What would you do?

[Walter Oobleck]

Pinch me.

So...I get home from work, unload the truck...a new truck. Not brand spanking new, like a 2014, but a newer truck, 2011 w/62-grand on it. $25-grand at Ford. Told them yesterday I'd take it overnight so on so forth, but it is already piled high behind the seat (supercab) with my tools. Worked out Point Mills today, windows.

So yeah, I get home, unload, starting to rain, beat, pick the Gazette out of the tube, the mail out of the box, bring that in...I notice this other customer out Tamarack Waterworks has sent something...payment? Always nice. Beer-thirty.

After stowing tools, packing garbage, empty the lunch-box, rinse out aluminum cans, I open the envelope...payment. Yes. A note:

Walt,
Thank you for your patience in getting the shutters adjusted. [long story...a tad of a nightmare, truth be told] I ordered the new wall plate and the sills and will let you know when they come in.
There is a tip for you included because of the good work.
She signed her name.

The tip (?) is for two-grand over cost! Heh! I mean, I've gotten tips before, but do you think she made a mistake? The final bill was for 5-grand and some change...the change rarely happens, 70-cents...but that is what she owed based on her 1/3 down payment.

And me with a new truck in the drive...and needing to go back out when the sill and the plate come in. Figure to ask the wife what she thinks. These shutters were a hoot, heavy aluminum, motor-controlled, they can be lowered/raised from inside...wire them in...don't tell anyone. Yeah, see me, call the county inspector, ah yeah, I just did some illegal wiring and I'm calling for an inspection. Relax. I've wired my house complete. Not licensed for that..."licensed" for other things.

A 2-grand tip. Think it's real? What makes me think it is real is that the wrote out the odd dollars after the 5-grand and the change, 70-cents.

I should have taken that Lariat...had leather seats, A/C up the seat-bottom, nice. Anymore these trucks...like you're in the cockpit of a jet fighter...you got this suitcase sitting to your right, the seat-back, set your cold drink there, rest you arm. Steering wheel has this phone emblem on it.

Wife ought to be home shortly...I can ask her, see what she thinks. Guess I ought to call the customer and tell them...what? Complain about the postal service, a day late? Wait for the ball to drop? What?

 

[FlakeNoir]

Whooo, that's a tough one. Though, if you still have to go back and finish the job, perhaps the tip is also covering any eventualities that might come up during this part of the job?
I guess, just to feel comfortable, maybe call her and say 'gosh, thanks so much... but I just want to check that you're happy with the final figure'? Or something like this?
Definitely wait for Mrs. Walt's input, she sounds like she might be able to help you out there.

Congratulations on the new truck, it sounds wonderful!

 

[Walter Oobleck]

Yeah...the 2000 F-150 was still running good...is still running good but I didn't want to get to the point where I'm using the passenger door like the last time. You show up do an estimate and that doesn't look good, climbing out of the passenger side, smile and a shoeshine. The wife called said she's bringing home a pizza. She got a tip too! Bank customer gave her and the other one at the branch where they work a gift certificate to the Eagle Harbor Inn. Hit a jackpot at a casino over the 4th, too...Lac du Flambeaux...Lake of Flames.

 

[FlakeNoir]

Yeah...the 2000 F-150 was still running good...is still running good but I didn't want to get to the point where I'm using the passenger door like the last time. You show up do an estimate and that doesn't look good, climbing out of the passenger side, smile and a shoeshine. The wife called said she's bringing home a pizza. She got a tip too! Bank customer gave her and the other one at the branch where they work a gift certificate to the Eagle Harbor Inn. Hit a jackpot at a casino over the 4th, too...Lac du Flambeaux...Lake of Flames.

I had been doing the same thing in my car recently. The (push-button) key was broken and the physical key would only unlock the front passenger door. So, I had to climb in and over and try to sort kids at the same time... frustrating as hell!

Yay for the tips n good fortune... may there be more.

 

[RandallFlagg19]

Everything Eventual


It’s always suspicious to get offered large irregular sums of cash, even if the offeror insist you earned the money.


