Tldr; Owner of my paint crew thinks he’s in more of a financial struggle than I, one of the many people he is making money off of.
I work with a paint crew. This crew has roughly 8 people… 4 of which have been on board longer than I have (over 3 months).
Paint gets slow around Janurary & February. I was unscheduled for 3 consecutive weeks. By the time I got back on the schedule, it was for 2 days in the week. I literally had to have my boss send me gas money to get to work. For March’s rent, I had to ask a friend to loan me $1000.
We are not scheduled weeks in advance, we are told what our following week will look like on sunday and revisions to the schedule happen when our salesmen overbook compared to our staff. We are expected to finish every job in (1) day… wow… you’re telling me that 3 people can finish 30 hours (as quoted per work order) in only 1 day? (This is genuinely what is on my crew’s schedule, We’re scheduled for 8 hours each). They charge rates that could look as high as $2000 per room depending on what needs to be done. (Mind you, if more is demanded on the quote, that’s more money out of the customer’s pocket, not in the painter’s paycheck).
I have a guy who is trying to get me some side work. I prioritize the paint crew, but cannot be guaranteed 40 hours week. I am told I can work for $5 more an hour next Tuesday and see that the schedule for the following week is still not posted. I say yes. I change my availability to remove myself tuesday- i need to pay both this and last rent. I have other bills. I have been living on $15 worth of pasta fixings every week for a month.
Boss comes back talking about “I need a 2 weeks notice and I’ll move mountains for you”. The guy giving me side work does the same exact thing as my boss- plays the schedule by that week.. so neither employer gives me as much as 2 days prior to monday to let me know if I’m working that monday, but I’ve gotta give you a two week notice to take off of work, despite having been left to dry for nearly a month..
All of these details come about during our conversation about my unavailability for the one day and some point this man tells me (and I paraphrase) “yeah i get what you’re saying but y’know I gotta pay a lot of people and I’ve got marketers and sales people to pay, etc”…. And at some point, verbatim he says:
“I don’t want to get into a pissing match over who is bleeding more because I promise you, I’ll win”
Dog. Investing in your company and salesmen… for the sake of profit at the end of the day…. And taking a loan out to pay your rent… are not. the same. bleeding.
I’ll have made $~160-200 working 8-10 hours.. completing your multi-thousand dollar job in the 1 day. Me and 2 other people tomorrow are about to cost you $400-600 and yield you $1400. If by the time you’re seeing profit, you’re making more than $200 off of that 1 day job.. that you did not brush a single stroke for… you don’t know what bleeding was before daddy gave you the money to start this company.