Poor choice of words...

Right now we're getting some work done at our house, general upkeep type stuff and a few "upgraded" items. So I've been contracting various professional tradesmen for the tasks at hand. One in particular just seems to have every warning sign going off, and yesterday was really sort of the end of the line.

THE SETUP

So I came across this guy as a referral from one of the other contractors who was providing an estimate on a related job. I gave him a call, and he came out and talked over everything for a little bit then left. I was told I'd have an estimate in an hour or two, but didn't hear back until the next day. His wife had a c-section the next morning and so obviously he'd been busy that day with the birth of his 2nd child. As heartless as it may sound though, I still didn't know why he hadn't shot me an e-mail after leaving my house, so instead I'm waiting a little longer. He mentioned he had his laptop at the hospital and he'd get me the estimate in a day or two.

THE DELAY

....or 3, or 4 or 5. Okay, so who knows what sort of fun birth-related things he was dealing with, but it took a while longer and another e-mail from me before I got a quote (and not a formal quote, but just whatever he had time to put together real quick). Regardless, I finally got some numbers about a week and a half ago. Everything looked okay, but he was still unable to provide proof of insurance at this time (a standard request for any general contractor). I'm told he'll get something sent off in an e-mail that night or early next day.

....or 3 or 4 days or so. Okay, I finally hear back from him a few days later, and he says he'll get the insurance info over to me sometime Monday morning, and he'll be here after lunch on Monday.

THE FAIL

....or not. I'm waiting all day, got all the furniture moved out and around so he can do his work, and when I don't hear from him, I give him a call about a quarter to 3pm yesterday. "Where ya at? What's going on?" Well, turns out he doesn't have insurance, he "forgot" to renew it, and he's working on getting it reinstated but it will be a day or two. Or three. Maybe next week. Why he didn't bother calling? Oh, he says he sent me an e-mail about 30 minutes earlier (it was 15 minutes). I let him know that a phone call is pretty normal when you're going to be late, or if you're cancelling the job...especially if it's already a few hours after start time.

Oh, another thing to note...the project he's doing must be completed before some other little jobs are done, so we're rescheduling these other guys all the time to accomodate this guy. He knows this, but still continues to push things back for what turns out to be no good reason.

THE CHANGE OF PLANS

So we have our phone conversation, he apologizes, gives excuses, and I cut him off. I let him know in a genuinely nice yet short way that this is all unacceptable. We leave it that we'll try to get something decided the next day (seriously giving this guy the benefit of the doubt) and that's that. Meanwhile, I spend a couple of hours finding other contractors who can come out and give an estimate and maybe get this stuff done. I find a good one, they come out, quote the job (for less money, I might add) and say they'll start work next day (an hour or so from now, in fact).

THE NOTIFICATION

So I shoot the original guy a phone call, he doesn't answer (per usual) and I leave a message saying another guy is coming to do the work, and I'll keep him posted on some other potential projects we had discussed. I apologized that it hadn't worked out, circumstances between us being what they were, and said no hard feelings, we'll try again next time. Am I a nice guy or what?

THE STUPIDITY

So with all my accomodation and niceties with this fellow, here's the e-mail (not phone call) he sends me a short while later. I've added my comments for your reading pleasure.....

"I got your message and was disappointd to hear this information. I felt that I made a promise to you (now your promises mean something?) to have the work finished tomorrow and it was left at that. But no hard feelings. Just for future reference it may be helpful not to ask for so many prejob requirements (beggin' your pardon, ma'am???). If it had not been for this (the request for proof of his insurance) your job could have been completed over this past weekend (...except the plan was to do it many days before then). I know you are just trying to play it safe (let's refer to it as "due diligence," shall we?) but I only have one in fifty customers ask for insurance (good to know that I am more intelligent and better prepared than 98% of your customers). References though are a more common request (and less useful in the event of a job site disaster). Anyways, I can still do the other work but unfortunatley I can not offer the same price (perhaps he feels that I am due a discount for my troubles...?). My initial estimate was more of a package price and since we have already cut that back quite a bit along with this additional work not being done I simply cannot do the other work for those prices (hrm....maybe he's NOT thinking of a discount.....). If you would like for me to requote the remaining items please let me know. Good luck tomorrow (can't be much worse, can it?)."

THE FINAL ASSESSMENT

Okay, so I had plenty of red flags and should have cut this guy out long ago, but I just felt like giving him a shot. As for his lack of business saavy...well, a lot of skilled tradesmen are excellent workers and horrible businessmen, so nothing new there. But this guy is either just having a really bad month, or he has an amazing combination of poor communication, lack of respect and failure to respond to customer requests. Regardless, anybody should know better than to tell a client that he asked too much. If I asked too much of you, dear sir, then why didn't you tell me so sometime before the job was supposed to begin? It is not my position to know what you are and are not capable of doing, it is your position to tell me. If I am too picky of a client for you, then either charge me more for your troubles or decline the work.