What I would do is contact the customer and be sure they know how much they are paying and what they are paying for. I wouldn’t want to rip off anyone, even if it was by the customer’s mistake.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

When my wife walked in with a pizza she set it on the counter and stepped through the arch and stopped by my office under the stairwell, little cubby-hole we've limited space. Short wall there separating the office from the rest of the house and I've got my business checkbook folder set there, checks from customers, she picks up the one on top scans it and I'm getting up from the couch to walk over, pull the customer file out to show her the invoice. She's nodding, yes, it's real...(wife works at a bank and has for a number of years so she has a feel for these things)...explains why.

Reminds me of this once, Ed Loughner and his wife Mildred were going out-of-town for several weeks over the summer and they asked me to cut the grass. They have (had, they've passed) this terraced yard, mine-rock retaining walls, about four terraces climbing the hill behind the hill they lived on behind our house. Cut the grass maybe three times and when Ed gets back he pays me...Ed looked like Art Linklettner not that it matters...but he hands me three tens and my eyes pop. Usually I'd get about two-bucks a yard...maybe five though I don't recall too many fives. So here I am with this obscenely large amount of money in my jeans pocket...this noisy amount of cash with a burning desire to be known...so, I tell Ma. WHAT! She's holding the bills and I'm nodding, the smile fading, as she tells me to march back up the hill and tell Ed that he gave me too much.

Oh, alright. I made the attempt, but I suspect that I suspected at the time that Ed would have none of this take-backs, that he'd tell me to keep the money, that he paid me fair and square. And that's what he did, that's what he said. I return home and enter the kitchen where Ma is stirring spaghetti noodles, a triumphant smile on my face. He said I could keep it. Was that good enough for her? Oh no, she gets on the phone and makes another assault while I'm in the living room pacing...a plea from Ma will surely change Ed's mind. Why in the world does life have to be so hard?

I won't be depositing the check until I've had a chance to meet with the customer again...confirm that she wrote the amount she wanted to write. We're waiting on this company from Florida to send a couple parts for the shutters she ordered. They're popular in Florida, these shutters...Europe, too, France, other countries. The job is done except for a piece on the bottom, two big windows and this monster patio door, she wants the shutter to stop on a sill instead of having a gap at the bottom like there is now...what with the wind off the big lake last winter she said the snow was piled as high as the railing...we ice chunks floating in the lake in June...and things have been really cool here since the lake has been cooler than "normal"...but that does not bode well for the coming winter.

 

[kingzeppelin]

Nice to see you back on the boards Walt, and it sounds like "Lady Luck" could be smiling on you this year!
But a double check (pun intended) before going to the bank, sounds like a "cunning plan" (as Baldrick) would say.
Hope that you're a Blackadder fan and know what I'n on about .

 

[Neesy]

Pinch me.

So...I get home from work, unload the truck...a new truck. Not brand spanking new, like a 2014, but a newer truck, 2011 w/62-grand on it. $25-grand at Ford. Told them yesterday I'd take it overnight so on so forth, but it is already piled high behind the seat (supercab) with my tools. Worked out Point Mills today, windows.

So yeah, I get home, unload, starting to rain, beat, pick the Gazette out of the tube, the mail out of the box, bring that in...I notice this other customer out Tamarack Waterworks has sent something...payment? Always nice. Beer-thirty.

After stowing tools, packing garbage, empty the lunch-box, rinse out aluminum cans, I open the envelope...payment. Yes. A note:

Walt,
Thank you for your patience in getting the shutters adjusted. [long story...a tad of a nightmare, truth be told] I ordered the new wall plate and the sills and will let you know when they come in.
There is a tip for you included because of the good work.
She signed her name.

The tip (?) is for two-grand over cost! Heh! I mean, I've gotten tips before, but do you think she made a mistake? The final bill was for 5-grand and some change...the change rarely happens, 70-cents...but that is what she owed based on her 1/3 down payment.

And me with a new truck in the drive...and needing to go back out when the sill and the plate come in. Figure to ask the wife what she thinks. These shutters were a hoot, heavy aluminum, motor-controlled, they can be lowered/raised from inside...wire them in...don't tell anyone. Yeah, see me, call the county inspector, ah yeah, I just did some illegal wiring and I'm calling for an inspection. Relax. I've wired my house complete. Not licensed for that..."licensed" for other things.

