2/12 - Boat owner that refused to pay

In order to make some extra cash I did side work.  For the most part I had no problems until one day when a guy refused to pay me.

The job was to do a custom installation of electronics on a brand new 55' Chris Craft.  I made teak facials and what have you and when done it looked like the instruments came with the boat.  I took photos but need to find them.  Maybe in a later post I'll show some of my custom installations.

When I was done with the job I gave the owner the invoice for $5K.  He refused to pay a penny of it saying that he could have done the job himself and threw me off of the boat. The yard manger from the marina was there as well and saw the whole thing.

I went home and later that night I went to the marina where his boat was docked with my custom built boat.  I tied up the the starboard side (right side for landlubbers), climbed aboard and untied him from the dock.  I towed his boat out of the slip and went across the bay to a marina that I was friends with.

I manuvered that Chris Craft into the launching pit where the yard manager was waiting for me with the slings of the travel lift in the water.  Once the boat was in the pit and over the slings he hauled the boat out of the water.  We then blocked it and out stands around it for the night.

The next day the guy came back to the slip to find his boat missing.  He looked across the bay and there is was all blocked up in the marina.  He came into the yard screaming and yelling and brought two police cars with him.  Also the yard manager from his marina was there as well.

I showed the police that the guy signed the work order giving me permission to work on the boat.  On a big job I always get a signature.  In the fine print there was a statement that an express mechanics lien is placed upon the boat to secure payment.  The yard manager from the marina said that I was there working on the boat and that they guy refused to pay me.  The police read the work order and told the guy that I am within my legal rights and he has to pay me.

Grumbling away he wrote me a check for the money that he owed.  I told him cash only.  He freaked out and the police told him that if I want cash, he has to give me cash.  Now this was Sunday and the banks were closed. At his slip was a party of people that he was going to take out for a Sunday cruise. Not now.

He came back the next day and paid me in full in cash.  Great.  I told my friend that he paid me.  Now my friend rubbed some salt into the wounds by telling the guy he now has to pay for the hauling and blocking of the boat and the washing of the bottom plus one day storage and launching fee.  That ran him another 3 grand.

Needless to say not only was his Sunday ruined but the rest of he week as well.  Bet he never tried to screw someone out of money again after that.

'till next time.

2/11 - Parking Payback

In my previous post I showed photos of how inconsiderate morons like to park around here.  If you have a high end luxury car you can park illegally at any time.  I've seen morons with these car routinely park in fire lanes of the food stores, in handicapped spots without a pass with some taking as much as four handicapped spots.

These morons also routinely run through red lights and stop signs as well.

The local police do not do anything about the situation.  They will drive through the parking lots, see the illegally parked luxury car and keep on driving and never hand out a ticket.  So much for justice.

But this is not what this entry is about, in part.  I am going to tell you how I handled one of those morons one day a job I worked at many years ago.

I was the chief mechanic for a yacht dealership here in East Egg for 10 years.  We had the show room on the left and there was another building on the right.  In between the buildings was an alley way that you had to drive down to get into the shipyard direct.  The alley was only 10' wide just enough for one car to pass through and barely enough room for a tractor trailer making a delivery.

Arrow pointing to the alley way.

Posted on both sides of the alley were no parking signs in bright red paint.  You could not miss them.

One day this jerk in a brand new Mercedes pulled into the alley way and parked his car.  He still had the dealer sticker in the window.  I yelled at him that he cannot park there.  He said that it is OK for he knows the owner and proceeded to leave for a resturant nearby.  Again a bunch of us yelled but he just flipped us the finger saying don't mess with him for we don't know who he was.

Well he was right we didn't know who he was so I guess we couldn't help him with identifying himself.

OK, he did something that he should not have done and is make me mad.  I hopped into the yards Krane Kar, and that is spelled correctly by the way and drove it up to the Mercedes.  I lowered the slings and we put them under the car after which I lifted the car into the air.  The yard guys stabilized the car from swinging as I drove backwards into the ship yard with the car in the air.

