#if I have to get another bullshit customer service job at almost 40 just to take care of my kids

[rudennotgingr]

All the jobs I could easily get are jobs I would be super overqualified for and would not pay me enough to live.

The jobs I am qualified for I can’t get, because I don’t have 10+ years experience, because I wasted my youth living for my mother and two emotionally abusive ex-husbands instead of living for myself.

As is tradition.

[prorevenge]

Shop owner ends in hot water for being a crook

Cast: Me - yours truly, F - friend and coworker, B - boss, or bastard, you choose.

Some backstory (sorry for the long one, but there are things I need to make clear):

This happened 10 years ago. I was 18 and this was during the spring period of my junior year. I wanted to get money for a new mobile phone and a school trip to Austria, in order to practice on my German (my major was Math and German). My dad didn't want to give me the necessary 350 Euros for them, even though I was a 4.0 GPA student, calling me spoiled and selfish and asking me to get a job, just like all other normal teens at that time (actually none of my classmates were working, all were given the world by their parents for being in one of the most elite high schools in the city, but hey, you can't choose your family). So I got me a job at a local tobacco shop. It was right across my block of flats, so it was taking me 2 minutes to run from my flat to the shop, no big deal.

The owner of the shop (B) was a short man in his 40s, a man with good demeanor, or so I thought. He owned 4 other shops and needed workforce. We initially agreed for a payment of 15 Euros/day, I would work 4PM to 1AM, 4 days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays, so I would not miss on my schooling. He would pay me once every 2 weeks and even stated he would give me a raise after the first month.

The tobacco shop was selling not only tobacco products, but also alcohol, coffee, nuts, candy, chips, coke and its products etc. It allowed customers to get a cup of coffee which was freshly ground, as well as freshly squeezed orange or grapefruit juice.

So I started in the beginning of March. I was working with two other people, a 45-ish-year-old fat woman with a whining character, who would usually take the morning shifts from 6AM to 4PM and a 19-year-old beautiful girl (F). Also, I need to mention that, at that time, the store would share a toilet with a Courier service office, this is important for later.

There is one more thing I need to add - my country's labour codex states that employees must get a double payment during official holidays and also have at least 12 hours of rest between shifts. This is also important for later.

So initially I was doing fine - I did a couple of days of training, I learnt how to operate and clean the coffee machines, the juice machine, the cashier, the receipts (I needed to press Enter 3 times to enter the products in the system and take a receipt), this is important for later as well). It was quite easy, because I operated fast with money and calculations, and overall was quite trustworthy. I had some small incidents with minors who came asking for beer and cigarettes, but I would not sell the items to them, as it is illegal (my colleagues didn't care about that, but I was taught to uphold the law). Some of the frequent customers, who lived in the hood, would also initially be annoyed with me as well, because they were expecting from me to know the brand of cigarettes they smoke. Yes, there would be conversations like "two packs of my cigarettes - which brand? - Marlboro, you are supposed to know that - sorry, I only work here since recently - well, I come here every day, you should have remembered by now...". Eventually, this stopped, but I got the stink eye from some of them from time to time, because I am a sworn non-smoker, for me all cigarettes are poison, no matter the brand and the strength, and they didn't like that.

Overall, the job was not hard, and I had free Wi-Fi, so I would often bring my laptop to watch Youtube videos or listen to music online (at that time smartphones were expensive as hell and I had a regular mobile phone)

My first two fortnightly salaries were okay. I was supposed to get 120 Euros each, I got something like 110, but this was because I would get a random snack from the shop when I got hungry, and B would deduct all from my payment, which was okay. Also, B initially wanted me to add the tip to the cashier (the tip was the change (5, 10, 20 cents), which the customers would often not take and in the end it would add up to a few Euros), but we agreed for it to remain for me, as the other employees would also take it with them.

A month has passed. It was April, the days started to get warmer and B had permission to set a couple of coffee tables with chairs in front of the shop, so customers could drink their coffee and have a chat with a friend. I was instructed to take the tables and chairs back in the shop around 20:00, and a sign was posted on its front door.

So here started the problems.

After my first month I approached B for a raise, he said I was still a bit rusty and to wait at least 2 more weeks. He also gave me the contract to sign. I never got a copy, but, since this was my first job, I didn't know I needed one. I never got a raise as well, because I was "losing his customers". Bastard.

