.,
I thought, He really seems like a jerk, but hey, this job won't be a
problem. He was the type of person who always has to get his way. He
could talk a dog off a meat truck. He had business cards that
referred to him and his wife as "Sir" and "Dame"... he had knighted
himself, I reckon...
So I did the job and he was happy with it, happily paying cash. I
could live with that. This cat may not be so bad afterall...
A few weeks later, I went to look at his car collection, which
included a Cadillac once owned by Elvis, and took my camera along.
That was in January 2004, I believe. It was a good day...things were
really goin great.
In June of that year, he called again, wanting me to fix an antique
muffler, and also to fabricate steel and aluminum sheetmetal panels
for a '51 Rolls convertible -- the one and only one of that model
ever made. Parts can't be bought for cars like that, they have to be
made. So I made the panels at my shop, took them to his shop
and "fine-tuned" them until they were right (one of my mottoes is "Do
it Right or Do it Twice...I won't quit on a job until it's right).
With the panels installed, he paid me and I went on my way.
August... G.E. called wanting some custom trim pieces made for
the '51 Rolls, in the form of a chrome tailfin down the middle of the
rear deck lid, and some fancy trim pieces on the rear fenders, just
behind the rear wheels. The tailfin was first. I spent about 15 hours
fabricating it and getting it perfect, using a laser to make sure it
was straight as a string. Then I presented it to G.E. and fitted it
on the trunklid. He proceeded to pick it apart, complaining that I
had made it out of steel instead of brass; and finding other things
wrong with it (it's gonna be chrome-plated, fool). He wouldn't let me
work inside by this point, so I had tools out in the driveway and was
reshaping it to meet his standards. That same day, I made templates
for the other trim pieces, which I would make from 22-gauge mild
steel sheetmetal. The next time I was there to fit the finished
pieces he told me he'd changed his mind and didn't want them. Ok...my
blood runs cold, I don't get mad...
Oh yeah, along the way, he wound up giving me a cast iron bench to
repair. "Put it on my tab," he said...uh, yeah...
That same month, G.E. told me that if I could do some fancy aluminum
panels for the back of his '39 Rolls, he would pay me cash on
the spot. No problem, I said, and did all the sketches, whatever was
needed to get started. I bought the aluminum ($74), and spent more
than a full day shaping these pieces until they were flawless. I took
them to G.E.'s shop to fit them up. He already didn't like them
before he saw them...when he DID see them, he went topside, and right there
in front of me, he stomped the fire out of the panels and destroyed
my work, callin me everything but a human being in the process, and
telling me what he thought of me.
I didn't find this particularly nice. Actually, with help from from a
couple of his mechanics, I did keep from breakin his fool neck. I was
mad enough to kill when I got out to the truck and left two black
rubber marks on the asphalt in the driveway. Somehow I managed to get
back to the shop without getting stopped for 90 in a 45 zone...
We sent him a bill for the work I had done. He sent it back, crumpled up with a letter threatening legal action because I didn't uphold
my end of the deal. So I just let it drop. I was about done with PA
and didn't need to get into the legal stuff. He kept lawyers on
retainer, I didn't...I was just a poor ol' country boy tryin to keep
my head above water. Total paid for the tailfin, trim pieces and
aluminum work -- about 80-90 hours in all - $0.
That cast iron bench? I brought it to VA. Take that, G.E....
And you wonder why I'm on here a lot? I gotta get rid of stress somehow...
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