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Post by steev on Jun 29, 2017 22:29:43 GMT -5
She's worked well this week, and realizes that she makes better money than at her other job; she spoke to her 'rents (her Dad's a CPA); wanted to know whether this is a year-round business (yes; here in the Bay Area) and shows interest in buying the business. That couldn't happen for a year or more, since she's not fully trained, my clients need to be fully accustomed to her, and there are things that would need to be transitioned, like my ad (I've out-lived the competition and risen to the top of the list by attrition, which is valuable; I doubt she'd not want the business named to her taste, but that will take some jiggering, so as not to lose pride-of-place, which is to say "first of phone-call"). She wants me to do the homework on the annual gross/net (could be Daddy; no matter), since the net is what I'd want, were I selling, paid over five or six years. I think I may have lined up an exit strategy. Perhaps I'm shooting for bailing on my forty-year anniversary.
If for no other reason, I'd not sell to her before she has a p'up, without which she can't do this work; further, she has to have a secure place for her equipment, as thieves abound. I don't want to leave my clients in the lurch, if she's not prepared to handle the challenges of real life.
She got her sidewalls buzzed off; she really is as dumb as I was, at her age; oh, well. I remain the most optimistic pessimist ever.
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Post by philagardener on Jun 30, 2017 5:47:39 GMT -5
I doubt she'd not want the business named to her taste, but that will take some jiggering, so as not to lose pride-of-place, which is to say "first of phone-call" AAAA Garden Services may not be catchy, but it would keep one at the top of the list! (and ahead of both tripleA and doubleA)  |
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Post by steev on Jun 30, 2017 10:22:47 GMT -5
The list goes by continuity seniority, but one wouldn't want to be "aardvarked".
This is actually looking do-able, to my great relief.
We're getting caught up enough that I can entertain new clients; so perhaps the business is gonna grow to my benefit and hers; couldn't hurt.
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Post by steev on Jul 6, 2017 21:35:49 GMT -5
She's bringing a friend tomorrow; we'll see whether he works out better than her last one; it's certainly to my advantage to have more than one possible worker; she has moving issues in the coming month that will be a PITA, if she can't show and I have no alternative; this being a period of potential client-base expansion, it's really important that I be able to keep appointments. I am optimistic that I may be able to go out on an upward trajectory: a bang, as it were, rather than a whimper.
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Post by steev on Jul 10, 2017 22:55:25 GMT -5
Her friend couldn't make it; sposed to show tomorrow; we'll see; a well-trained employee of 7+ years will show (don't know what's up with his other job, but glad for his help); whatever the "friend" does, I think this will be a valuable lesson in the consequences of unreliability. I'm running a business, not some free-form casual-employment opportunity; I need "reliable", not "maybe occasionally available, if I don't have something better to do".
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Post by prairiegardens on Jul 11, 2017 11:21:38 GMT -5
I finally found someone to help who was great but lost him to full time employment which I cant offer. Wished him well and said I'd miss him and thanks.. he said he'd come on weekends to help finish the projects, that "he wouldn't leave me stranded" . So keeping fingers crossed!
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Post by steev on Jul 12, 2017 19:53:41 GMT -5
Tuesday she was sick and couldn't bring her friend; the other guy got called in by his regular job, so another help-less day. Today, she showed, sans friend, as did the trained worker, so we got a lot done; I expect her tomorrow and both of them on Friday.
At this rate, we might actually catch up before the Fall rush.
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Post by oldmobie on Jul 19, 2017 3:36:12 GMT -5
My youngest did good work today, helping me plant thus sparing my back. But as I was putting seeds away, I noticed the high-caroteen sweet corn was missing. Would've blown it off, but I can't just run to the store and replace it. He looked but couldn't find it. I found it, sitting on the newspaper mulch. After dark. After the straw had been applied. With the sprinkler running. Unsealed. It's in the seed dryer now.
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Post by prairiegardens on Jul 19, 2017 9:31:16 GMT -5
Oh boy. Good luck with that! Hopefully, it not having been out that long all will be well.
A 12 year old was looking for some cash, being bored already by summer. A nice kid but I felt a bit like an old plantation owner, if I didn't constantly encourage (nag) he would stop whatever he was doing and either talk or stare off into the distance. And he decapitated a flagged but struggling elderberry tree by simply grabbing handfuls of greenery and yanking rather than looking at what he was doing, even after being shown and told about the struggling shrubs.