A 2-grand tip. Think it's real? What makes me think it is real is that the wrote out the odd dollars after the 5-grand and the change, 70-cents.

I should have taken that Lariat...had leather seats, A/C up the seat-bottom, nice. Anymore these trucks...like you're in the cockpit of a jet fighter...you got this suitcase sitting to your right, the seat-back, set your cold drink there, rest you arm. Steering wheel has this phone emblem on it.

Wife ought to be home shortly...I can ask her, see what she thinks. Guess I ought to call the customer and tell them...what? Complain about the postal service, a day late? Wait for the ball to drop? What?

Hi Walter - it is nice to see you posting.

Andy and I travelled up through the "U.P." and I bought a "Yooper" T-shirt for me and a hunting knife for Andy for our 9th wedding anniversary. We had pasties for brunch and bought six frozen ones to take home. That sure is a nice area up there!

We stayed in St. Ignace after crossing the big bridge and had a hotel right on the big Lake!

 

[Dana Jean]

Nice to see you back on the boards Walt, and it sounds like "Lady Luck" could be smiling on you this year!
But a double check (pun intended) before going to the bank, sounds like a "cunning plan" (as Baldrick) would say.
Hope that you're a Blackadder fan and know what I'n on about .

Love Blackadder. We own them, hahah!

 

[skimom2]

...we ice chunks floating in the lake in June...and things have been really cool here since the lake has been cooler than "normal"...but that does not bode well for the coming winter.

I have a friend that lives in WI that said the same thing--cooler than normal summer means early and harsh winter in your area.

 

[blunthead]

...I won't be depositing the check until I've had a chance to meet with the customer again...confirm that she wrote the amount she wanted to write...

I think this is the right thing to do under these circumstances, just to be sure. If I were the customer I'd appreciate your concern. If she didn't mean to write that amount (which I find highly unlikely), she'll be very grateful that you hadn't deposited the check by then. She'll be even happier with you and tell more people about you.

 

[FlakeNoir]

I have a friend that lives in WI that said the same thing--cooler than normal summer means early and harsh winter in your area.

Oh no.....

 

[BM Long]

Blackadder! love it too my name will be... the black... vegetable.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

So...decided to email the customer, suggest she might want to double-check the amount she wrote. Although the three sills and a double-gang switch-plate cover were ordered to complete the shutter part of the installation, the actual shutter order took forever and a day to arrive...the windows and patio door took five weeks to arrive and when they arrived the customer was out-of-town. Summer is short. Furnace ran in July. And my suppliers don't care who you are, if you aren't paid-in-full by the 10th of the month they assess finance charges and I do not like unpaid bills lying about. Haven't gotten July's note yet from the yard...looks like I have four more days but when you open the box and there's a bill it's like the jailhouse door clanging shut. Post bond. Thing is, I could have waited into August before the parts arrived and I could complete the task and find a time to tell her the check amount might be incorrect, pay my bills, so on so forth.

The tip is the real thing. Don't recall how she worded it exactly, but she said nope the amount is correct, that I do good work, that she wants to establish a good relationship for future projects. Yay. Boy howdy! Do you want your grass mowed, too? So I can deposit the check and pay for the material (she acquired the shutters/motors, herself) and not worry. Stay out of the late-payment jail. Anyway, mind-boggling...but I guess things like that happen from time to time, you hear stories and ain't it strange that you can loose sleep over good fortune the same way you lost sleep over bad? What's up with that?

... sounds like a "cunning plan" (as Baldrick) would say.
Hope that you're a Blackadder fan and know what I'n on about .

Didn't own a TV for most of the 80s, Zep, and no one I knew had one, either...although I did acquire an old colored model in an honest trade just before the Challenger blew up...but the sound went on it a day or two after I plugged it in. I recall a bunch of us standing around the color tv watching the repeated images of the explosion on the news, each one of us commenting from time to time that we wished David was home, had his tv turned to the news, so we'd have sound--thin walls and a shared heat duct--this place I lived at the time. Looked for info on-line and it sounds like I missed a good one.