I had good relations with our colleagues at the courier office, but once I had a problem with them, because I took out the trash, but forgot to clean the juice machine. I threw the orange remains in the toilet, but one tiny piece of orange seemed to remain on the edge, so I was yelled by B and was fined 10 Euros.

There were two other times I was fined 10 Euros, for forgetting to turn the outside lights off and for forgetting to put the daily report in the shop log, but this was my fault. My second coworker would also report me for missing a trash bag or failing to put the items in the fridges in order, but she never took out the trash and never tidied up, so this actually went against her. I never had problems with F.

I had problems with some of the local customers, though. I live in a considerably poor neighbourhood and there are different types of scumbags who live there. There is this group of 10 people, in their late 40s and 50s, who are alcoholics and were sitting at the coffee tables until dark, as if this was the local pub. When I asked them to leave, because it went past 20:00 and I had to take the tables to the shop. I was yelled by them drunks and later by B as well, because I was "losing frequent customers for being rude and disrespectful to them", even though I almost ended up in a knife fight with one disgusting animal.

The cherry on the cake was the incident with an entitled mother, because she had sent her child to buy her beer and cigarettes and I refused to sell the items to him, because it is against the law. I then got a fine of 30 Euros by B and was pretty pissed.

In the last week of my work, in the beginning of June, B asked me to go and work in other shops, stating there was a sick employee and he needed me there. It was Friday, I ended up working from 15:00 to 22:00 in the local shop, then he took me to one of the other shops, where I worked from 23:00 to 08:00 on Saturday. Then he asked me to work from 23:00 to 11:00 on Sunday and wanted me to be at 16:00 in my local shop, but I refused, because I was exhausted. He threatened to not pay me extra, and we agreed to go to the shop at 19:00, after I got some sleep (I was supposed to get at least 12 hours between the shifts, as I mentioned above, but he didn't care).

After this exhausting time B wanted to change me to another shop, but I refused due to my schooling and also because I wanted to remain in the same shop. But he got some new workers and said I would not be working until the end of the week. Eventually I understood he had terminated my contract and also refused to pay me for the last 2 weeks, nearly 200 Euros in total with the extra shifts.

There are a few more things, which are important:

Some of my free days I spent with F. She was at work and I was in the shop with her, having a chat and being together, because she had some mild form of anxiety and didn't want to remain alone. During this time I noticed she used a different combination to enter the products in the system - enter, enter, 1, enter. I understood that this would enter the items in the system, but would not send the information to the receipt machine, and this would not get a receipt and thus the boss would not have to pay VAT for the items. I also understood later that he asked for everyone else to do it, everyone but me, because I wanted everything to be legal.

There was a new coworker, whom B liked and tried to seduce. He was overtly sexist and wanted to hire attractive girls, whom to pay more and to be more clingy towards them. I didn't like that at all. So the new coworker ended up being very crooked and actually stole around 400 Euros, which B blamed me for, and said he had camera recordings, but this was all bullshit.

So after all of this I was angry and wanted revenge. Initially I spoke to a friend, who advised me to report him to the local Labour Inspection office, which I did. It almost ended with a lawsuit and I was threatened by my boss this would cost me dearly, so I backed my claim, because I needed a clean legal certificate, because I was going to the Bulgarian Naval Academy in a year and didn't want to jeopardize my future. My dad got softer on me and paid for my phone and the trip, saying I earned them, because it wasn't my fault for why I didn't have the money, it was the moron of a boss.

Years have passed. I got discharged due to medical reasons and came back to my hometown. I got a new job and was living with my father, until I get better. The shop was still owned by this prick and he was going around town in a very expensive car, and I even saw him once to smoke Cohiba cigars, which usually go 15-20 Euros a piece. In the mean time he was still paying 15-20 Euros a day to the shop assistants, and I understood he was desperate for workforce.

So I decided to turn all of this against him. I knew some of the workers, as we grew up together, and they complained how much of a crook B was. I hated him for being so cheap on his employees and so large in personal spending. We started a rumour about how bad of a boss he was and to stay away from him. Word got out and he not only started losing assistants, but no one would want to ask him for a job.

One time police was nearby. Someone had broken one of the shop's large windows with a stone and stolen a large amount of cigarettes. The losses were for about a thousand euros, from what I understood. B also had to pay for a new window, and that would cost him more. Apparently, he had pissed off a lot of people.

