Turned Down a Gig on Principle

I once turned down $500 a month in advertising from a Ninja.
 
I had a patron come in to use the computers (at the library :mad:) to make a flyer.

About halfway through, I realised that the product he was selling was some sort of woo (Goyin) and the flyer started to get dodgy. He was saying things like "Do you suffer from...[gout, diabetes etc]". The sort of weasel wording that would protect him legally, but still ensure that the suckers were thinking that he had a cure for their ills.

I apologized and nicely suggested that if he went to a different branch he may be able to find someone who wouldn't object on ethical principles...

He was cool about it...
 
I once turned down a neighbor who wanted me to watch his house from across the street while he had some friends over, and call him if I saw any strangers hanging around. I woke up about four in the morning to the sound of the "Ghetto Hawk"* circling overhead as it shown its spotlight on my neighbor's house. I finally got up just in time to see the local "I'm Witless" news team loading up its equipment.

Drugs ... it's always about drugs ...

(* - Police Helicopter)
 
UncaYimmy said:
I was contacted by someone interested in my web development and marketing services. She runs a site dealing in the metaphysical and was looking to rework and expand it.

At first blush the site seemed to center (pardon the pun) on meditation. I'm okay with meditation. However, as I explored it further, there was plenty of woo. For example, your fingerprints are formed in the womb and do not change during your lifetime. Therefore, they are much more reliable for making life decisions than other forms of palmistry.

The site also got into explaining that 40,000 years ago we had the first to attain Final Liberation - they even know the First Master's name (quite a feat, that). Apparently the person who contacted me is the newest addition to this lineage, and she provides Life Master Readings from your skin ridges at $60 per hour.

I declined to pursue it any further. While I wouldn't mind taking some money out of her pocket, I'm very good at what I do, so I know it would only serve to line her pockets even more. That didn't sit well with me.
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I'm glad to see you took this attitude, because far too often people go down the same road, mentally, but at the end rationalize to themselves saying "well, if I don't take the money and do the job, someone else will anyhow, so might as well be me". But you stood by your ideals. Bravo sir, bravo!
 
Zontini said:
Smart move. Who'd want to be paid for their hard work and effort with a fistful of throwing stars to the back?
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No, no, no!

You take the money, and when he complains that he can't see any of his ads on the site, tell him, "Well, a Real Ninja would be able to see them..."
 
Toke said:
Yes, most likely, they can be quite efficient.

Good not job UncaYimmy.
We are being filled with talk of the political consumer, nice to see the anti woo contractor*.


*That is the correct word, right?
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Yep, that's the right word. In the US the word contractor by itself is typically used to describe someone in construction or home repair/renovation, a plumber, carpenter, or electrician, for instance, or the person who is central to a larger building process. A general contractor would be the person who, if you were having a new house built, or a major home improvement/repair completed, would coordinate the work of subcontractors (contractors hired by the contractor...) who layed the foundation, did carpentry, electrical, etc, as well as possibly having people working for them who did some or all of those jobs. If it's someone like UncaYimmy, providing a professional service to a business, they would generally be called an independent contractor, or more often a more descriptive title (web designer, or some such.) Contractor by itself is both technically correct and correct in common usage though, so this whole paragraph has been rather pointless. :)
 
Hi guys. I guess this is my first official post here since signing up a while back. I love the board and the JREF has been a very interesting and educational resource for me. I found out about it through Penn & Teller.

A variation of this exact topic has been on my mind off and on for a while now. As you can probably tell from my handle I am a musician. I am also an atheist. I've always thought it would be great fun to play for a church here on the south side of Chicago where I live. You know, a real Blues Brothers heavy gospel baptist type of thing. I do like the feel of a lot of that music and I have had opportunities to play. The thing is I could never bring myself to do it because the subject matter runs so contrary to my lack of beliefs. If I did it I would feel like a hypocrite.

I'm glad to have read your stories, they've given me a sense of support in this matter.
 
jasonpatterson said:
Yep, that's the right word. In the US the word contractor by itself is typically used to describe someone in construction or home repair/renovation, a plumber, carpenter, or electrician, for instance, or the person who is central to a larger building process. A general contractor would be the person who, if you were having a new house built, or a major home improvement/repair completed, would coordinate the work of subcontractors (contractors hired by the contractor...) who layed the foundation, did carpentry, electrical, etc, as well as possibly having people working for them who did some or all of those jobs. If it's someone like UncaYimmy, providing a professional service to a business, they would generally be called an independent contractor, or more often a more descriptive title (web designer, or some such.) Contractor by itself is both technically correct and correct in common usage though, so this whole paragraph has been rather pointless. :)
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Thank you for the elaboration, I often miss connotations of english words.

Like the time in Felixtowe Seamansclub* where I called one of the volunteer middle aged ladies "barwrench".
She did explain why she objected to it.


*In England
 
DO NOT DO THIS!

I REPEAT- DO NOT DO!


My friend and I were food shopping at a Target in New Jersey and I went over to the DVD section to check out the movies as she went to the cosmetics aisle. Scanning the DVDs, I saw a stack of The Secret DVDs in Spanish.

I thought about it...and I picked them all up and walked into an aisle where there were no store employees or visible cameras and dumped them all quietly into the trash. :boxedin:

Far away from the eyes of my friend, who would never go shopping with me again if she knew.

I'll bet one of the store employees will see them in the garbage the next time they have to take out the trash and ask if they are supposed to be there and it will all end up back on the shelf, though. Or Target will see they are all out of that item and replace them.

Apologies to Target and my friend Jean, for the mess I'd have caused her if I had been caught.
 
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I didn't get a chance to be principled. Had an interview with a multi-national based in Germany:

After twenty minutes of a scheduled two-hour interview, in which I was forced to admit that I was unfamiliar with any of the outside systems they used, my interviewer said, "I don't suppose there's any point in continuing."

I made comments about being a quick learner with a background in similar systems.

"What I need is someone who can hit the ground running. To get up to speed would take you eight months."

I had nothing to lose by pointedly saying something dumb, so I chortled and said,"I can't imagine it would take that long."

He said, "I've been in this business for 30 years and I know how long it takes...."

What I did not say:

1. "It's a closed-circuit TV system. It's a bunch of cameras, a switching system, and a few monitors. It ain't rocket surgery."

2. "I listed the systems I've used on my resume. Why did you waste both of our time?"

3. "At least I never worked for a company that had a factory IN the camp at Auchwitz."

They "employed" 100,000 inmates at one time or another. Probably not all at once, as turnover was a b*tch.
 
Ok - I failed...

I got a phone call from a friend - he needed some urgent help with some lighting (and programming a laser) for an event. He didn't tell me what it was.

My first clue was some giant pill bottles with stuff like 'Life Line' and 'Colostrum +'. Which rang a bell, but I couldn't figure out where I'd heard it recently... (Eventually I realised that it was Tim Minchin - but he was singing about how much he loves boobs, so that wasn't any help)

By the time I established that they seemed to be full-time quack peddling nutjobs (and an MLM to boot), it was too late - I was stuck into the job (and having a lot of fun with the laser...)

I decided it wouldn't be professional to walk out in the middle (leaving them with no one to finish)

I console myself with the fact that I'm taking about $300 of their money. And it was a birthday celebration / MLM conference - so it's all money spent; no profit from anything I had anything to do with.
 
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