...Andy and I travelled up through the "U.P." and I bought a "Yooper" T-shirt for me and a hunting knife for Andy for our 9th wedding anniversary. We had pasties for brunch and bought six frozen ones to take home. That sure is a nice area up there!...We stayed in St. Ignace after crossing the big bridge and had a hotel right on the big Lake!

Did you head into Canada at the Soo, Neesy? Or cross the U.P. on U.S. 2? See the signs for "The Mystery Spot"? Heh! Before I was born, I cross the Straits, Ma behind the wheel of some old car made from battleship-iron, car-ferry, smooth fenders and fuzzy wool clothing, images fading. I think they were working on the Mighty Mac at the time but it wasn't complete. Was it a Marbles knife? You can make some good eating just by cutting up the vegetables you find in a pasty and baking that in the oven...say if you don't want to make crust or maybe the last time you tried your friends were appreciative but few could eat the crust.

So...all is well and all manner of things are well. Thank you for the input, friends.

 

[swiftdog2.0]

You did the right thing and it sounds like it worked out well. Good for you for being honest!

I had a similar experience. I was working as Project Manager for a fairly large financial company about 7 years or so back. It was a salaried position and we got paid on the middle business day of the month and the last business day of the month. My pay was direct-deposited into my bank account so I didn't get an actual paycheck. I was just in the habit of checking my balance on paydays to make sure the deposit occurred.

Well one payday I check my balance and I see there is quite a bit more money in there than I expected. Now that never happens. Initially I thought I must have sent out a check or made a payment that had not cleared the bank yet. On my lunch I logged into my account and went through the on-line transactions and saw that all my payments and checks had been posted. I double checked my math in my checkbook and compared it to the on-line register. All looked good there. I check recent activity and see it was my salary deposit that was inflating the balance. By several hundred dollars. I'm thinking payroll made a goof. So I go to my boss and tell him what happened and he says he'll check with payroll.

A few hours later he calls me into his office. I'm expecting him to tell me that payroll made a mistake and I'd have to write the company a check for the balance. This had happened before. Not to me but to others I worked with. Well, to my surprise he tells me the job salary review committee that senior management had founded had completed reviewing the project manager job family. Part of their responsibilities was to do a salary comparison with other local companies within the industry. They found that our company was woefully underpaying people in my role that had the years of experience in the industry that I did. They decided to increase salaries for those people found to be below the local industry average. I got something like a 15% raise in pay

While this was all well and good, the communication around the increases was lacking. The committee didn't inform the people affected or their bosses that the salary increases were forthcoming.
My boss told me that out of all the people that worked for him I was the only person that would ever question why they were getting paid more than anticipated. He said most people would just keep quiet and hope that no one would catch on. I took that as a compliment to me and as a sad commentary on the integrity of others.

 

[king family fan]

So...decided to email the customer, suggest she might want to double-check the amount she wrote. Although the three sills and a double-gang switch-plate cover were ordered to complete the shutter part of the installation, the actual shutter order took forever and a day to arrive...the windows and patio door took five weeks to arrive and when they arrived the customer was out-of-town. Summer is short. Furnace ran in July. And my suppliers don't care who you are, if you aren't paid-in-full by the 10th of the month they assess finance charges and I do not like unpaid bills lying about. Haven't gotten July's note yet from the yard...looks like I have four more days but when you open the box and there's a bill it's like the jailhouse door clanging shut. Post bond. Thing is, I could have waited into August before the parts arrived and I could complete the task and find a time to tell her the check amount might be incorrect, pay my bills, so on so forth.

The tip is the real thing. Don't recall how she worded it exactly, but she said nope the amount is correct, that I do good work, that she wants to establish a good relationship for future projects. Yay. Boy howdy! Do you want your grass mowed, too? So I can deposit the check and pay for the material (she acquired the shutters/motors, herself) and not worry. Stay out of the late-payment jail. Anyway, mind-boggling...but I guess things like that happen from time to time, you hear stories and ain't it strange that you can loose sleep over good fortune the same way you lost sleep over bad? What's up with that?