I also suggested to some of his former employees, whom I knew vaguely, to file individual reports against B in the local Labour inspection office, like I did all those years ago. I explained they would definitely rattle his cage. A lot of reports went in, and I understood there was a major inspection of all shops. They could also use my information, but I asked them to take me off the case, I didn't want any recompense, only to watch him burn.

Eventually, B disappeared. What I understood, is that he ended up with a lot of problems, because he was charged with mistreatment of his personnel, violation of the Labour codex, felony tax evasion and a number of other charges.

So far I know that he is somewhere in the UK, while the business is handled by his brother and wife. His shops were cut in half due to the lack of workers, and I understood they were about to close another one as well. His business is not as successful as before, and I also understood it is frequently inspected.

Now, I know B didn't end up in jail, or at least I don't know about it. But I don't care. Sooner or later everyone gets what they deserve. I will not be the person to put him behind bars, but most of those people still greet me with smiles and give me updates on the case. They also thank me for giving them the idea of filing reports and using their rights. I guess I am the mastermind behind all of this, and, to be honest, I will be extremely happy, when he gets what he deserves from being a crook and a piece of trash. And the best part is - I don't have to do anything about it.

TLDR - I had a disgusting crook for a boss during my first job. He exploited me and other employees, I suggested to them to file reports against him, and he got into a lot of trouble for this.

(source) story by (/u/zerberos666)

[themadamelibrarian]

Breakdown - Part 2 of Mechanics of Love

Written By: @themadamelibrarian & @lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell​ Fandom: Supernatural Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Lucifer/Dean Winchester Characters: Lucifer (Supernatural), Dean Winchester, Michael (Supernatural) Additional Tags: Alcohol Abuse, Break Up, Make Up, mentions of prior abuse, Bad Anniversaries, fight, depressive state, Age Difference, Lucifer is 30, dean is 18, Confessions of love, self harm tw, Bad Communication, Miscommunication, Domestic dispute, Reconciliation, Mentions of suicide, Mentions of Suicidal ideation, twink!dean, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort Summary: It's been a year since Lucifer started dating Dean, and a personal issue

Notes: Here's part 2 of Mechanics in Love! Madamelibrarian and I hope that you enjoy it! Kind of a doozy, this one is.

LINK ON AO3

Share this story and show support for the creator!

Lucifer took a long pull from his bottle and rested his head in his hands.

Today had been a shit day.

It was the anniversary of Mark’s death, Mark’s mother called and screamed at him, and he had lost two more customers because of his bad temper.

So now, he was sitting home, drinking with the intent on getting drunk, and waiting for Dean to come over.

The only good thing in his life, besides the shop that he can barely keep afloat.

He doesn’t know why Dean was still with him, a year later. He was a grumpy old man with a near failing business; Dean was a handsome young man who should have men lining up. Men that were better for him.

He took another pull of his whiskey. Maybe he should let Dean go.

He drank again. No, he should. Dean has a future. He doesn’t.

But I... I love him.

You can’t love. Dammit, Mark. He drank again, trying to force the demon of his past away. Dean will learn that in time. You can’t love. If you couldn’t love me, it just means you can’t love.

He loved Dean. And that’s why he was going to let him go.

Liar, liar, house on fire, Mark taunted from his memories

“Lucy, I’m home!!” Dean called out happily in his worst Ricky Ricardo impression. The sound of a book bag thumping against the cabinets as he sat it on the floor. Not immediately seeing Lucifer, Dean called out again and started looking around. “You home?”

“Living room,” Lucifer called, his voice slightly slurred as he got up and started walking around. Mark’s voice was still in his head, taunting him just like he used to when they were together.

Dean rounded the corner, smiling but looking tired from a day of long classes and exams. “Celebrating the end of my semester early?” He asked as he kissed Lucifer’s cheek. “I hope it’s not tequila.”

“Gross,” Lucifer said, kissing Dean’s cheek back and holding up the now almost empty bottle of whiskey. He blinked at it, almost confused but shook it away, also trying to get Mark’s voice out of his head. “Had a rough day at the shop. Lost two customers,” he offered by way of explanation.

“That sucks,” Dean replied, not really knowing what to say considering that Lucifer regularly complained about losing customers. “You’ll get more customers or they’ll come back. You’re good at your job. You just need to brush up on the customer service part.”

Lucifer grunted and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he said. He took another pull from the bottle before offering it to Dean. “When do you find out your grades?”

