# I Pit My Employer, The Cheap Millionaire! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 18, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920 "2008-07-18T03:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/41 "2008-07-19T03:19:35Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] > [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > “That guy was born on third base and thinks he done hit a home run!” I believe that the late great Molly Ivins said this of Bush. Actually, it’s “Born on third, and thinks he hit a triple.” And i believe it was that other great Texan, Jim Hightower. [/QUOTE] I think I like **Lynn** ’s better if it were for Bush. It speaks to both his self-entitlement and his idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/42 "2008-07-19T03:31:27Z")
[QUOTE=Spacegirl] Do you have an estimate of how much money the business is losing while you close down for chain repairs? It seems to me that if you have to keep closing over and over again for a couple months, it’s going to cost your boss that money, plus the eventual $10,000 for the major repairs. So really in the long run, wouldn’t it save him money to replace it now? Does he not realize that? Maybe he needs some logic to smack him upside the head. [/QUOTE] It’s hard to say as we’re in Summer now. Believe it or not, Summer is a very slow time for us and winter is our busiest season. The carwash industry’s biggest competitor isn’t itself, it’s home car washers. And the funny thing is is that we reclaim a lot of our water, so we’re more environmentaly sound than them, our microfiber soft cloth wont retain grit like sponges do, and we are open even in sub-zero temps due to floor heat. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/43 "2008-07-19T05:20:15Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] The people that run Mike’s are even worse. The Dahm family is known for their assholish nature, as evidenced by their extreme turnover rate for managers. They work their managers to death.\ [/quote] Fair enough. > [@](#): > > Also, I signed a non-compete contract with my company that restricts me from working for Mike’s for I believe 18 months after I leave this job, so I legally can’t really do that. That sounds like a very long non-compete to me. Are we really going back to the 80’s jobwise again? That sucked the first time around. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/44 "2008-07-19T05:37:05Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Fair enough. That sounds like a very long non-compete to me. Are we really going back to the 80’s jobwise again? That sucked the first time around. [/QUOTE] The funny thing about non-competes is how often they are enforced, IE: Seldom. VERY seldom. It is well worth your potential gain to push it because, usually, it’s your employer, who has lawyers on retainer, who fights it and wins because non-competes remove your ability to use your skills to support yourself. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/45 "2008-07-19T05:56:31Z")
Sounds like lawyer bait to me. Would make me a mite nervous. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/46 "2008-07-19T07:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=muttrox] I confess, I don’t get the constant mentions of how rich bosses are. What does that matter? Is it a “They’ve never lived in the real world so they don’t know what they’re talking about” thing? Because there’s plenty of stupid bosses who aren’t millionaires. Sounds like you should work for Mike’s Express. [/QUOTE] While I agree that rich bosses don’t have a monopoly on stupidity, I think that part of the grrr factor is that this particular boss COULD shut the car wash for a day and REPLACE THAT FRIGGIN’ CHAIN without taking a hit in his pocketbook. If the place was barely scraping by, and he faced potential bankruptcy if he did pay for the chain because the money just wasn’t there, then yeah, I could sort of see his point. Still, this industry seems to be maintenance heavy, and any reasonable owner would make sure that maintenance would be included in the budget plan. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/47 "2008-07-19T15:30:09Z")
The chain broke AGAIN this morning on my second car of the day. We were down for three hours on a sunny Saturday fixing it. This fucking sucks. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/48 "2008-07-19T15:46:34Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] This fucking sucks. :mad: [/QUOTE] For your boss, yeah. You still get paid, right? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/49 "2008-07-19T15:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] For your boss, yeah. You still get paid, right? [/QUOTE] Yeah, but it sounds like his job is a lot harder when the chain breaks, and it screws up his hours if it happens near the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/50 "2008-07-19T16:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] The funny thing about non-competes is how often they are enforced, IE: Seldom. VERY seldom. It is well worth your potential gain to push it because, usually, it’s your employer, who has lawyers on retainer, who fights it and wins because non-competes remove your ability to use your skills to support yourself. [/QUOTE] You know, depending on where you are, this is incredibly bad advice. Where I am, they are enforceable and I’ve seen quite a bit of case law that says that. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/51 "2008-07-19T16:08:05Z")
I’d reccomend asking the boss to come down for a long talk. Show him in person the problem, explain what’s hapenning, and how it’s affecting business. Say you’re not sure what the manufacturer’s specs are, but that this particular chain isn’t doing the job. You can either continue to lose money on the chain\* or have it taken care of. Point out that not only is the chain killing your business now, it’s taking much longer and having much more downtime. Additionally, customers are coming up and finding its closed for repairs, and they might just decide to leave permanently for the comeptition which isn’t having that same erratic downtime. Lastly, show him what you do to repair it and why it’s so hard. Explain that you are doing your best to keep it working, and that while you are happy to talk to him and keep him updated, the constant streams of phone calls are disrupting the repair efforts. I particular, you might suggest that you are not a trained repairman and are having to do this anyway. You can also hint that you might be leaving for greener pastures, but only play this card if you think it might put the fear in him. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/52 "2008-07-19T17:26:27Z")
