Stupid People...
I was going to post about some of the stupid things I had to deal with today, but then I thought, "What's the point in that? Why make an entry, and hang on to negative thoughts about people who annoyed me today? Do I really want to come back and remember being annoyed? If it's something that I need to be reminded and aware of, then yes; But if it's just some one-time passing along sort of thing, why bother making memories of such events? Life's too short to dwell on the negatives.
On the plus side of things, two of my customers paid their bills today, so that's more money in the bank and that's always a good thing! My job-pile was thinning out a bit as I finally cleared off old projects, but it's filling up again as new work comes in to the shop.
It was cold (well below freezing) this morning, and there was a light skiff of snow on the ground; But tomorrow the temperature is expected to reach +18°c, which is a very nice balmy day. Should be a perfect day for the Fall Festival in town tomorrow night!
Got some more paperwork taken to the accountants this morning. They're just about finished, so far as I can tell, and it won't be long before we can finally get our taxes filed. Filing the taxes means we will be able to apply for loans, and it also means (or at least should mean) a nice fat cheque for nearly two years worth of back-payments for the Child Benefit payments!
The liquor store is out of the 750ml bottles of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, which is what we serve at the bowling alley. The clerk had suggested the idea of buying the larger bottle, but I said it wouldn't fit into the dispenser. She suggested using it to refill the smaller bottle, which might have been more obvious to me had I been more awake. I took that into consideration, and then looked at the even larger 1,750ml bottle. That bottle costs about $2 more than buying two of the 750ml bottles, but gives me an extra 250ml of Rum. 250ml = a little more than 8 shots. 8 shots = > $32.00! So for an extra $2, I bring in more than an extra $30 in profits! All I need to do is buy a little funnel so I can refill the 750ml bottle from the large one without spilling any. $2 into $30... Yeeesh... I wish all of my investments paid out 15:1 like that!
This weekend, I have to make a trip up to Abbey SK, to pick up a garden-tractor for Sears. Abbey is 150km away, one way, and this job will take two round trips (one to pick it up, and one to take it back.) The customer has an extended warranty plan, but once again Sears won't pay the cost of my driving up there and back (twice.) I can't say that I blame them, as they'd be looking at $600 just for mileage! However, this particular customer had actually called the shop two weeks ago to explain what the problem was (bad transmission) and I had told him to call Sears since it was under warranty. We had quite a chat, and I learned that he's 94 years old, and living on his own. There's no way this old guy can bring the machine to me, and he needs it to be working. Sears agreed to pay up to $300 for mileage, so I told them that for this call only, I would reduce my mileage rate so we could take care of the customer. The reason I normally charge Sears $1 per km in each direction, is that they won't pay me for my time while I'm driving. I'm going to be burning up about six hours of time to make this trip, so the $300 they're willing to pay doesn't even cover that, let alone mileage. However, repairing a transmission is a big job, and there's room to work things out there. If Sears would pay me for my time, I'd have been happy to keep the mileage at the original 45-cents per km that we started with. Local businesses around here though, do charge $1 each way, and labour-time on top of that! Here's hoping I get some good Karma out of this...
On the plus side of things, two of my customers paid their bills today, so that's more money in the bank and that's always a good thing! My job-pile was thinning out a bit as I finally cleared off old projects, but it's filling up again as new work comes in to the shop.
It was cold (well below freezing) this morning, and there was a light skiff of snow on the ground; But tomorrow the temperature is expected to reach +18°c, which is a very nice balmy day. Should be a perfect day for the Fall Festival in town tomorrow night!
Got some more paperwork taken to the accountants this morning. They're just about finished, so far as I can tell, and it won't be long before we can finally get our taxes filed. Filing the taxes means we will be able to apply for loans, and it also means (or at least should mean) a nice fat cheque for nearly two years worth of back-payments for the Child Benefit payments!
The liquor store is out of the 750ml bottles of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, which is what we serve at the bowling alley. The clerk had suggested the idea of buying the larger bottle, but I said it wouldn't fit into the dispenser. She suggested using it to refill the smaller bottle, which might have been more obvious to me had I been more awake. I took that into consideration, and then looked at the even larger 1,750ml bottle. That bottle costs about $2 more than buying two of the 750ml bottles, but gives me an extra 250ml of Rum. 250ml = a little more than 8 shots. 8 shots = > $32.00! So for an extra $2, I bring in more than an extra $30 in profits! All I need to do is buy a little funnel so I can refill the 750ml bottle from the large one without spilling any. $2 into $30... Yeeesh... I wish all of my investments paid out 15:1 like that!
This weekend, I have to make a trip up to Abbey SK, to pick up a garden-tractor for Sears. Abbey is 150km away, one way, and this job will take two round trips (one to pick it up, and one to take it back.) The customer has an extended warranty plan, but once again Sears won't pay the cost of my driving up there and back (twice.) I can't say that I blame them, as they'd be looking at $600 just for mileage! However, this particular customer had actually called the shop two weeks ago to explain what the problem was (bad transmission) and I had told him to call Sears since it was under warranty. We had quite a chat, and I learned that he's 94 years old, and living on his own. There's no way this old guy can bring the machine to me, and he needs it to be working. Sears agreed to pay up to $300 for mileage, so I told them that for this call only, I would reduce my mileage rate so we could take care of the customer. The reason I normally charge Sears $1 per km in each direction, is that they won't pay me for my time while I'm driving. I'm going to be burning up about six hours of time to make this trip, so the $300 they're willing to pay doesn't even cover that, let alone mileage. However, repairing a transmission is a big job, and there's room to work things out there. If Sears would pay me for my time, I'd have been happy to keep the mileage at the original 45-cents per km that we started with. Local businesses around here though, do charge $1 each way, and labour-time on top of that! Here's hoping I get some good Karma out of this...