“In about a week. They only give us a two-week break between semesters, so they have to move fast.” Dean reached out for the bottle with the intention of taking a little nip before he went to take a shower.

“Makes sense,” Lucifer said, relinquishing the bottle.

“I’ll be glad when it’s done. I hate chemistry.” Dean took a long pull from the bottle, draining it of the last swallow. Shuddering at the burning in his throat, he sat the bottle between them.

Lucifer chuckled and gave a nod. “You going to shower before we binge Star Wars?” he asked.

Dean nodded and leaned over, kissing his cheek before saying playfully like he’d done a hundred times before, “We could watch Jeopardy instead. I hear it’s all the rage with people turning 31 and heading toward 40.”

Lucifer clenched his jaw. “That your way of saying you want to be with someone your age?” he asked in a clipped tone. For some reason, the age struck home with him. Maybe it was the booze. Maybe it was the day. Maybe it was Mark. For all he knew, it was all three.

“What?” Dean was surprised by how quickly the conversation had turned and sat back, “I was only joking, Luc’. You know, like I always do.”

Lucifer nodded. “Yeah, but oftentimes jokes have truth behind them.” Oh, that was something he learned with Mark. He looked away and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“Are you trying to tell me that you think I’m screwing you until I find someone else?” Dean asked incredulously, “That’s fucking nuts. I don’t play head games like that.”

“I don’t know what to think, Dean,” Lucifer said, looking at Dean. “All I know is that there’s a handsome young man with a bright future in my living room who is with an old man like me who has no future.”

Dean let out a sigh and started to stand up, “It’s an Associates in Science, not a Ph.D. And I happen to like the ‘old guy’ in this living room.”

“Oh, why?” Lucifer asked in a disparaging tone. “An inner kink of getting near pedophiles like me and getting your own rocks off?”

“Excuse me?” Dean rounded on Lucifer and stared at him with wide eyes, “Did you just equate our relationship to a Pedo?”

“Nearly was that, wasn’t it, considering I fuckin’ popped your cherry on your eighteenth birthday,” Lucifer snarked. He turned away. “You should leave me.”

Dean’s heart clenched in his chest as he watched Lucifer tear their relationship apart one thread at a time. Thankfully, Dean wasn’t willing to give up that easily and was willing to call his bluff and simply said, “No.”

“Get out, Dean,” Lucifer said in a low voice, staring at the wall. His heart thudded in his chest. He didn’t want to do this. But it was what is best for Dean.

“You don’t want me anymore, is that it? Then be a fucking man about it and say so. Tell me to my face, that you don’t care and that you never want to see me again.” Dean said, his voice shaking slightly as he fought back the urge to scream and rail against the unfairness of this. It was sudden and unexpected and he didn’t know how to deal with it.

Lucifer turned and stared at Dean, taking a deep breath. “Leave. Before I destroy your future.” His voice was low and dark.

“That’s martyrdom,” Dean said, taking a step closer. “Say it, Lucifer. Because I’m not breaking up with you over something imagined.”

“GET OUT!” Lucifer roared. “NOW!” He couldn’t take it, couldn’t take Dean’s eagerness to fix this. “Forget about me, Dean. I’m poison.”

Dean couldn’t help but stumble back a step when Lucifer yelled at him, his bottom lip quivering the slightest bit as he refused to cry now. So he did the only thing he had left to do; leave. “Fuck you, Lucifer Alighieri and damn you to hell,” Dean hissed before storming out of the house, snatching his bag on the way and slamming the door hard enough to knock a framed picture off the wall.

.oOo.

“Dean, Lucifer’s missing.”

Michael didn’t want to call Dean. He knew about the breakup, from Lucifer calling him two days later crying about how he screwed up his life. He visited his younger brother every day to try to get him to call Dean, explain everything, but he couldn’t make Lucifer do a damn thing.

And now, Lucifer was missing.

Dean was the only person he could think of. The police weren’t helping, and Gabriel had no clue that Dean even existed.

“I wouldn’t call,” Michael said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “But he’s been missing for two days and when I last talked to him, he was beating himself up over breaking up with you. Please. I understand if you never want to hear from him again, but I just want to get Lucifer the help he needs. And I can’t do that if he’s missing.” He was desperate.

