It wasn’t about the $250 amount I paid you, it was for a service that you failed to deliver that bothers me. What sounded like a fair trade for services rendered, turned into a rip off because you cashed my check, but only returned lip service for the past 7 months on why you have not been able to meet the obligation.
Have you ever paid for a service and not received it? Chances are that it has not happened to that many people, and when it does happen a brief conversation with the provider is usually enough to prompt action. I have agreed to numerous pay for performance agreements in my work life history and have not been completely ripped off before like I have this time. Yet the amount has me wondering how much farther I should push back. If it was $1000 I might go to small claims court to collect, but I can’t see wasting anymore money or time for such a small amount.
Yet you don’t have to be an independent contractor to have paid for a service not received. You can be an employer that pays salary or hourly wages that get very little in exchange. There are a lot of employees that don’t provide a day’s work in exchange for a day’s pay. And yet we watch the employer do little to change the circumstances.
“Free money comes from the government”, a neighbor told me. He happens to be on several programs and is skilled at collecting money without working at all. Yet I responded that even that money comes from taxpayers so it is not free. “It is free to me, because I don’t work and pay taxes” he said, and I was stumped as to what to say next. I am working, paying taxes and what do you know, I am paying my neighbor to do nothing too!
Regardless of recent events, I am really glad to have a work ethic gene. I like to earn money in exchange for services rendered. And if anyone ever paid me and didn’t get their money’s worth, I wouldn’t hesitate to make things right. Maybe I’m just weird.
