Ever had to fire a friend or had a friendship go bad over business?

[Pablos Tunnel]

In 1987, I was 2 years in to a very successful automotive aftermarket franchise.
We were doing fairly well, but the amount of work was over whelming. I hired a man
who I had met at a business that I was doing work for. For the first year, it was great.
He was the best salesman/closer that I had ever met. I had promised him a 33% raise
in 12 months if things worked out, but he had increased sales so much that I gave him
the raise after 4 months. But then things began to change. My thoughts are that he felt
he was the reason for our success, and obviously thought that he could make all that
money for himself. His sales took a nose dive, and his salary then became a drain.
I really thought a lot of the guy, and it was with a heavy heart that I had to broom him
out the door. So what did he do? He borrowed $35000 (from my banker, no less) and
then opened up the same type of business as an independent. He did his best to take my
customers, hire away my employees, took out ads in which he made snide comments about
my operation. Well, the man had over the years proven that he was the type of guy who should
always work for somebody else. He was a great number 2 guy but was a disaster as number 1.
His business lasted about 8 months. The money was gone, his checks were worthless, and couldn't
even cover payroll on a regular basis. His outstanding debt had ballooned to $350K with no means
to ever repay it. All his suppliers put him on C.O.D. and he then had little choice but to declare bankruptcy.

The day after his case was heard in court, he came to my business, poured himself a cup of coffee,
sat down at my desk and broke into tears. I felt so bad for him that I loaned him $2500 which I never got back. But I didn't care. He was my buddy, and I have always made it a policy to never lend someone more money than I could afford to just give them. 10 years later, at age 57, he died of a heart attack. I spoke at his funeral. I felt that I had lost a brother.

Damn you have a good heart and righteous frame of mind. Good for you.

 

[Turk182]

I think the General Rule of Thumb is "You get what you pay for and accept"!

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Welp I could take no more.....anyone know a good landscaper who works in the Downtown/Belle Isle area? I've got 5 properties in need of service after today

 

[Concrete Helmet]

New Landscapers hired...….and not a single f vck given even if I'm paying more.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Welp here we go again....stupid f vcking tree people who I've given over 100K in work and referrals over the last 6 or so years.....bye bye 9K job and another 10-15k in other jobs on different properties in the near future....dumbsh!t m@therf vckers....learn to shut up when I'm talking....

 

[Treebeard]

Check here to find good tree services:
Welcome isa-arbor.com/
Find an Arborist treesaregood.org/findanarborist
These are links to the International Society of Arboriculture websites where you can search for Certified Arborists in your area.

Hiring - or at least looking at - a company that has at least one International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist on staff is a good start. It is not a guarantee, but it is a sign of professionalism. Certification takes time and requires continuing education. Most companies don't have this but more are starting to get it.

Disclosure - I'm a Certified Arborist but don't do actual tree work. Mostly geared to education, including training for people getting their certification or CEUs.

 

[Gatormac2112]

I wouldn't even consider going into business with a friend or family member....its a recipe for disaster

 

[Nalt]

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Sad but true....Another red flag for animosity within the workplace is the ratio of women to men....women in the workplace particularly if it is a female majority are absolute POISON...and not just to their male counterparts.....B!tches hate each others guts....I won't tell you how I know this....

 

[soflagator]

Sad but true....Another red flag for animosity within the workplace is the ratio of women to men....women in the workplace particularly if it is a female majority are absolute POISON...and not just to their male counterparts.....B!tches hate each others guts....I won't tell you how I know this....

From my personal experience, there's a lot of truth to this part. I dated a girl that worked at a high-end retail clothing store. The cast consisted of several younger women, and of course, a handful of gay men, all of whom also did some local modeling in addition to a decent amount of drugs. So these were not low maintenance people by nature. But they all got along great and often hung out outside of work. After a few years, she left and went to a women's boutique with an all female team. As with most jobs, it was fine at first. But within two weeks, every day's conversation started with, "you won't believe what this b**** did...". I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally an all female office is going to have problems. Even if it's a homo, you need at least one or two people with a Y chromosome to balance things.

But I can imagine your business has a lot of 25-35k "fat Janice" types in the underwriting, compliance or titling side. They're the worst in almost any industry. Eighties winged hair, constantly talking about how they're gonna lose weight(bag of Cheez-Its in hand), but never actually doing so, and can usually be found outside of the office chain smoking while either complaining about their husbands or screaming "Youknowwhat, I can't do this right now", to one of their disaster kids. In their defense, it doesn't help that they know and often see the numbers that are pouring into the pockets of the producers, while they get peanuts for nitpicking. But they're just a miserable bunch and you can see it from a mile away.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

But I can imagine your business has a lot of 25-35k "fat Janice" types in the underwriting, compliance or titling side. They're the worst in almost any industry. Eighties winged hair, constantly talking about how they're gonna lose weight(bag of Cheez-Its in hand), but never actually doing so, and can usually be found outside of the office chain smoking while either complaining about their husbands or screaming "Youknowwhat, I can't do this right now", to one of their disaster kids. In their defense, it doesn't help that they know and often see the numbers that are pouring into the pockets of the producers, while they get peanuts for nitpicking. But they're just a miserable bunch and you can see it from a mile away.

There really are 3 different types of women in the workplace outside of the boss...
One is the genuine mostly sweet type
The second is the resentful b!tcher
The 3rd is the worst...the power hungry c vnt....

The PHC sh!ts all over the first 2 types by manipulating one against the other. They also set the "hierarchy of the office" on every bodies first day....8 times out out of 10 they turn the mostly sweet type into a resentful b!tcher.
Another common trait of the PHC type is to probe any male counterparts if there are any to find the males level of cuckness....they also sh!t on any that they may find...Their biggest insecurity is running into an alpha type male assh@le who has a "don't give a f vck" cuz I got something better than you attitude"....

The amount of pettiness, backbiting, smerkness and drama within most offices full of women is 10X worse than their male counterparts in a similar situation.

 

[soflagator]

There really are 3 different types of women in the workplace outside of the boss...
One is the genuine mostly sweet type
The second is the resentful b!tcher
The 3rd is the worst...the power hungry c vnt....

The PHC sh!ts all over the first 2 types by manipulating one against the other. They also set the "hierarchy of the office" on every bodies first day....8 times out out of 10 they turn the mostly sweet type into a resentful b!tcher.
Another common trait of the PHC type is to probe any male counterparts if there are any to find the males level of cuckness....they also sh!t on any that they may find...Their biggest insecurity is running into an alpha type male assh@le who has a "don't give a f vck" cuz I got something better than you attitude"....

The amount of pettiness, backbiting, smerkness and drama within most offices full of women is 10X worse than their male counterparts in a similar situation.

Good to know. I was worried you may have strong feelings on the matter.

 

[no1g8r]

Sad but true....Another red flag for animosity within the workplace is the ratio of women to men....women in the workplace particularly if it is a female majority are absolute POISON...and not just to their male counterparts.....B!tches hate each others guts....I won't tell you how I know this....

While in college I worked at the front desk of a hotel in Gainesville, where we typically had 3 employees working in a very small area at any given time. I was a supervisor, so I did scheduling. The general manager, who was a seasoned military guy, gave me some sage advice: "Never schedule 3 women to work the front desk at the same time. Inevitably, 2 will pit against the 3rd, and things will go downhill fast. 2 women and a guy; 2 guys and a woman, or 3 guys, no problem. But 3 women at the same time - never." I've found this advice to be true throughout most of my career.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Good to know. I was worried you may have strong feelings on the matter.

Oh it's not me that feels that way....that's the way my wife told me it is....seriously.