Bye bye, Sonny
Yesterday was fun. Mar and I went out to meet with Sonny, to see if we could finally get him to pay us what he owes us. Sonny wanted five more keys. So, we get there, Sonny takes forever but finally gets there. First thing Mar does is attacks Sonny over this whole Nicky thing. See, Nicky (not to be confused with Nicci) is some drug addict that has, in the past, ripped Sonny off before. Now, he's in the middle of our shit, ordering the wrong damn parts, and trying to get Sonny to use some other shrinkwrapped jukebox software. Sonny played dumb, and said it wasn't any of our business anyway, which is fine by me, except for the part where he's fucking up our machines by ordering the wrong damn shit.
Then, Sonny gives us crap about holding him back. Thing is, HE is the person in charge now when it comes to adding new music and videos, and he hasn't done shit with it for over a month. I knew it was going to happen, and I gladly gave that over to him so we could throw it back in his face later when he fucked it up. He's got the tools and the manpower, and I've returned every call and answered every question that they've presented to me.
Finally, Sonny says that he feels like we're sticking him up, like we're robbing him. That's when I speak up (until that point, I let Mar handle everything). I say back to him "It's a funny kind of robbery we're perpetrating then, where you've got the machines and we don't have the money you were supposed to pay us for them." He then gives us some shit about how he has to pay too much money for them. The deal so far has been that Mar and I are paid a total of four hundred dollars per machine. Two to Mar, two to me. We've been working on this for over a year now. So, I kindly point out to Sonny that if we were getting paid actual developer's rates, he'd owe us over one hundred and fifty grand by now. His current tab? Thirty four hundred dollars, to be split between me and Mar.
Sonny says that's bullshit, so I say "Fine, I guess we're done here then." And I get up, leave the table, and walk away, with Mar just behind. I'm done fucking around with his stupid ass. Mar was done with him a month ago, but I was a nice guy and gave it a bit of time so they could get their act together. Mar and I haven't been paid nearly enough for the shit we've gone through or the work we've done, and, quite frankly, I've got work to do for other clients. Clients who pay me on time and appreciate the value I give them for their money. Because of the hardware keys, Sonny can't make any new jukeboxes without us.
So, we're going to be taking our show on the road. Tony'll do up a new interface, we'll get a new company name, and we know people (Sonny's competitors) that would love to work with us. Easy as pie, and we can set a new price and handle the hardware ourselves, so the damn things don't look like fucking toaster ovens and overheat because everything has been crammed into as little space as possible with no thought given to airflow.
Oh, and Mar called me this morning. As it turns out, Sonny called Bartek right after we left, and then tried calling Mar. Will I work with Sonny again? Sure, if he pays us what he owes us. Anything after that is going to be COD, no ifs, ands or buts, and if he doesn't like it, tough shit. Honestly, though, I'd rather he just fuck off into the sunset.
Then, Sonny gives us crap about holding him back. Thing is, HE is the person in charge now when it comes to adding new music and videos, and he hasn't done shit with it for over a month. I knew it was going to happen, and I gladly gave that over to him so we could throw it back in his face later when he fucked it up. He's got the tools and the manpower, and I've returned every call and answered every question that they've presented to me.
Finally, Sonny says that he feels like we're sticking him up, like we're robbing him. That's when I speak up (until that point, I let Mar handle everything). I say back to him "It's a funny kind of robbery we're perpetrating then, where you've got the machines and we don't have the money you were supposed to pay us for them." He then gives us some shit about how he has to pay too much money for them. The deal so far has been that Mar and I are paid a total of four hundred dollars per machine. Two to Mar, two to me. We've been working on this for over a year now. So, I kindly point out to Sonny that if we were getting paid actual developer's rates, he'd owe us over one hundred and fifty grand by now. His current tab? Thirty four hundred dollars, to be split between me and Mar.
Sonny says that's bullshit, so I say "Fine, I guess we're done here then." And I get up, leave the table, and walk away, with Mar just behind. I'm done fucking around with his stupid ass. Mar was done with him a month ago, but I was a nice guy and gave it a bit of time so they could get their act together. Mar and I haven't been paid nearly enough for the shit we've gone through or the work we've done, and, quite frankly, I've got work to do for other clients. Clients who pay me on time and appreciate the value I give them for their money. Because of the hardware keys, Sonny can't make any new jukeboxes without us.
So, we're going to be taking our show on the road. Tony'll do up a new interface, we'll get a new company name, and we know people (Sonny's competitors) that would love to work with us. Easy as pie, and we can set a new price and handle the hardware ourselves, so the damn things don't look like fucking toaster ovens and overheat because everything has been crammed into as little space as possible with no thought given to airflow.
Oh, and Mar called me this morning. As it turns out, Sonny called Bartek right after we left, and then tried calling Mar. Will I work with Sonny again? Sure, if he pays us what he owes us. Anything after that is going to be COD, no ifs, ands or buts, and if he doesn't like it, tough shit. Honestly, though, I'd rather he just fuck off into the sunset.