Wasn't fired from the job, my revenge came on making sure I received payment. A customer I had done work for in the past contacted me about installing a flue liner in an old chimney/fireplace. He had just purchased an old hunting cabin about an hour and a half away from where we live. This particular guy was what one may call, for lack of better words, a tight ass. Penny Pincher. Cheap fu..er comes to mind, etc. He has more money than I will ever have in my lifetime, however, he always has a hard time digging in his pockets when payment time comes. He always has to feel like he's getting a deal and he gets one up on you. I believe it's 100% a control thing. What I'm dealing with in the past with payment time……..

He was leaving to go out of town for 2 weeks on vacation one time. I made it clear to have payment ready for my completion date, which was scheduled for the day he left for vacation. I reminded him a couple of times leading up to the date, he acknowledged it, said it was taken care of. The morning he left, he told me to call him when I was done and he would have a check for me hidden somewhere in his home. This was at a summer cottage. When I called him, he said he forgot about me and I would have to wait until he returned. Okay, shit happens, he's a busy man, not the end of the world. He then returned two weeks later, only to hand me a check for 250$ less because he claimed we did not agree with the way I finished something. He stated, it's fine, it's done and over, just to leave it, but money should be taken off the bill because he wanted it done differently. This was complete bullshit. I agreed and moved on to keep him happy.

Next project, I give him a bid, he thought it was high, I told him to get a couple more bids, it's a fair price. He said he did get one more and they were $500.00 lower. He threw the name of the other contractor out there, said if I match it, job's mine. I matched it. About 6 months later I ran into the said contractor, he never bid on the job. It was B.S.

Next 2 jobs I gave a price, but started it about $500.00 higher than I needed. I let him talk me down $300 on one and $250.00 on the other, letting him think he one-upped me and he was happy as hell. Just the satisfaction of thinking he got a deal was all it took for things to go smoothly.

Now the flue job came. The reason he called me was he had gotten a quote from a fireplace guy up in the area where the camp was located and they wanted $4000. 00. This was way too much money in his eyes. There's no way he was paying someone that kind of money to do this. That's where I come in to save the day because God forbid he pay a normal price for anything done in the construction world. He has to hire people to do the work, obviously, he can't. Yet he so blatantly disrespects and looks down on the people he hires as lesser humans. Quite irritating at times, but I understood how to deal with him through trial and error. So after taking a couple of hits from him, I now say game on, play ball.

I'm not a fireplace expert by any means, matter of fact, I never even put a liner in before. But it's not rocket science, there's always YouTube and I have a buddy who knows a thing or two about fireplace flues. So I told him yes I would do it under a few conditions. I wanted to be paid in cash, he had to buy the kit himself, I was charging him extra for travel, and the price I give is it, no bartering. I gave him a total price for labor and travel at $1800. 00. With the kit, the total bill was like $2500. 00 give or take a few bucks. The $4,000.00 price was a little high. He's saving $1500. 00 he's happy as hell, and my buddy and I make $900.00 each for a good full day's labor. Perfect, right? Should have been, but not with Cheapskate Charlie.

First, he started to talk that since I wasn't licensed he should get a cheaper rate, not having any guarantee of it properly working, or any warranty. I told him to get the $4,000.00 guy then. That wasn't in his thoughts on any level. Then he asked how long I thought it would take because we could stay at the camp and save money on lodging if that would knock some money off. I told him with my friend I'm bringing with, we should be out of there in one full day, thanks anyways. This got him all bent out of shape, asking how I could charge so much for 2 guys for 1 day's labor? I told him he was saving $1,500, my friend wasn't free, I'm dropping what I'm in the middle of doing this for him an hour and a half away, and it was an inconvenience seeing as I'm not a fireplace guy. Again, I'm saving him fifteen hundred bucks. Then he said he refused to pay until he knew it worked properly. Since he could not get up there for about a week after the project would be complete I would have to wait for payment. This waiting is not a problem for me as a lot of times this is done through mail, or I allow customers to make payments in which the last one being received as much as a month later. It's the principal with this guy. There's always an angle with him. I'm a small business owner. I keep things simple, with little overhead, no full-time employees. I do most things myself. It gets to be a personal relationship with most of my customers. I usually form quite a bond and trust with people. When I need help, I barter labor with a couple of friends on a regular basis. I also have a couple of guys who give me a hand once in a while.

