pretty much the same thing as any other service. sure, an attorney may tell you $150/hr, but he can tell ther next guy $175.

If you don't specify it I've found a lot of them will flat out ask for it. I don't believe in exploiting the elderly but generally I'll just mark up my estimate and then add a discount line to appease them. However, I have a special burden for widows. I go out of my way to take good care of them. While I won't give my time away, I'm willing to break even to help them out.

So it's their own way of saying "We don't rip off old people"? An old wise man once told me "Don't trust anyone who tells you how honest they are".

That's precisely why it's BS. I'm not against charging a little less for someone who really needs it, as long as it's not going to take me away from someone who's willing to pay more.

You should use everything at your disposal to accomplish any goal you have. That's my feeling on it. Put that label to work.

Some things are sacred.

Not anymore. Do you know how many gang members have used the military and the marines to train themselves in advanced tactical combat? It's disgusting.

Same.

If he's the real deal though, I have absolutely no problem with it.

Well, it's still sacred to me. I don't believe in throwing my achieved rank, medals, or branch up into somebody's face for some perceived leverage. It's tacky and classless.

I'm not sure about lying about the age here. Phil you're something like 10 years older than that. Seriously man, go ahead and put your real age up there. By telling people you are 27 they will assume that you are still learning. If you will be honest, people wanting someone with experience would be more likely to hire you.

Seems tacky to me, but it probably does get him some business. Same as folks who wear their christianity on their sleeves.

Meanwhile, I tend to prefer qualifications that actually have something to do with the job I'm asking someone to do.

Yeah, seems odd but things are more than a little odd around here these days....Hard times. I wouldn't do it.

We are about to take the first time homebuyer plunge here pretty soon Phil. If you get a check in the mail from me for five hundred dollars one day soon, I'll expect you to show up promptly @ 7:00 in the morning
ready to do the following:

1. Tell me how much I've messed up in whatever ghetto hell hole we end up buying, and how I'd be better off buying a condo.

2. Tell the permit guy when he shows up that I'm not home, and that I really do have the appropriate permits on file, which of course I don't.

3. Screen my laborers for me so that when one climbs up on a ladder drunk trying to install a ceiling fan, with sparks and stuff flying everywhere, I can blame someone besides my dumb azz for hiring him just because he was cheap.

4. Of course any jobs I actually assign you to do you should contract out, for half of whatever I pay you.

5. Keep track of how many times Jim Bob takes a leak in either the pool, or the side of the house, don't say anything to him, but I have a rider in his contract that says he loses $100 every time he uses the bathroom on the job, or goes to the liquor store. I'll split all the money I save with you.

6. Bribe the permit guy when he comes back, if you can get him on a lower bribe than the $500.00 I'm gonna give you to bribe him, keep the change.

Liechtenstein should hire this guy to liberate them from the Swiss.

Do they live in Belton?

TMI.

You should know better by now on the planet??

I was in the military awhile, as a Russian Linguist with a Top Secret Security Clearance... but I rarely ever even think to mention it. Perhaps I will get a magnet for my car.