With the single exception of the guy who rototilled this year, so far every person I've hired to help has tried to murder plants even when they were flagged with surveyors tape. The man who was supposed to be taking out the volunteer maples did some of those then instead of getting the rest of the maples, some 6 feet tall now, was energetically chopping up the grape vine when I spotted what he was doing. Who over 5 years old can't tell the difference between a tree and a vine?! Later he ran over 20 feet of irises with the lawnmower before it registered they weren't typical grass., being broad bladed and almost 2 feet tall etc. luckily those will come back anyway. But so much for flowers this year from them
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Post by steev on Jul 21, 2017 0:03:47 GMT -5
Yessss. Well, one must make do with what one has at hand, doesn't one? Tattooine didn't show Monday or Tuesday (no phone call, not even a polite "fuck you"). Wednesday, she showed; Thursday she brought her sweetie, who did decent work (though clearly neither knowledgeable, nor accustomed to the job); they're both expected tomorrow; so long as I have one worker, daily, we can at least keep up with obligatory work; it would be so good to actually catch up.
So call me "Sultan Steev"; I now have a "harem" working for me; not that they're interested in me; no accounting for taste, eh.
If the rain returns normally this Fall, I expect a rush of re-landscaping (thanks to the drought years, people's yards look like shit); I really need regular, well-trained, help to deal with that potential windfall.
In the event of the return of normal rain this Fall, I will, of course, work all Winter to return the farm's planting areas to productive use, expecting the frogs/toads to really help me out with the grass-hoppers, aided by free (range) chickens, if any come to hand. One must be optimistic to grow stuff, otherwise one would just invest in munitions stock; always a market for that.
Damn; just realized I paid Tattooine2 for a day she didn't work; I'll straighten that out.
Tuesday will be Tattooine's 22nd birthday; literally coming close to mine half a century ago; time flies, when you're having fun.
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Post by steev on Jul 24, 2017 23:50:04 GMT -5
So, given Tuesday off for Tattooine's birthday, despite their promises to work today, neither showed; when they next show up, I will inform them that I don't trust their word, that I will be looking for a more responsible helper, and that, in the event I find one, I will dismiss whichever of them I find least responsible, while continuing to look for responsible workers, in case I need to dismiss the other. I think they just don't get that I'm trying to run a business; I think Tattooine isn't dealing with the fact that she's fucking up the business in which she's expressed interest. Given her lack of reliability, I certainly wouldn't recommend her to my clients; I'd rather drop them than turn them over to a dip-shit, which would only make me look like an asshole.
If I can't get reliable workers, I'll slough off my maintenance accounts to "mow-blow-and go" guys; keeping only my high-value/high-expertise clients; I can deal with them in two/three days a week, without help; more time on the farm can only be a good thing. Fuck this shit; I'll retire at not older than 75, regardless.
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Post by steev on Jul 26, 2017 19:51:01 GMT -5
Neither of them showed today, nor did they call; I did work they'd have been no help with, anyway, so not a total loss; tomorrow, I've an odd-job appointment that will be a bitch if I have no help, so they show or they're fired whenever they do show. If they show, I'll explain to them that I only agreed to two helpers so I'd have at least one, if one were absent, but they seem joined at the hip, so it's all or nothing, and it's been too much nothing; I can't make plans contingent on unreliable workers.
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Post by prairiegardens on Jul 28, 2017 11:59:27 GMT -5
This is just crazy. I'd thought it was because I lived in the boonies that help was so hard to find, clearly not so, it's an epidemic. So disappointing for you after things had finally started to look up.
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Post by steev on Jul 28, 2017 18:33:25 GMT -5
They were neither seen nor heard from all this week; took me two days to handle that odd-job; I'm knackered and again falling behind in my maintenance accounts.
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Post by prairiegardens on Jul 28, 2017 21:24:32 GMT -5
Beginning to think robots may be needed to keep everything functioning in the near future, and that it's possibly a good thing they're getting so sophisticated. Clearly there's no surplus of ambition out there if it requires any sort of physical activity. I guess with a few exceptions, people are growing up thinking they're the next Kardashion (spl?) where it appears all they do is strut their stuff, and money falls out of the sky.
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