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What Should I Do? -Semi-Long Rant-

A

Azoth

Senior member
Okay folks, I am about to more than likely make a bad decision and need some neutral stances on this...

I moved to this lovely, yet barren area last year from a major metro area. I was used to competition when it came to who got a job in the IT industry, so set my standards low hoping to get in with one of the few companies in this area.

I got my business license, joined with the local Chamber of Commerce and was pointed in the direction of the local newspaper. All well and good... They wanted an Internet presence... even better. They wanted to pay absolutely nothing. slight problem.

I figured, hey, why not, a quick site, drop in phpNuke, let the site basically run itself, make a name for myself in the new area... bad idea. Now not only did I set up the site and customize it, but have to update it weekly, again for no pay.

It gets better. The editor of the newspaper and I got to be decent business aquaintances... So he needed everything in his office networked. He said, set up the network and he'll give me something for my trouble... I had nothing else to do, so I figured why not. Set up the network consisting of 7 Mac systems and 1 Intel system... Was given the high reward of thanks.

Got a good deal on a laser printer, and knew his was about to pass on. Offered to let him test drive it, then he could pay me on a installment plan with no interest... over 8,000 pages and two months later I have yet to see a penny.

I have thought about telling the guy off, but he is the only major local business and has promised me a job when one of his employees leave in a few weeks. My choice is either tell the guy off and spend the rest of my life flipping burgers or working at wally-world, or keep biting the bullet and wait out the employment, hoping he pays for the printer that I have been having to eat the past few weeks and fulfils his promise of employment.

It is beginning to feel like open promises that will never be filled.

Any ideas on how to handle this situation?
 
Go to his office and demand to be compensated for your hard work. Tell him you won't leave until you're handed the cold-hard cash (be prepared to be in there for a while).

Good luck.
 
Well, I would grow some balls, however the primary problem is that I have a wife to support as well as house and car payments and am running out of savings fast. All of this in a town that has less combined IQ than the cast of Deliverance.

The promise of a job at the local paper in the pre-press and advertising department is nice, but if it does not pan out then there is no other place around here unless I want to ask "do you want fries with that," or thank you for shopping have a nice day.

Basically I have to brown-nose in hopes that he pans out with his promises, but need to figure out some tactful way of getting some type of compensation for my time. 50 and 60 hour weeks with no compensation gets old fast.
 
I can vouch for the long work weeks, he's always gone. 🙁

I can also vouch for the sad lack of jobs here, downtown is virtually empty save for the pigeons.

Small town/country life is nice, just hard to set oneself up in.

PS: We could be farmers, but if you saw our garden, you'd laugh. 😉
 
uh. lets see...you move from a place where there are a lot of jobs to a place where there are no jobs, and you are bitching about your inability to get paid.

Please count your IQ in with that of the townspeople.

OBTW, hope you don't get your wife pregnant. With your attitude, the kid will likely be a shiftless ah heck as well.

Are you mad yet?

Get off your ass, biatch, and serve a contract instead of your anus when someone wants you to do IT work!
 


<< 50 and 60 hour weeks with no compensation gets old fast. >>


I'm sorry Azoth, but this guy is totally taking advantage of you. I don't know how you can do that! :Q Talk with him...say this has to stop. You can't go on doing this crap...i dunno what else to say. Just stop doing that for free. Now.
Having no work is better than doing work for free! This guy is full of empty promises. If he doesn't comply when/if you confront him, then you know nothing was ever going to happen. F*cking ridiculous...i'd go nuts!
 
uh. lets see...you move from a place where there are a lot of jobs to a place where there are no jobs, and you are bitching about your inability to get paid

Umm sorry, but I never said there were a lot of jobs... I said it was a major metro area with high competition for IT work. High competition does not mean one gets a job unless they grossly under sell their services.

Please count your IQ in with that of the townspeople.
I will just ignore that somewhat sharp and mildly intelligent/witty statement, as in not knowing me or my situation you have no right to pass judgement.

Are you mad yet?
No, not at all, I can not get mad at those of weak wit and such disregard for grammar 😉
 
Homer: I can answer that one. The pollution, combined with the heat, combined with a few personal reasons lead to the move to Crewe. I grew up here, and it was once a fairly prosperous RR town. It'd gone downhill in the years since I'd left, unbeknownst to me.

 
Exactly how small is this town?? Re the original question, I would let the other guy leave and if you dont get the position, then demand your money.
 
This town is pretty small. The nearest Wal-Mart was put in just a few years ago, and is 10 miles from here (not far, but proir to that, one had to travel half an hour to get to Wal-Mart).

