I'm possibly going to have to bale on a ride this weekend because of a tosspot client. They have done the usual thing of returning from a relaxed half term holiday ingesting cronovirus and then remembering all the things they should have done before they f@cked off on it. We are now bearing the brunt of this because they have leverage in that they ain't paid us yet.

Now I could push back and state that their demands cannot be met as I have bikepacking planned. We all know the result of that. But if I was to say:-

"My wife is having a planned caesarian" or
"My kids are striking for climate change" or
"I have cronovirus which I got off you this week"

They' would more than likely let me off.

So my proposed law change is to enshrine bikepacking plans in law. Once it is on the calendar it cannot be changed without a court order. This would help me no end as it feels like I'm becoming a serial bikepacking evader" Which is sub standard as I always want to go. I think Priti Patel should be in charge of bollocking thise who prevent/dodge bikepacking. What's not to like.

Sorry, it's been a tough day,

Seems perfectly reasonable Dave, says another self employed person.
Tim.

http://ratemyrant.weebly.com/
I feel your pain Dave, actually, thats not true, I used to feel your pain right up until I pissed off to Cataluña.
I think the tipping point for me was the business trip I had to make with a day's notice to northern Jutland which involved being on the go for 22 hours because work was too tight to pay for a hotel in Copenhagen. I was up at 4am to drive to the airport, flight to Amsterdam then propeller plane to Billund met Danish agent to drive 4 hours to a quarry in the middle of fu##ing nowhere where there was a factory packing cat litter. Spent 2 hours grovelling to production manager trying to explain why our bags wouldn't fit on their filling machine because they omitted to tell us they'd changed the machine. Drive 4 hours back to Billund then fly an hour in the wrong direction to Copenhagen to get a flight back to Manchester, landed at midnight, home for 2am.
Or perhaps it was spending Trish's birthday sat in Dublin airport for 12 hours waiting for them to de-ice the runway.
Work is sh1t.

I'd have more sympathy but I seem to remember a 'database overhaul' that just had to be done when you saw the forecast for last years BB300

But in all seriousness, it seems to be that now anything can be bought online and delivered the next day that Clients can't plan more than about 12 hours ahead

sean_iow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:56 pm I'd have more sympathy but I seem to remember a 'database overhaul' that just had to be done when you saw the forecast for last years BB300

Yep, the forecast for Dartmoor this weekend is grim! Enough to definitely put me off, but I’m a fair weather pussy.

Uncle Dave, it's times like these that you need to reassure yourself that things are never that bad..
We're all on 'the chain' & there is always someone worse off than ourselves..
Just think, you could be Jimmy Somerville..

Totally agree with you Dave , work has been getting in the way since October, if not work it’s one of the few weekends me and the wife are off together , A union needs to be formed to bring those who prevent us getting out brought to their knees (spouses not included as I actually enjoy spending time with herself)

sean_iow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:56 pm I'd have more sympathy but I seem to remember a 'database overhaul' that just had to be done when you saw the forecast for last years BB300

But in all seriousness, it seems to be that now anything can be bought online and delivered the next day that Clients can't plan more than about 12 hours ahead

It was grim the weekend we went to Dartmoor if you remember

On the upside it’s going to be sh!te, very sweary even without your help. Close escape I reckon

While you’re about do you have any decent routes, hopefully ones which avoid the worst of the swamps, to be fair if i hadn’t booked a day off and my marriage wasn’t in tatters I’d not be out this weekend. Also last chance saloon for February’s BAM

Ah work... Can't live with it, can't live without it. I work for a start-up, we've not made our numbers, so a few people were let go the other week. Flogged myself half to death getting something done for a customer Monday / Tuesday, only to find out yesterday that they've not been using our product for the last six months, so all that work's been canned. The work I've been doing for the last three years has also been canned, as we're now pivoting, again, and are no longer doing UI work. Have a meeting this morning, to find out what I'll be doing going forward. I now have to decide if I think we're going to make it and stick it out, or cut and run, and find somewhere else to do UI work. Work can be sub standard sometimes...

Aside from a 12 month stint with Kawasaki, I've never worked for anyone else. It has its good points and bad points but on reflection, the good usually outweigh the bad by some margin. I'm quite safe these days, as I think I'm probably officially unemployable.

Chin up Dave, add a gew quid in 'w@nker tax' for your trouble and remember that they're just punters and it's just another 'kin job.*

*I'm avaliable for business mentoring sessions throught April / May.