Reluctant wouldn’t be the exact word Dean would use to describe what he was feeling. After he’d left Lucifer’s he’d expected a call within a couple of days. At least an apology for the verbal lashing he’d received even if he never got to see the man again. When he didn’t hear from Lucifer, it crushed Dean. This had been Dean’s first real relationship, or at least it felt like it to him. And now, here was Michael begging him to help a man who’d torn his heart apart. “Have you checked the garage?” Dean asked quietly, cradling his phone against his cheek.

“Four times, I have my own key,” Michael said. “I tore that shop apart. No sign of him and his voicemail reroutes. Says he’s taken sick and won’t be in.” He took a deep breath. “Dean. I want you to know that if you don’t want to help find him, I understand. You’re just my last option because of what happened. But for the record, Lucifer is sorry. He’s just shit at saying it. Something about not deserving anything you give him after this and that sorry won’t make it better. I’ve been trying to get him to at least call you. But, I understand if you don’t want to even hear his name again.”

“A brother saying sorry isn’t the same thing.” Dean looked at the clock and sighed, “Have you tried calling the phone company and having his phone tracked?”

“Yes,” Michael sighed. “Twice now. They keep saying their servers are down or some bullshit. And I know it’s not, but I still felt it was important for you to know.”

Against his better judgment, Dean grabbed his keys and wallet, “Meet me at Ray’s diner and bring Lucifer’s social security number, birthday. I’ll get his location out of the company.”

“I’ll see you in ten,” Michael said before hanging up. Grabbing his wallet and jacket, he ran out of the house and out.”

.oOo.

Lucifer laid curled up on the grass in the quad, stroking the grass softly. He couldn’t help it, the past three months had been Hell. He’d call Dean to apologize and beg for forgiveness but always hung up before he could connect. Drove by the community college to talk to him after class but always chickened out.

“Is this what you wanted, Mark?” he whispered numbly. His voice was rough and hoarse. “For me to be as alone as I made you? For me to feel the same way as you when you stuck the barrel of that gun in your mouth?”

He shivered and curled in tighter on himself.

“There!” Michael said, pointing to where Lucifer was curled in a ball. He leaned back in the passenger’s seat of the Impala, recognizing where Lucifer was and he sighed. “Luka,” he whispered. “Why do you torture yourself like this?”

Dean followed Michael and shut his eyes against the sight of Lucifer laying in the grass. Steeling himself against the surge of emotion at seeing the man he loved like this and stooped down to pick him up in his arms. It was startling to Dean at how much lighter Lucifer felt. “Let’s get him home. Then you can talk all you want.”

Michael nodded and lead them back to the Impala, shaking his head as he did so.

.oOo.

Michael opened the door and got Lucifer and Dean inside, tossing Dean a blanket to put around his quivering older brother before going into the kitchen to grab food for Lucifer. Something light.

The fridge was empty.

Fuck. He went to check the cupboards.

So are the cupboards.

He and Dean pooled some money together and he volunteered to go out to get groceries.

Lucifer was curled up in his armchair and picking at the blanket Michael had put around his shoulders, almost looking like he was expecting to get royally bitched out. He couldn’t believe that Dean was here in his living room, jaw clenched and ready to speak but not sure of the words. He watched Dean carefully, ready for the shitstorm.

Left alone with Lucifer, Dean went to the couch and sat down, not sure how to start at first and then the words just fell out like a confession, “I can’t sleep. Got to used to you calling me. I just lay there all night waiting for a call, but it never comes.”

Lucifer nodded in understanding, before withdrawing his phone and tapping on it before handing it to Dean. It showed that there were so many times that at night, Lucifer would hit the call button but hang up before it connected to Dean’s phone. Several times a night, too. He returned to picking his blanket, never meeting Dean’s eyes.

Dean looked at it silently and stood up suddenly, not wanting to show how much he’s been hurt and to keep his temper, “I tried to date too. But if I actually went out with anyone I’d be miserable. They were too tall, too short, too serious, too soft... I felt like fucking Goldilocks and the three fucking bears. I haven’t even touched myself. Not even a morning jerk to relieve stress. Didn’t seem worth the effort.”

Lucifer flinched when Dean stood up and listened to him, nodding along in agreement. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Dean, knowing how much he’d hurt the younger man and also feeling ashamed at himself. What was he supposed to say, anyway? Like apologizing would work.

“And the sad goddamned thing of it all is that…” Dean stared down at the windowsill he was standing in front of, clutching the edge tightly, “I realized that I love you and you couldn’t even find the balls to love me back. So fuck you, Lucifer. Fuck you for making me love someone that I can’t ever have.”