You know there was no place in the ship yard where I could put the car.  We had so much going on.  So for safety I drove to the launching pit and suspended the car above the water.  To prevent tipping of the Krane Kar I lowered the car near the water.  The tide by the way was on the make, that is coming in.

Looking at my watch it was time for lunch so I shut down the machine took the keys and went to lunch in the main shop with the rest of the crew.

A little while later we heard all kinds of screaming and cursing outside.  A few minutes later Elliot the owner of the company came into the shop with the irate car owner next to him.

Elliot asked what happened and we told him the whole story.

Elliot then asked us to put the car back on the ground.

I responded, "I'd love to Elliot but we just went to lunch and you know the union rules."  Meanwhile we were not a union shop and Elliot knew this.

Elliot comes back "OK I don't want to go against the union.  The do it right after you come back from lunch.  What time did you guys punch out?"

"We just punched out."  But in reality we were already on lunch for a good half hour.

"Right, and you guy get an hour, right?"  Elliot states.

Tommy one of the yard guys comes back, "Yep."

Elliot wishes us a good lunch and explains to the car owner that since we area  union shop there is no way he will go against the union so the guy has to wait outside.

The car owner waited impatiently in the yard as we took our time eating and relaxing.  An hour goes by and we leave the shop and I took my time going to the Krane Kar.  I climbed aboard and totally forgot the keys.  So I went back to the shop to try to find them.  Eventually I found the keys, I knew that they were in my pocket all the time but wanted a little more satisfaction.

I started the machine and by now the tide was touching the floor of the car.  I set the car on the ground and the guy made more noises in how he is going to sue us and have us all locked up.  We never heard from him again.  I have to wonder how fast the car rusted out.

'till next time.

2/9 - Parking in East Egg

This weekend we were hit with a snow storm they are calling 'Nemo'  and please don't ask why.

The people here went insane.  Gas lines formed all over on Thursday evening which were very reminiscent of the lines right after Sandy.  Only a few gas stations had no lines.

Going to the local supermarket to pick up some chicken to make chicken soup, I saw that the milk cases were empty as well as the bread.  On another isle there were no charcoal briquets anywhere.  Plenty of batteries but no charcoal.

I saw one woman with her basket filled to the top with toilet paper.  She must have had a good five 25 roll packages.  I guess she is planning on having a massive amount of ...well I'll let that one go.

The parking lots were crazy as well.  People parked where they wanted.  One jerk had his pick up truck half way into the parking lot making it hard to drive past.

And you notice that there was plenty of room in front of him.

People were in a panic waiting for the end of the world to happen.

During the day of the storm on Friday, idiots with high end luxury cars parked where they wanted.  This is typical for this area.  You have a Mercedes, you are above the law.  Own a BWM and park where you want.  It is plain to see that there is a no parking sign where this idiot is.  And in a fire lane as well.

I watched these two yacking for a good 20 minutes.  A BMW in a fire lane is permissible around here.  The local police are aware of this but turn a blind eye.

Even people with mini-vans think they are above the laws here and park in fire lanes.

Coming home I saw an idiot with a brand new Land Rover speed off the main road onto a side road and lose control of the truck.  She slid over the curb and nearly hit a pole.  A lot of people here think that although they have these trucks, that the snow and ice will not affect them so they drive like the morons they are.  But trucks slide just as easy as cars and you still need to go slow.  But people here have a lot of money and so it is their right to speed when and where they want.  And the weather better not stop them.

I stayed in on Saturday.  In East Egg we had about a foot of it.  Out in Commack Long Island I heard they had 29 inches.  NYC had ony a few inches while in sections of NJ, not a flake.  I had no desire to go out into that white crap.  Not at all.  I let the kids shovel and clean the cars.  I've had more than my fill of snow for one lifetime.

Looking at the webcam at the Hog's Breath Saloon, it is a glorious 78 and no snow to be had anywhere.  From the webcam outside Sloppy Joe's it is a bright sunny day.

While here we have snow and 32 degree weather.

'Till next time...if I thaw out

2/7 - 11 Months of unemployment is near.

Saturday is approaching and marking the 11th month that I was terminated from my last job for being too old.