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:35 am It was grim the weekend we went to Dartmoor if you remember

Yep it definitely was, anyone who headed out in that isn't afraid of the rain/wind. Looking at the forecast and my previous experiences of the place maybe the quote should be

It will be grim any weekend on Dartmoor

It turns out there's a reason the Royal Marines use it for training and not just as it's close to their bases.

As if by synchronicity this

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/ ... ys-sundays

Not meaning to get a "Pandaring" but I've never got the "I'm self employed, I've never worked for anyone" shtick. If you are providing a good or service for a customer, you are working for them. The notion of being self employed offering the advantage of flexibility and being in control of your life is pretty rare and unless you are independantly wealthy and can afford to give fuckwits the finger, you are at their beck and call. IME the more times you pull someone out of the dog-doo, the more it's expected and becomes the new normal. The number of buyers' jobs I've saved by turning myself inside out is huge, not one has ever said thank you.
BTW, I don't think Priti Patel should be in charge of anything more complicated than a sweet shop.

You've obviously never been truly free Duncan.

That's true Andy, I always charged for my services

Anyway, must get back to the olive tree pruning while the sun's shining.

My personal opinion on the subject tends to be "tough sh*t" to clients when I've previously told them about availability.

I never say bikepacking / holiday etc though. It's always that the time has already been assigned to another client (likely one that pays on time, is more respectful, listens etc). As Duncan says. If they learn that's what they can get away with, that then becomes the new norm and any time you're less than perfect, you're f*ck*d.

Not meaning to get a "Pandaring" but I've never got the "I'm self employed, I've never worked for anyone" shtick. If you are providing a good or service for a customer, you are working for them. The notion of being self employed offering the advantage of flexibility and being in control of your life is pretty rare and unless you are independantly wealthy and can afford to give fuckwits the finger, you are at their beck and call

Depends how good you are at what you do

I always did whatever I could to help customers (still do) but if their requests were unreasonable or would compromise the job in anyway, I had no qualms about f'ckin' someone off. The world doesn't stop turning because someone walks away.

More recently I’ve been looking at the self employed route not so much for me but for the young fella so he has something to build on when he finished his apprenticeship, the issue I have is if I did then I’d have too much work for one person and I have trouble saying no to people , so that would mean employing others and as I’m not a people person they wouldn’t last very long , it’s still something I contemplate but would mean 7 days a week and 14 hour days so basically my life would be work and nearing the half century I’m not sure that’s what I want

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:00 am On the upside it’s going to be sh!te, very sweary even without your help. Close escape I reckon

I'm still not 100% out remember. Let's see how Friday plays out

Richard G wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:56 pm My personal opinion on the subject tends to be "tough sh*t" to clients when I've previously told them about availability.

This is tricky. We are very sensitive to cashflow. I could tell them to swivel but I need this payment to fulfil my own PAYE/VAT commitments to the tax man who NEVER takes "no" for an answer. But once this is done the leverage flips. They will want us to do more stuff and we are then in the driving seat. In my business we can work for a long time for large payments but with nothing until delivery and sign off. I have to underwrite anything that must be paid in the meantime and we are still paying back large director loans the company owes me and my business partner as a result.

Everyone always has an answer they are often almost right, but like anything, local conditions apply.

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:58 pm because of a tosspot client

You'd better let them know that you're not available from May 23 to May 27, 5 days should be enough

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:07 am While you’re about do you have any decent routes, hopefully ones which avoid the worst of the swamps, to be fair if i hadn’t booked a day off and my marriage wasn’t in tatters I’d not be out this weekend. Also last chance saloon for February’s BAM

This was the plan: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/rou ... r-route-V2

But probably taking the road from Hexworthy to Princetown

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 3:30 pm This is tricky. We are very sensitive to cashflow. I could tell them to swivel but I need this payment to fulfil my own PAYE/VAT commitments to the tax man who NEVER takes "no" for an answer. But once this is done the leverage flips. They will want us to do more stuff and we are then in the driving seat. In my business we can work for a long time for large payments but with nothing until delivery and sign off.

Oh trust me, I get it. It's why I personally work with 6 months of mortgage etc payments sat in my bank account, even if I've got money owed on a credit card etc.

That payment issue is also why we split everything into stages. Though obviously some projects are easier than others to do that with. I don't think I'd ever risk another "here's £20k deposit, £20k when you finish" job again.