Lucifer jerked his head up at Dean’s confession, finally finding Dean’s eyes. His own were sunken in and dull, wide in surprise. He clung to himself and looked away when Dean’s gaze turned to intense, inhaling sharply and obviously in distress.

A tear slid down Dean’s cheek and he nodded as if Lucifer’s silence was the answer. His feelings really weren’t reciprocated. Pushing away from the window, Dean gathered up his jacket,  “Michael’ll be back soon. I’ve said my piece and I’ll leave you to yours. Thanks for showing this dumb kid a thing or two. It was educational.”

Lucifer got out of his chair and grabbed Dean by the arm and jerked him back and close to him. “I was scared, Dean,” he said. His voice was hoarse. It was obvious that he hadn’t spoken much in the past three months. “I was so fucking scared. I let the best thing that’s ever happened to me walk out of my life and why? Because I was drunk and had a bad day at work. Surely, I thought, there was someone out there better for you. Yes, I had been thinking that I should let you go, but I thought that you didn’t want to be tied to some old man who can barely keep his own shop open because he’s too brash. I haven’t eaten; I haven’t slept. I can barely go through the motions because everything I do reminds me of you. And I fell hard and fast for you, Dean. I think I fell in love with you the moment you walked up to me in the club.” He gave a hollow laugh. “But who could love me? I thought I was a foolish man.” He let go of Dean’s arm, showing he hadn’t even grabbed Dean that hard- he couldn’t. “If you want to leave, I’ll understand. You deserve far better than me.”

Dean was quiet for what seemed like an eternity before he spoke. His voice sounded rough like he was fighting every emotion he had inside him. “Do you want me to stay? Not because you need a nursemaid but because you want me.”

“I need you, because I want you,” Lucifer said. “Please... stay. I need you. I need the stability, the care, the warmth you gave me. I need your smile and I need your simplicity. I need you to hold me and just... just...” He ducked his head down and away, coughing violently. “Be here because you actually give a fuck about me.”

“Then apologize,” Dean said quietly, “You hurt me, Lucifer. More than anyone. Just… say you’re sorry.”

“I’m so sorry, Dean,” Lucifer whispered, tears filling his eyes. “Fuck, you have no idea how sorry I am.”

Dean stepped closer to Lucifer and gently took his hand for a moment before pulling him into a hug, “Don’t ever do this to me again. Or I’ll kick your ‘Matlock’ watching ass.”

Lucifer gave a watery laugh and buried himself into Dean’s arms, shaking slightly. “I won’t,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, Dean. I can’t say it enough.”

“You already have, baby. It’ll take time but we can get back to where we were.” Dean said as he rubbed a hand over his back.

Lucifer coughed again, hugging Dean tightly as he refused to meet Dean’s eyes again. He whispered the apology again, unable to help himself. Tears started trailing down his cheeks, but he was too tired to brush them away.

“Alright. We’re both beat to hell and you need some sleep,” Dean brushed the tears from Lucifer’s face, “Let’s get you in bed, then I’ll make you some soup when Mike gets back. Then I’m going home and you’re going to sleep yourself out.”

Lucifer whimpered very quietly at Dean mentioning leaving, but he nodded all the same, keeping his eyes lowered. “Okay,” he whispered quietly. He was feeling needy, clingy, but he couldn’t be. He shouldn’t be. Dean needed his space after everything that’s happened.

“But by the time Mike gets back and I cook, I doubt I could drive in a straight line,” Dean sighed, “Mind if I crash on your sofa bed?”

Lucifer shook his head, relieved Dean would stay. “No, you can crash here,” he whispered softly. “Let me go get the sheets and blankets from the linen closet.” Slowly, he began to withdraw from Dean’s embrace, still not looking him in the eyes.

“Luc’,” Dean said gently yet firmly, reaching up to cup his cheek, “I’m upset but it doesn’t change something very important.”

Lucifer looked up at the firm voice, looking more like he was Dean’s age at that moment. “What?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

“I love you,” Dean stated simply.

“I love you too,” Lucifer whispered back. “I really do, Dean.” He gave a small smile, the first one since Dean left three months ago before slowly making his way to the linen closet.