The nearest city is over an hour away. There are a lot of farms here.

With the downtown dead, the town council is desparate to get new blood in, but it's slow going.
 
Exactly how small is this town??

less than 1,500 people total...

Downtown consists of 2 blocks with one bank, one drugstore, one pet store, one hardware store... and of course the newspaper.

Closest shopping is 10-15 miles away at Wal-Mart.
 
Hey, just expressing an opinion that most would have when you do something so stupid as to work without a contract, and then will not do what it takes to get paid. Show some fscking backbone and you might get a check.

The fact that you will not fight back when insulted like this speaks volumes about your ability to earn a wage. The same kind of grit you use to stand up for yourself is what you use when you demand to be paid for your services. You say there was intense competition for the work that you did. And you left. This leads any reasonable person to believe that you felt you could not compete, or do what it took to carve out a proper life. So you move to a small town, thinking...what?

If you did not thoroughly check out the place to which you were moving, and then get hosed when you move there, you got what you deserved.
 
The fact that you will not fight back when insulted like this speaks volumes about your ability to earn a wage.

Actually, the fact that I will not fight back over trivial insults merely shows that I will not degrade myself to the level of the one insulting. Remember, I posted a question asking for help, not insults. If your idea of help is to insult others, then you, my friend, are in more need of help that I will ever be 😉

This leads any reasonable person to believe that you felt you could not compete, or do what it took to carve out a proper life.

Well that is odd, have you not ever heard the saying that one would rather be a big fish in a little pond rather than a little fish in a big pond? When you are in an area of high competition and people with your training and certifications are near a dime a dozen, you simply move to an area that has not yet advanced and work on carving your own niche`. That, my friend, is called ambition... Not always the smartest thing in the world, but then again, what is smart in today's society.
 
Did you ever wonder why, when a Gas station goes up on one corner of a city, another gas station goes up on the opposite corner? Because that is where the money is! The reason why competition was so fierce was because everyone needed IT workers.



<< When you are in an area of high competition and people with your training and certifications are near a dime a dozen, you simply move to an area that has not yet advanced and work on carving your own niche >>



Let's take YOUR philosophy to the extreme: Nobody is selling snow in Alaska. By your thinking, you should rush to Alaska to sell snow to the eskimos! If there was a huge need for IT work in your town, you would be too busy making money to bitch about not getting paid on the small jobs you have managed to stumble into. You are full of something, but I really doubt it is ambition.
 
NovaTerra: I don't see why dwelling on things not changeable will do much, if any, good. Everyone is entitled to make a few mistakes, it's what makes us all human.

In the attempt to escape a lot of pollution and big city hassle, small town problems came up.


Ease up. 🙂


<<The fact that you will not fight back when insulted>>

By your own admission, you're being insulting. That just sounds like you're looking to cause trouble (be part of the problem rather than the solution, as my dad says).
 
Well from the looks of things, I have a few people to thank for their help in this matter. The input gives me more ideas as how to stand in this matter. I believe that FreeFrag had the most reasonable idea on how to work things out without cutting my own throat, which was to wait for theo other employee to leave and if the position is not given to me as promised to demand payment.

Others seemed to have a few remarks that were taken as jokingly, even if not intended as such..

Last but not least, lets not forget your friend and mine, NovaTerra, who, even when they have nothing constructive to say comes up with the wittiest and most well thought replies ever seen. 😉

Perhaps I will take some of the other advice in a more tactful way and sit down with the owner and speak to them in a neutral perspective.

Thanks All...
 


<< High competition does not mean one gets a job unless they grossly under sell their services. >>



Grossly under selling your services is better than providing them for free.

You should talk with this guy, but don't a dickhead about it. Don't start spouting out that you are going to sue him if you don't get your money or any other crap like that. Just explain to him that you were promised something and thats what you want. Talk with him business man to business man.

Waiting for the other person to leave and then taking his spot is a good idea, unless 1 of 2 things happens.

The other person doesn't leave

Once the other person does leave, you don't get the job


What if one of those happens and he still doesn't pay you?
 
Setp 1. Quit working for nothing. No pay, no web support.

Step 2. Make one last call to the office to collect the lent printer, It is yours right? Get it out of there, let him know you will bring it back after he pays for it.

Sept3. While picking up the printer disconnect the free network. Let him know you will reconnect for a fee.

If you continue to work for free he will continue to abuse you. Quit working for free. Discuss costs ahead of time and get paid 50% up front.
 
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