Didn't own a TV for most of the 80s, Zep, and no one I knew had one, either...although I did acquire an old colored model in an honest trade just before the Challenger blew up...but the sound went on it a day or two after I plugged it in. I recall a bunch of us standing around the color tv watching the repeated images of the explosion on the news, each one of us commenting from time to time that we wished David was home, had his tv turned to the news, so we'd have sound--thin walls and a shared heat duct--this place I lived at the time. Looked for info on-line and it sounds like I missed a good one.



Did you head into Canada at the Soo, Neesy? Or cross the U.P. on U.S. 2? See the signs for "The Mystery Spot"? Heh! Before I was born, I cross the Straits, Ma behind the wheel of some old car made from battleship-iron, car-ferry, smooth fenders and fuzzy wool clothing, images fading. I think they were working on the Mighty Mac at the time but it wasn't complete. Was it a Marbles knife? You can make some good eating just by cutting up the vegetables you find in a pasty and baking that in the oven...say if you don't want to make crust or maybe the last time you tried your friends were appreciative but few could eat the crust.

So...all is well and all manner of things are well. Thank you for the input, friends.

great news. Honesty pays off.

 

[Neesy]

So...decided to email the customer, suggest she might want to double-check the amount she wrote. Although the three sills and a double-gang switch-plate cover were ordered to complete the shutter part of the installation, the actual shutter order took forever and a day to arrive...the windows and patio door took five weeks to arrive and when they arrived the customer was out-of-town. Summer is short. Furnace ran in July. And my suppliers don't care who you are, if you aren't paid-in-full by the 10th of the month they assess finance charges and I do not like unpaid bills lying about. Haven't gotten July's note yet from the yard...looks like I have four more days but when you open the box and there's a bill it's like the jailhouse door clanging shut. Post bond. Thing is, I could have waited into August before the parts arrived and I could complete the task and find a time to tell her the check amount might be incorrect, pay my bills, so on so forth.

The tip is the real thing. Don't recall how she worded it exactly, but she said nope the amount is correct, that I do good work, that she wants to establish a good relationship for future projects. Yay. Boy howdy! Do you want your grass mowed, too? So I can deposit the check and pay for the material (she acquired the shutters/motors, herself) and not worry. Stay out of the late-payment jail. Anyway, mind-boggling...but I guess things like that happen from time to time, you hear stories and ain't it strange that you can loose sleep over good fortune the same way you lost sleep over bad? What's up with that?



Didn't own a TV for most of the 80s, Zep, and no one I knew had one, either...although I did acquire an old colored model in an honest trade just before the Challenger blew up...but the sound went on it a day or two after I plugged it in. I recall a bunch of us standing around the color tv watching the repeated images of the explosion on the news, each one of us commenting from time to time that we wished David was home, had his tv turned to the news, so we'd have sound--thin walls and a shared heat duct--this place I lived at the time. Looked for info on-line and it sounds like I missed a good one.



Did you head into Canada at the Soo, Neesy? Or cross the U.P. on U.S. 2? See the signs for "The Mystery Spot"? Heh! Before I was born, I cross the Straits, Ma behind the wheel of some old car made from battleship-iron, car-ferry, smooth fenders and fuzzy wool clothing, images fading. I think they were working on the Mighty Mac at the time but it wasn't complete. Was it a Marbles knife? You can make some good eating just by cutting up the vegetables you find in a pasty and baking that in the oven...say if you don't want to make crust or maybe the last time you tried your friends were appreciative but few could eat the crust.

So...all is well and all manner of things are well. Thank you for the input, friends.

Glad to hear she meant to give you that huge tip, Walter Oobleck!

We crossed that giant bridge but did not go to Mackinac Island. After spending the night in St. Ignace at the Bavarian Haus we carried on west and crossed over to Canada at International Falls, Minnesota.

I really liked that UP area and thought the scenery was lovely. The people were friendly, too.

(Hubby just asked what was for supper tonight). I guess I had better make something fresh rather than just thawing out those pasties!


Here is a pic he took the day after spending a night in St. Ignace. That is me, but that is not our vehicle. Oh yeah, I got a nice bottle of maple syrup with a picture of the "Mighty Mac" bridge on it as a souvenir.