As promised, after they made up the sofa bed for Dean, he sat Lucifer in his favorite chair while Dean changed the sheets on Lucifer’s bed and threw the offending linens in the washing machine. When Michael returned with the groceries, he stayed long enough to see them put away and to make sure that Lucifer was going to be alright. Satisfied that the couple wasn’t going to fight any more that night, he went home and left them to the rest of their night. After feeding Lucifer and, as silly as it felt, tucked him into bed, Dean curled up on the sofa and listened to the rain that had started to fall until he drifted off to sleep.

Around four in the morning, Lucifer tiptoed out to the living room and saw that Dean was asleep. Biting his lip, he hesitantly moved towards the lumpy, highly uncomfortable sofa. He rested a hand on the arm, watching Dean sleep. He should go back to his own bed, he really should. But he couldn’t sleep. He needed... he needed to feel Dean’s arms wrapped around him again, or at the very least near him.

Quietly, intent on not disturbing him, Lucifer slid onto the smallest sliver of bed he could, holding his breath. Once he was curled up in his corner, he allowed himself to close his eyes. He just hoped that Dean wouldn’t wake up until the morning. He didn’t want to make Dean even more upset, which was why he hadn’t asked for this earlier.

“What are you doing over there?” Dean grumbled sleepily. He’d half been expecting Lucifer to do this very thing. He’d always been the cuddly type, especially after being upset. He freed the corner of the blankets from under Lucifer and held them open, “Come here.”

Lucifer’s eyes flew open and when Dean extended the invitation, he slid under the covers and into Dean’s personal space, being careful not to disturb him too much. He opened his mouth to apologize, only to find Dean’s finger over his lips.

“No talking until coffee is in my hand and the sun is up,” Dean yawned and wrapped his arm around his waist, wiggling and tugging until they were nestled together like spoons. “Get some sleep. You can’t torture customers half asleep.”

Lucifer nodded and closed his eyes again, falling asleep quickly once he felt Dean nestle back in.

.oOo.

When his phone went off that morning with his alarm, Lucifer groaned and grabbed his phone to turn it off. Yawning, he stretched in Dean’s arms before getting up and padding into the kitchen to make coffee. He slid on one of his sweatshirts as he waited for the coffee to brew, staring out the window. He coughed, loudly, and he scowled at himself as if to scold himself for attempting to wake Dean.

He knew he should get on with his day- go get dressed, make his bed, brush his teeth, make breakfast, but he couldn’t bring himself to fall into the routine again. He hadn’t been able to for a while now. The only good thing about Dean leaving was he didn’t talk. It was too much effort. He did what his customers wanted and only talked to them about cars. There were no insults or anything. A couple of his regulars had noticed how sad he was, but he waved them off with a polite smile and went to back inside Diabolical Motors to do more work and invoices. But everything had reminded him of Dean- watching Dean work on cars, handle people, be polite. The sex they’ve had over his Impala and over Lucifer’s Firebird. Everything hurt, and Lucifer hurt with it.

“Mornin’,” Dean grumbled as he stepped into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, “Coffee?”

“Yeah,” Lucifer said, breaking his gaze away from the window before reaching into the cupboards for Dean’s favorite mug. Pouring the coffee in, he handed it to Dean with a small, hesitant smile.

Humming appreciatively, he leaned against the counter and took a deep sip. Dean didn’t speak until he was halfway through the mug and turned to the pot to freshen it up. During the silence, he’d had time to observe Lucifer move around the kitchen like a zombie. There was no thought behind the movements, just automatic reactions to his morning ritual. He could understand why Lucifer was depressed and Dean wasn’t under any delusions that their talk last night would magically cure it, but he could help bring him back to the land of the living.

“I was thinking,” Dean said as he topped up his mug and added a dash of milk, “you should shut down the shop for the day. Take a mini-vacation while we figure things out.”

Lucifer nodded. “I could do that,” he said, “no one is picking anything up today.” He reached for his phone and dialed the shop’s voicemail so he could reroute it, taking a sip of his coffee before it clicked for him to record. “This is Lucifer Alighieri, I am unavailable today. If this is an emergency, give me a call on my personal phone, which would be listed on the business card or the shop window. Thank you for understanding.” Hanging up, he returned to his coffee and almost blank staring out the window.

“Luc,” Dean started quietly as he set his mug on the counter and wrapped his arms around him, “go take a shower. I’ll make breakfast.”

“No, I can do it,” Lucifer said softly, resting in Dean’s arms. “It’s no big deal.” He had to prove that he did love Dean, he had to prove that he was going to be good to him.

