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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Doubtless inspired by my ongoing problems with the [expletive deleted] who still hasn't finished the Casa Isabella renovations for which he was contracted, someone sent me the above comic strip. I promptly misplaced the e-mail containing that someone's name and the name of the strip, but whoever they are, they did get a laugh out of Sainted Wife Barbara and myself.
I have dealt with bad people before. I can and probably have named some of those people - comics industry people - in previous writings. I had an ex-partner who spent more than ten years trying to "get me" because of the problems his own actions caused him. I had an employee who broke into my store to steal stock after I'd helped him set up his own business. I had a lawyer - no longer a lawyer by virtue of his arrests, convictions, and incarceration on drug charges - whose defense against the lawsuit I filed against him was to try to get *me* arrested on various bogus charges by city, state, and federal authorities. I've dealt with bad people before.
Maybe I'm just getting too old for this kind of drama, but I am frustrated beyond belief by this contractor. We paid him a very large sum of money to put a new roof on our house this summer and there's a section of it that's down to wood already. He has yet to finish siding our new addition or to put drains and gutters on it, all of which can cause damage to our house.
We're starting to get cold weather and there's no heat in the new addition or the kitchen it opens onto. He also hasn't finished installing the whole-house air conditioning we've paid for, though that is less of a concern when temperatures drop into the 30s than during what turned out to be one of the hottest summers on record. Did I mention he had promised to finish all the work by the end of July? Or that he has already been paid 90% of the contract?
There are dozens of other portions of the project - including removing dangerous debris from the construction to date - which he has yet to complete. One of the things I must do today is compile a list of all of them...because that's the sort of thing a lawyer will need from us.
I hate bringing a lawyer into this bad situation, but there's just no getting this creep's attention. His poor performance cost him the job of remodeling our kitchen and he acts like this makes him the wronged party. He lost the job of putting in a new window elsewhere in our home because he tried to charge us more than twice what the window's manufacturer would charge. We're not even going to let him lay the surface floor in the addition because we simply don't trust him to get it done.
When the above failed to make an impression on him, I filed a complaint with Medina's chief building official...who will pull the guy's permit to work in the city if he doesn't finish the work for which he's been paid. I have filed complaints with other agencies and organizations as well; the guy brushes it off, saying it's just part of the business. Lord give me strength!
The actual workers are terrific, but they can't finish the job when their idiot boss won't send them here for more than an hour or two once or twice a week. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that all the contractor's jobs are going as badly as this one.
One theory here is that he takes on new jobs to use the down payments to pay for ongoing jobs in an endless, impossible game of catch-up. But it must be extremely difficult for him to land those jobs when he's presumably unable to get recommendations/referrals from his dissatisfied customers. It's a crazy cycle of doing just enough work at any given job to get the next check.
How a contractor might come by this business plan is a mystery to me. When I started checking him out - which, we know, I should have done *before* we handed him that large first check - I quickly learned that over three dozen complaints and liens have been filed against him and his company with or by the state attorney general's office, the Better Business Bureau, and the court of common pleas. Even some of his suppliers have sued him.
If you've been reading this column or my message board, you've seen the toll this nonsense is taking on me and my family. I have been spending 20 hours a week or more trying to set things right. As I've said, what was supposed to be my wife's dream project has turned into a nightmare.
Today, Barb and I will spend our evening compiling this list. On the morrow, I'll make calls to find a local attorney experienced in this area of the law. Once the attorney is hired, maybe I'll be able to let go of the anguish and stress and get back to work on something resembling a normal schedule. But I doubt it.
I apologize for spending this entire column venting. I hadn't planned it. It just sort of came out.
Tomorrow, I get back to the business of reviewing comic books and discussing related matters. In the meantime, over on our TONY POLLS page, you'll find new questions - on Joss Whedon's SERENITY, his FIREFLY series, and on video games - for you to have fun with. You can cast your votes at:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/poll
Thanks for spending a part of your day listening to me whine. I'll be back tomorrow with better stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 10/10/2005 | 10/11/2005 | 10/12/2005 >>
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Tony's Online Tips, P.O. Box 1502, Medina, OH 44258
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
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