Mugwump's Fish World

It went like this:

"I'm calling about the van for sale.  How much are you asking for it?"
"Three grand"
"Does it come with the broad I see driving it?"

I cracked up.  I said, "No it doesn't come with the little old lady.  Who is this?"

It was Bud Boozer!  I hadn't heard from him for years.  Last time he came by his wife said she was going to divorce him if he didn't get off pain pills.  He'd become addicted.  He said he was eating them like candy.  He was in misery, in the process of quitting the pain pills and beer. 

He's been sober for two years now.  He's happy and he and his wife and kids are all doing well emotionally and financially.  They're planning on buying a rental property in Ellisville right down the road from my shop.  We had a nice long chat.

I couldn't let him go until I told him about having to spend $3,000. to fix the fish room which was one huge leak.  I told him that I'm going to have to spend another huge bundle because the way he built my stands they are all rotting and fixing to fall down and how much of a PITA moving tanks and transferring fish to temporary containers will be.  I said, "I still like you, Bud but I will never again hire you to do work for me.  I hope you understand"  He did.

...in his defense, he's not a fish keeper, and likely fully understood really what he was building....

..good on him for kick'n the demons tho....

Au contraire, Mug.  He bred fish and sold them to LFS for years.  He said that he knew how to build a fish room and tank stands.  The reason I met him was because he saw my Angels at the LFS and saw that they were good and asked for my phone number.

I wouldn't have a fish room at all if he had not shown up seemingly out of thin air.  He's a good guy and easy to forgive.  I just couldn't help but tell him how much I have had to spend to repair his piss poor work and what I will still need to spend and suffer the pain of moving fish to temporary containers while the work is being done.  I'm glad that I told him that his work sucked and that he should have known better.  I could hit myself on the head with a hammer for trusting him on the stands. 

Mr. Sharp will stop buy tomorrow before I leave for work to tell me how long his worker's patch job will last and what the new tank stands will cost me.  I pretty much know how I want them built.

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 14, 2016, 02:27:40 PM
Au contraire, Mug.  He bred fish and sold them to LFS for years.  He said that he knew how to build a fish room and tank stands.  The reason I met him was because he saw my Angels at the LFS and saw that they were good and asked for my phone number.

I wouldn't have a fish room at all if he had not shown up seemingly out of thin air.  He's a good guy and easy to forgive.  I just couldn't help but tell him how much I have had to spend to repair his piss poor work and what I will still need to spend and suffer the pain of moving fish to temporary containers while the work is being done.  I'm glad that I told him that his work sucked and that he should have known better.  I could hit myself on the head with a hammer for trusting him on the stands. 

Mr. Sharp will stop buy tomorrow before I leave for work to tell me how long his worker's patch job will last and what the new tank stands will cost me.  I pretty much know how I want them built.

..ah, I see....put his foot in his mouth about knowing how to properly doing it......

It's fine.  I like Boozer.  He is smart and funny.  He knows that I will never again hire him because his work sucked.  I wasn't mean.  I was just truthful.  I have Mr. Sharp now.  Mr. Sharp guarantees his work.  If something he does doesn't  work  I  call him and he gets on it the very next day.