So I obviously understand same shit, different day with Cheapskate Charlie. That being said I came up with a plan.

The day scheduled for the job came and went with no hiccups. I then told Cheapskate Charlie that I would meet him up there the following Saturday morning. He was going up there Friday night. I told him to go ahead and start a fire Friday night and let me know how it goes.

Sorry, everyone, I thought I accidentally deleted it. I didn't realize I accidentally submitted it. I cracked the screen on my phone this weekend and sometimes it has a mind of its own. So I thought it deleted it by accident, after all the writing I had into the story I was quite upset. Now I just took 5 minutes to come onto quora and realized it submitted it.

In the words of Paul Harvey, here's the rest of the story!

As I knew I would, right on schedule, I received a phone call Friday from Cheapskate Charlie. As I also already knew, his undies were in a bundle. As soon as I said hello, he was raising his voice, and letting me know that the flue was not working and all attempts to get a fire going ended up with a room full of smoke and a smouldering fire. I apologized for the situation and asked him if he had the $1800.00 on hand at the cabin? He mumbled in frustration that I'm not getting any payment until it works properly. I then told him it would be working properly when I get there in the morning. He argued a little bit and said he's not paying a dime more for my travels and time tomorrow. So finally I asked him if he would make me a promise? He ask what promise? I said if he gives me the $1800.00, without trying to take money off or making excuses as to why he deserves a lower price, etc, I guarantee his flue would work perfectly before I left. He made excuses and questioned me as to how I can guarantee it will work, yadda, yadda, yadda. I assured him he is just missing something and not using the flue correctly. It will work. So after a long debate, he agrees.

I'm there the next morning at 8 am. I might add I already had to go through this area that Saturday anyways for a family reunion. This worked out perfectly for me in every aspect of getting paid what was owed and hopefully teaching a lesson to someone who needs to realize the ignorance of his ways is not acceptable behaviour. If not, I get a laugh and someone else can play his games.

With money in pocket, I then started a little fire in the fireplace. As soon as I had a little flame and smoke, I reached in my back pocket, pulled out a little ball pein hammer, reached up inside the chimney and with one little swing of the wrist, the sound of glass breaking suddenly caused the smoke to rush up the chimney and the flames began to dance higher and brighter. I then turned around with a smile and brought up the fact that the next time he thinks of me as lesser of a man than him to the point of insulting me, he should just shut up for a second and think first. I made it clear that I will determine what amount of money is too much money for my time because that's my business. He needed to hire me to do work he obviously wasn't capable of doing and also he wasn't even capable of surviving if it would have been wintertime in a cabin, all because his arrogance gets in the way of common sense and troubleshooting such a simple problem. Rather than investigate as to why the chimney is not working, he would rather make himself feel better about his insecurities by downgrading the hired help and scheming how to scam them out of money.

In confusion, he stared at me like a deer in the headlights as I walked out the door.

For those reading this confused, all I did was rigged up a piece of thin glass over the liner/flue and finished around it. Once I tapped the glass and it broke, everything was working properly. I then received my money with no backlash, he saved $1500.00 bucks. Win, win. I also earned his respect that day and made him at least think about how he treats people. Not sure that his mindset changed as much as he just goes through the fake motions. It's funny though, his efforts to be nice are a struggle for him and he comes across as over the top. He honestly doesn't understand how to view people as anything but below him. It's fake and kisses ass more than anything genuine. But it works I guess for our relationship. I still do work for him.