EXT wrote:
I agree with you. I had an experience with my sister-in-law. Got an
emergency call, she had hired a painter to paint her apartment. He left 2
weeks ago and never came back half way through the job. Would I please help
her out.

To keep the wife happy, I agreed. When I got there, I saw why he never came
back. She had done NOTHING to the place in preparation for the painter, and
she had lots of glass and china junk all over the place. I said I would
finish painting but she would have to do some work.

I did the painting, and some repairs and other things to make her apartment
nice. But, it took both myself and my wife constant haggling with her to get
her backside out of her chair. I went to move the fridge, and asked her to
empty it. She didn't do anything and said it wasn't necessary as it would
move OK. So I lifted it on the 2 wheeled cart and tilted it back to move it
through the door and everything spilled out onto the floor, eggs, drinks and
whatnot all over the place. I parked the fridge and made her clean up. To
move a bookshelf, she whined and grumbled about moving the books. I passed
them to her to take to the finished bedroom, when I turned around she had
only walked 5 feet and put them on a table that was also to be moved. The
grumbling changed to bitching when I insisted she move them out of the room
that I was about to paint. This went on for weeks, the job took over twice
as long because we had to browbeat her everyday to do her share of looking
after her stuff.

When it was all over, I think she hated me, and certainly complained of
everything including the paint splatter on her dishes that she was too lazy
to move from the cabinet that I painted.

I see why the painter walked out on her, I would have also if she wasn't my
wife's sister. I am sure that is why many tradespeople will refuse to return
to some jobs.

had a similar experience recently; an artist who i've done repair jobs
for asked me to paint her living room.i told her previously that i
don't paint but i have a friend who does.he gives her an estimate for
the entire condo but i guess it was too high.she gets other estimates
and then calls me to just paint the ceiling and trim.ok i'll do it
because your a good customer.i get down there and unloaded all my stuff
and she asks "how much do you think this will cost?"i look and say at
least $400.mind you there's paintings all over the place that are
selling for big dollars.well before i can paint i tell her they will
have to be moved because i'm not taking the chance of splattering paint
on them.then she says she had a quote for $600 that included painting
the entire room ceiling,walls and trim and could i give her a break and
do it cheaper than $400.i looked at her and said i think i'll pass on
this job.i didn't want to do it in the first place.best decision i've
made in a while and i think i'll be booked up next time she calls.