Keeping Your Power Intact

June 23, 2016





Reflective. That’s been my mindset the past few weeks as I come slowly out of the cloud I’ve been in after Henry’s death and some health challenges. Regardless, I’ve been thinking a bit more about who we are, how we’re affected, and what we allow to affect us.

Specifically, we recently hired a local contractor to do some work at The Tiny Bungalow. He did one job quite well, so we paid him and hired him to do more work at the house. Today marks about 50 days since he said he’d be here to begin that project. Essentially – though he’s been in touch via emails, he has yet to start the job and has absconded with a little less than $1000.

What should we do?

While $1000 is a lot of money, it’s also somewhere in the middle of serious ‘career criminal’ amounts. Perhaps that’s the scam in a nutshell. Maybe this contractor/landscaper chooses his targets and projects wisely. Perhaps he thinks if he runs off with an amount under $1000 it won’t be looked at as seriously by law enforcement or the courts.

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You see, the real dollar amount is $800. And Massachusetts small claims courts require you to pay about $150 to file a complaint. If this guy doesn’t show up, that’s $950 lost. If he does show – and some Googling shows he’s done this multiple times before and has half a dozen judgments against him – we still have to get him to pay up. According to online accounts, even the negative judgments didn’t loosen any funds from the guy.

I ask again, what should we do?

My thought is to make his life miserable. But it doesn’t look as if he has any footprint. No property owned, liens already on his stuff, his lot in life isn’t too good already. My next thought is to write it off – mentally and literally. Report it as a theft, put it into taxes as a loss, and then move on.

What’s really annoying is I’ve bashed the keys for 346 words so far all because some dirtball didn’t do what he promised he’d do. In the grand scheme of things, I’m more annoyed at his broken promise than I am about the money.

Now at 382 words I’m stepping away from the keyboard and taking back my power. Stealing money was enough, I’m not letting this guy steal my mojo, too.

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Have a great day! Give folks the benefit of the doubt…but always get references and never pay up front for a future project you’ve got planned.