During that time I have contacted numerous companies either by cold calling or through job ads and so far nothing has transpired.

Even going through employment agencies have been a waste of time. Not one of them has picked up a finger to place me. I’ve been in touch with small agencies all the way up to the large firms like Robert Half, Korn Ferry, TekSystems and still nothing. I have to wonder what is wrong with them.

Answering ads from places like Monster.Com, Job Circle, Dice.Com, Zip Recruiter and what have you have yielded no results. I have to wonder if the ads are real or not. With Zip Recruiter it gathers ads from other sites but puts on the bottom of the ad when the ad as posted. Generally the ads are very old and there is nothing new. With TechCareers.Com a lot of times the ads no longer exist when you try to answer them.

Even then, I would say that over 98% of the ads are placed by employment agencies and not the employer direct so you have to wonder if your resume is even viewed at all. At least with an employer you can Google the company and go to the company website direct and avoid the places like Monster.

But still I am spinning my wheels on ice.

They say that the biggest un-tapped method to land a new job is by networking. Through this you can find the unadvertised jobs. So far that has yielded nothing as well. The only thing was a lead that went no where. At least it was a lead. Being a member of LinkedIn as not produced anything nor has reaching out to people on Facebook been fruitful.

I received a notice from the DoL that I have 14 weeks of unemployment left which will go in a heartbeat. Plus paying $2,000 a month for COBRA really puts a strain on things. We have no choice but to tap our savings and that will not last long here on Long Island. Soon a cardboard box might be our new home. Not a very comforting prospect.

I am really wondering if I will be working again soon, if at all. With the amount of discrimination that New York condones I have to think not. At least in the very near future.

Yet I still yearn for a job in the Keys. But so far no one from there has responded back to setup an interview, even by phone.

‘till next time

2/6 - Good Shepherd Hospice abandoned us

Saturday we buried my father-in-law at Holy Rood Cemetary in Westbury with a police escort and full military honors.  R.I.P. pop.

What is really pissing me off is that when he was discharged from St. Francis Hospital they promised that a hospice nurse would be at the house by 9:30 PM that day to take care of him.  The nurse was from the Good Shepherd Hospice Services of the Catholic Health System.

The nurse never showed up.  She called and said that she would be there first thing Saturday morning.  Again she never showed up.  We called Good Shepherd and they said that they had no record of my father in law.  But they said someone would be here late in the afternoon.

Afternoon came and went and no nurse ever showed up.

Then the next story was the nurse was tied up on an emergency and would be here in the evening.  Again no one showed up.  What was my father in law?  Not an emergency?  He came home to die.

Sunday morning came and more of the same.  No nurse.  Sunday afternoon some one finally did show up, but only for 5 minutes.  They apologized that they had some emergencies and had to bump my father in law.  The nurse never did tend to my farther in law for those 5 minutes.  She was not here long enough to take off her coat.

Monday morning came and we called Good Shepherd and once again we got a song and dance.  But no nurse.  In the afternoon a nurse did show up but only to do the intake.  That was already done in the hospital so WTF?  Like the one from Sunday, she never tended to my father in laws needs.  She left leaving us with another song and dance as to why no one was there.  More emergencies.  I guess my father in law who was dying in the front room was not an emergency.

No one else from Good Shepherd came back that day to take care of my father in law.

Tuesday more of the same.  We called, got the song and dance but no nurse at all.

10:55PM Pop died in the front room.  The entire family went there and it was an emotional scene at best.  A relative called Good Shepherd so they could make the pronouncment.  I told them since they abandoned pop, we should simply call his doctor who live only a few blocks away.  But that relative signed a contract with Good Shepherd putting them in full control including calling the funeral home.

This way they can get money for saying that they managed his care.  But they never once stepped up to the plate to take care of my fahter in law.  That all had to lie on the shoulders of the family.

Good Shepherd Hospice Services of Melville Long Island and the Catholic Health System should be investigated as to why they abandoned my father in law.  And those that jerked us around should be held accountable for their actions.

But this is Long Island.  Nothing will ever happen, not even the raising of an eyebrow.

'till next time