Last week a friend of mine, who owns his own company, asked me if I could help him out with some work he had too much of at the moment. Since I'm (mostly) unemployed and hurting for money I decided to entertain the idea and we talked about what he needed help with, how much time commitment and compensation.
He told me one of his customers is located in downtown Denver, needed servicing 3 days a week, about 2 hours a day, at any time of my choosing. He would pay me the equivalent of $25/hr. Okay, I was in. I only needed to go with him down to the customer, get the lay of the land talk to the client and make my final decision.
We had this conversation on a Tuesday afternoon. He, or his son, were supposed to call me on Wednesday when they were in the area so I could meet them at the customer's location and decide if I wanted to take the contract. Neither of them called. Finally with COB rapidly approaching I called him and reminded him this is what always happens: he says he'll call and then doesn't when he says he will. Regardless, I took down the address and told him I would meet him at 7PM (he has a key to the customer's office).
Shortly before I'm ready to leave to meet him at 7PM he calls. I figure he's calling to change the time (because he does that sort of thing more often than not) but instead he tells me he has a different client he needs someone to work with since the person he has working in there right now has to leave (she has another part-time job that went full time). It's closer to where I live but has a more stringent time commitment. Also, the pay would be a little less.
I said I'd head over there and take a look. He told me to be there the following day at 4:45PM to meet the girl who will be leaving after that day and she'll introduce me to the customer and show me the proverbial ropes.
The next day I arrive at 4:45PM. She's not there. I give her some time as I understand people sometimes run late or traffic gets in their way or something. At 5 o'clock I call my friend to let him know she's not there, is he sure she's coming. He then tells me that she usually arrives at about 5:15-5:30PM. So I ask, why did you want me here at 4:45 if she's not going to be here until after 5? That's a half hour of my time wasted here sitting in my car in the parking lot. Turns out he wanted to be sure I would't be late.
Finally, at 5:15 or so, I go in and introduce myself and inform them I'll be taking over the account from "Gabi" who has to leave. The receptionist has me fill out the appropriate paperwork for a security pass, take a photocopy of my driver's license and shows me around. He also informs me that the window for contractors is even smaller than I was told. My friend told me the window was two hours, from 5-7PM and that it shouldn't take an hour and a half per day. Now the receptionist is telling me the window is 5:30-7PM. Okay, that's still one and a half hours, but no wiggle room. When "Gabi" finally arrives (at 5:30 on the dot) and shows me how she works there I notice that with me helping her out we still barely finish the job in an hour and a half. I comment to her about that and she responds that she doesn't always get finished and sometimes she has to skip a few items to finish in the allotted time frame.
Fantastic!
I've always been a stickler for quality assurance and contract demands and now I'm starting to think I might not be able to work within the scope of the contract within the allotted time frame as prescribed by the customer. As I walk out of the building I call my friend and let him know what the situation is currently. He swears and tells me they already cut their time allotment down from 4:30-7PM to 5:00-7PM and now even further? Apparently so, I tell him. Do you think you can do it, he asks. I can, but in an hour and a half I can't promise high standards nor can I promise everything will get done every day. "Gabi," I tell him, informed me she has to cut a lot of corners to meet the time window the customer grants for contractors.
Fast forward to today. My friend calls and asks me if I'm sure about that job. I tell him I need money, if for nothing else my brother's getting married and I need money to go to his wedding, which in February. He asks me if I'm coming back. To Colorado? Of course. No, to the job. That depends -- if I feel I'm performing adequately, if the customer is satisfied and if the time allotment can be met, then probably. He then goes on to tell me he has other people who are interested in the job and if I'm not sure I'll stay for a long time he'd rather give it to them. What does he mean a "long time?" Apparently at least a year. He spoke with the customer's point-of-contact this morning and they're not happy with "Gabi" leaving and apparently aren't happy with his having 3 or 4 different people in the contract over the past year or so. He tells me one person apparently lied on their resume and interview and couldn't perform her tasks at all much less adequately and a couple of others could't meet the time conditions.
I tell him I have every intention of staying at least through February but can't commit after that but will re-evaluate the situation at that time. He then tells me he will contact the other people interested in the position and will call me back letting me know if I'm still wanted/needed.
About a half an hour passes and he calls back -- "I'll meet you there at 5:15, Jason." Oh, so you are interested in having me continue there? "Yes, but they're upset about the situation and want to see me face-to-face, so I have to come up there. You do know it's a TSA secure facility, right?" Yes, I do. I already went through the process of getting qualified to access the building. Hell, I used to work in a SCIF when I was in the military and worked in plenty of secure facilities in IT and telecom (data centers and whatnot) as well.
When I'm not working for him I tell him this is why he's always losing customers. Communication is key. A simple call to the customer explaining the situation would have cleared everything right up, but instead he decides to blind-side them knowing full well they're not happy with the amount of turn-over. I swear, working for this guy isn't worth the hassle compared to the amount he pays out, the only benefit is (normally) the ability to make your own schedule and the part-time conditions. I don't know how he's able to stay in business.
I need a job. Anyone? Bueller?
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