I did send a response to his message, but I still remained pretty upbeat with him. I told him where his train ran off the tracks, but I didn't nail him to the wall (which I probably should have). Oh well.

I guess I'll let you know how the next guy turns out....

Slo-mo Weddings?? Enough already...

Quick rant...something I've noticed more and more, but never ceases to amaze me.

I do a fair amount of wedding videography with my company, and I'm always comparing my work against that of my peers. I almost always learn a new trick or technique by doing this, and it's sort of a community-share thing. Everyone feels good.

However, am I the ONLY wedding videographer that DOESN'T use slow motion throughout the wedding video? It seems like everything I see is these slow motion, soft focus, vignette montages that last 3-5 minutes. To me, it seems fake, like you tried to make these people MORE in love than they actually were. And it's pretty boring to watch more than once.

I can see the value for a couple of shots here and there, but it's like sometimes that's all these guys know. Seriously, there are more ways to imply "romance" and "love" than to just make everything look like a dream sequence.

Sorry if I'm stepping on some toes here (you guys know who you are, I still love y'all). But seriously...I just can't do it. Slow motion - to me - is an effect. It works best in moderation. Just be a professional, shoot dramatic footage, get interesting shots and let the people and the activities tell the story. Right?

Maybe my journalistic tendencies are coming through too strongly here, but I dunno...just seems ridiculous to me.

Anyway...sorry about that. Just had to say it.

Oops!

Well that was interesting.

I log onto a website earlier today to place an order and lo and behold, what appears under my account information but HUNDREDS of recent customer orders for this company.

Now here's the thing...web pages get crisscrossed on a company site from time to time, but seems that the ONE thing you'd be sure never gets mixed up is private customer information. Identity theft and what have you.

Needless to say (I would hope), I notified the company that I could see all their customer accounts on my computer screen, and it's a good thing for them that I'm not the kind of person who uses that information for fraud and theft and so on.

But it got me thinking...do I really want to be putting my information on a company's server when I have just witnessed a fairly severe failure in their site's security?

Me thinks not. Time to shop elsewhere.

10 Years? Really?

Well, as most of you probably are NOT aware, it was 10 years ago on this very night that my band Slow Children At Play had our very first album release party. We entered our names into that small town's musical history that night.

It was kind of a big deal. Indeed, this was still a time that digital recording studios were not quite so prevalent along the ranks of the lower class. No, digital audio recording was a realm still very much reserved for those more popular recording artists with record contracts and such. We recorded in a studio on giant audio reel-to-reels (still got 'em, too) just like they'd been doing for decades. And printing an album to CD was rather pricey at the time, too. We took a big risk on a bunch of copies, and only a fistful of the original press remains in my possession today.

The Internet wasn't in use the same way it is today, either. MP3 compression was just becoming widespread, and promotion for our music on the web was just not nearly as straightforward when we released that album as it is today.

As difficult as all that technical crap was, we got off a pretty good set of songs on that album, and played 'em all (and then some) in front of a crapload of the local youth on that one awesome night. Played in front of a bunch of old folks, too. My grandpa was even there...only show he ever saw us play (and no, he's not dead, not even 10 years later here...he just didn't really need to go to many shows when we were rocking out at the house once a week anyway...plus, wasn't really his style).

We had plenty of awesome shows after that, but going on stage with the merch booth stocked full of your album for everyone to take home made us feel like we'd arrived somehow. All around town, it seemed we'd hear our stuff on the radios as people drove by now and then, see our t-shirts, and then later on, even hear it on MTV. What the crap?? Glory days, my friends.

If you were there, you know it was the real deal that night. "Los Nueve Amigos," the men of SCAP. Cheers fellas, let's do it again sometime.

(P.S. - I linked to our MySpace page up at the top, but our main site is http://www.scapmusic.com if you're interested. Not a lot of action at either spot these days)

I am NOT...

...a guitar hero, but I play one on TV (er, well, not really).

...addicted to shopahol, but I do like buying stuff.

...ready to admit that I'm a "grown up," even though my son calls me Dad.

...a complete narcissist, even though I'd certainly be justified if I was.

...likely to ever bother trying shrimp again, since they're basically the bottom-feeding, scum-sucking cockroaches of the sea. Bon appetit!

...trying to start a new Facebook note-posting trend with this thing.

...a lesbian, because I'm a dude...but I dig chicks anyway.

...unemployed, even though nobody else can claim me as their employee.

...interested in causing physical harm to anybody, but if someone breaks into my house while I'm here, they won't get much chance to explain themselves before I try to introduce them to God the hard way.

...a hyphenated U.S. citizen.

...thinking about moving, and wondering if/when/how. Nope, not at all.

...a real mean guy most of the time...but I can be a jerk every now and then. Watch out fellas.

...a fan of movies, generally speaking, but I love a good comedy or action film.

...going to put off getting started with the day to think up more witty garbage to list here.