Hey folks,

I am totally torqued about this so can I dump?  Too late, cos I'm gonna do it
anyway.  It's kind of long.

I hired a guy to paint my house and do a few odd jobs last fall.  He was
recommended by a friend of many years.  In short, he did the lousiest paint
job I've ever seen, and whined about "poor him" every time he came (he only
makes 60K a year, his life sucks, etc. -- poor bastard).

One of the days he was here, he talked about committing suicide.  It was an
attention getting ploy.  I was sure of that, but I couldn't help but wonder
if he might try to off himself in my house.  He made the comment several
times during that one day.

If somebody really wants to die, my heart is with them, but loose use of the
word suicide is one of the best ways to piss me off.  Finally I asked him,
"Mike are you really thinking of suicide?"  "No," he said.  "I'm just
venting" (or whatever -- I can't exactly remember what he said).  I told him
that I took comments like that seriously, and if he really needed help, I
wasn't going to blow him off.

At my request, he acted as my agent and purchased for me (with my money) a
stack unit washer and dryer.  Unfortunately, he never measured the doorway
the unit would have to go in (the kitchen), and it ended up being too wide.
I called Sears and they graciously exchanged the unit for a portable washer
that would fit in the kitchen.  Sears was going to mail me a check for the
difference ($225.00 and odd change).  The mailed it to Mike instead, and the
check was in his name.

He never called me to tell me he got the check, and I've been waiting for it
for a couple of weeks.  I need that money.  I'm trying to get out of a hole
because of a lot of necessary dental work.  I finally called Sears, and
that's how I found out that the check was sent to him.  I waited this past
month patiently, because I figured that the
check got caught up in the Anthrax scare.  I live very near where a lot of
that is going on, and wouldn't have been surprised to learn that some of my
mail had been held up.

He cashed that check, and told me last night on the phone that about half the
money was his because he paid for the warranty "out of his pocket" (a
warranty I didn't want).  Bull!  He had six and a half grand of mine to play
around with.  I paid him up front because my friend kept telling me how great
and professional he was, and how he needed money for his family because he
was in a tight spot.

I've known this girlfriend most of my life, so I paid him up front (big
mistake -- my stupid bad).  That was a lot of the money my Mom left me.  He
was going to do other things in the house, but I just wanted him out. Because
my best friend (who recommended him) is kind of in the middle of all this, I
just let him go after he painted the house.  He didn't even finish that,
didn't paint the closets, kitchen, or one room.  He painted right over
patched places where nails had been without sanding the patched places.  In
fact, his painting mistakes were too numerous to mention.  You should see
what he thinks passes for cut-in work.

I just wanted him out of my house, after I could get as much work out of him
as possible.  I was so drained from his incessant whining every time he came,
that I was mentally beat.  I wanted to take this year to get my act together,
and to take care of my mental health.  He invaded an important time in my
life.  He would bring his daughter to help, and she didn't know what she was
doing with a paint brush either.  She's also the apple that didn't fall far
from the tree.  She's just as much a whiner as her Dad is.  When they came,
they just took me apart, and I didn't know what to do. As I said, I paid him
up front (fool that I was).

I love my friend who recommended him, we've been friends since second grade
(we're both 43 now), so it isn't worth it to me to make a big stink.  She
honestly thought he was going to "do right" by me (as my Mom would have
said).

You know what?  That whiny jerk was never going to call me to tell me he got
that check.  He was going to keep all that money.  I was so mad on the phone
last night, that I said, "I'll tell you what Mike.  You figure out what you
think is yours, send me the rest, and let's never, ever talk again.  I mean
NEVER!"  Then I hung up.  Then I called him again and said, "Don't you bother
Ann about this either."  I found out that he'd been complaining to her (my
aforementioned friend) all along that he had gone over budget, and he was
blaming me for that.  That's bull too.  All of that is a long story.  I'm
just glad he's out of my house.

I called a professional painter to come and assess the price for fixing
Mike's bad work.  When we first talked on the phone, he told me that he got a
lot of his work fixing "friends of friends" paint job mistakes.  As it turns
out, I could have had a totally professional job for less than half the price
I paid Mike. He did a few other things for me while he was here, but those
things still don't add up to $6,500.00.

I don't blame my friend.  She really was trying to do me a favor, and I
haven't bothered her about it.  I'm the one who hired him -- it's my problem.
 He did some siding work for her, and it to be honest, it looked okay to me.
That, I think, was her basis for recommending him, and my basis for hiring
him.  I just didn't know what a jerk he was, or that he wasn't a painter.  I
didn't think he'd rip me off like this either.

So...there it is.  I am completely and totally angered, but it's my fault.  I
know better than to hire somebody that way. It's not my fault that he screwed
me, but it's my fault for paying him up front.  I wasn't thinking
professionally about this.  At the time, I wasn't thinking that I might have
to fire him later.

Thanks for letting me vent,
Betty