[QUOTE=mischievous] “I’m sorry, I’m not taking time away from my family for a problem I’ve been telling you about for months. We can get the parts shipped FedEx, or I can go tomorrow during normal business hours.” “I refuse to fix little bits of this chain twice a day five times a week. We are shutting down the line until all damaged parts of the chain are fixed.” “Your refusal to budget for maintenance is hurting this business. Replace the chain or you will lose money. If you feel that the chain has not performed up to the standards you had hoped for, contact the manufacturer for a refund.” “I will answer the phone when I am done with this task.” “No.” Try them - he can’t make your life any more hellish. [/QUOTE] Yes, he can _fire you for cause_, which will mean no unemployment and a lower chance of getting any furture job. OP, get your resume out there and when you have a solid offer, then go in an talk to your boss. Tell him you like the job other than … Asjk hos to “fix” that portion of your job. If he goes ballsitic, or refuses, then resign amd take the other job. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/53 "2008-07-19T17:53:35Z")
I’ve seen this kind of “stupid greedy” many times, and it’s generally in second generation wealth. The child has to show their parent that they can be even tougher, but they generally haven’t done a hard days work in their life. This asshole wouldn’t call every five minutes if he’d ever been in a greasy pit working with machinery that could easily pinch off a finger if anything goes wrong. I do know some second generation people running businesses who are decent, hard-working and treat their employees well. But they seem to be the ones who have done every job in the business themselves and fill in for the employees when needed. But my brother, the plumber, left a job making six figures because the boss (who was a plumber) was retiring and letting his useless son (who has never plumbed) take over the business. My condolences. Maybe he’s figuring that, if you keep patching the chain, eventually you’ll have replaced every single link. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/54 "2008-07-19T18:27:04Z")
That’s actually not a bad idea, gaffa. How _much_ of this chain can you replace at once? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/55 "2008-07-19T19:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=gaffa] I’ve seen this kind of “stupid greedy” many times, and it’s generally in second generation wealth. The child has to show their parent that they can be even tougher, but they generally haven’t done a hard days work in their life. This asshole wouldn’t call every five minutes if he’d ever been in a greasy pit working with machinery that could easily pinch off a finger if anything goes wrong. I do know some second generation people running businesses who are decent, hard-working and treat their employees well. But they seem to be the ones who have done every job in the business themselves and fill in for the employees when needed. But my brother, the plumber, left a job making six figures because the boss (who was a plumber) was retiring and letting his useless son (who has never plumbed) take over the business. My condolences. **Maybe he’s figuring that, if you keep patching the chain, eventually you’ll have replaced every single link**. [/QUOTE] He’s actually third generation wealth, but yeah, he does act like that and he hasn’t worked much in his life. And LOL at the bolded part. Maybe that’s his evil Monty Burns plan! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/56 "2008-07-19T19:08:16Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] That’s actually not a bad idea, gaffa. How _much_ of this chain can you replace at once? [/QUOTE] Our type of chain can only be replaced where there are cotter pins that hold links and/or rollers together. A standard section is three feet between two rollers, and those links cannot be individually removed, only the whole section from roller to roller can. The chain also has a “masterlink” section where each link in that section can be removed singly, which is how you tighten the chain every so often, as it stretches over time with the load it bears every day. In the last three days I have put twelve feet of new chain into the mix, and another three foot extra masterlink section for a total of sixteen feet. The chain is about 120’ long on one side, so about 240’ overall. Think of a big bike chain in a perfect oval with big honking sprockets at either end, one of which is powered by a hydraulic motor. **As an aside, how do you post multiple qoutes in a single post so I don’t have to answer another member with a seperate post each time? I looked through the FAQ’s for the SDMB, I must have missed it.** ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/57 "2008-07-19T19:11:05Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Yes, he can _fire you for cause_, which will mean no unemployment and a lower chance of getting any furture job. [/QUOTE] That has not been my experience. I have been fired for cause, and collected unemployment. And as for jeopardizing future employment, your permanent record is vastly overrated. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/58 "2008-07-19T19:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] **As an aside, how do you post multiple qoutes in a single post so I don’t have to answer another member with a seperate post each time? I looked through the FAQ’s for the SDMB, I must have missed it.** [/QUOTE] With hard manual labor. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/59 "2008-07-19T20:20:07Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] **As an aside, how do you post multiple qoutes in a single post so I don’t have to answer another member with a seperate post each time? I looked through the FAQ’s for the SDMB, I must have missed it.** [/QUOTE] I do it by cutting and pasting the bits into a separate text editor, manually adding the QUOTE= tags. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920/60 "2008-07-19T20:32:53Z")
So… what I’m thinking is… put like three of the sections together. Next time the chain fails, pull the pins on the section to the left and section to the right. I suspect it might be easier to do, anyhow, they’ll be slightly less bent. Replace three sections at once. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-my-employer-the-cheap-millionaire/456920.md?page=4)