“You look wiped out still. Let me do breakfast and you can do supper if you’re up to it.” Dean offered with a pat to his stomach, “Besides. You’re kinda stinky.”

Lucifer gave a light blush and nodded. “Okay,” he whispered softly. Slowly withdrawing from Dean, he shuffled down to the bathroom to shower, rubbing at his eyes to get the sleep crumbles out from the corners.

Lucifer came out of the shower about thirty minutes later, scrubbed pink and wearing low rise striped pajama bottoms and a thin white tank top. He smelled breakfast and felt his stomach give a little rumble. He hadn’t eaten much beyond an apple or two a day in three months, with the occasional sandwich or pizza when he felt hungry, and he walked out into the kitchen, still running his fingers through his wet hair and found an absolute spread of food. Eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and a new fresh cup of coffee.

“This looks good,” he said shyly. “Thank you.” His eyes looked a little less sunken and dull when he met Dean’s.

“Bacon cures cancer,” Dean said with a hint of a smile as he flipped the last of the strips frying in the pan, “Dig in. I’ll be finished in just a second.”

Lucifer nodded and slid into his seat, piling his plate with small portions of everything. He knew he had essentially been starving himself, and he didn’t want to overwhelm his system with too much food. He started eating, taking his time to chew his food and drink plenty of coffee in between bites.

Dean joined him with the finished bacon and loaded up a plate of his own, “Why the quad?” he asked without beating about the bush.

Lucifer’s fork clattered to his plate and he hastily picked it up, hoping Dean wouldn’t notice as he took a large mouthful of eggs so he wouldn’t have to answer right away.

His eyes flicked up from his plate in time for Dean to see Lucifer shoving food into his mouth. Shaking his head, Dean drowned his bacon and pancakes in syrup. “You don’t have to tell me. Just seemed an odd place to find you is all.”

Lucifer swallowed his food and sighed, setting his utensils down and drinking a lot of coffee. “You have a right to know,” he said softly. He held his mug close to him, choosing his words carefully. “Do you know why I make a big deal about consent?” he asked softly. “Or why last night when you made a sudden movement, I flinched?”

“I noticed,” Dean said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“The last time I was in a relationship it... wasn’t healthy,” Lucifer admitted. “Final year of college. I was close to graduating, and nearly didn’t because I couldn’t get to my internship on time because of him. Finally, my boss helped me out of the relationship, but the torture persisted until graduation.” He took a deep breath. “The quad was where he shot himself, claiming that he may’ve been holding the gun, but it was my inability to love him that made him pull the trigger.” Biting his lip, he sighed heavily. “Three months ago was the anniversary and... I got a call from his mother. And she said she wished she could have me put in prison, because, well...” he gave a soft laugh, “because I couldn’t love, and that’s why her son was dead.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s been ten years and not a year goes by that I wish that it didn’t end like this. That I’m not in a foul mood or drunk on what is supposed to be the happiest day.”

“So the line about me finding someone my own age was bullshit?” Dean asked quietly, his fork poised over his untouched and cooling food. The more Lucifer told him the less appetite he had.

“Dean, you of all people should’ve known I don’t give a rat’s ass about age unless they’re not legal,” Lucifer chuckled. “I sabotaged us, Dean, and there’s no amount of apologies that I can give that’ll make it right.” He looked down and away, biting his lip. “I don’t want you to go. I didn’t want you to go then, either but I- I...” he felt his voice get caught in his throat and he swallowed.

Laying down his fork, Dean pushed his plate back a few inches and leaned back in his chair to stare at Lucifer. “I don’t want to rehash everything we said. What you said. But if we’re going to make this work you have to realize I am not your ex and I’m not going to live with a drunk. We’ve got too much work to do for you to fall in a damned whiskey bottle.”

“I’m only truly drunk on that day,” Lucifer said honestly, “And I make damn sure of that. I don’t even keep alcohol at home unless you’re coming over, and you know that. I haven’t even gone down to visit Mikey at the bar in three months.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I know you’re not my ex, Dean. God knows I know that. And I’m so thankful every day that you’re not like him.”

“Good,” Dean nodded slowly, “I don’t like being lashed out for something I didn’t have anything to do with.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, “I swear that if he were still alive I’d kick his ass just on principle. He was full of shit.”  Dean stood up from his chair and rounded the table, pushing Lucifer’s chair back then sitting in his lap. “You are very loveable and even though you didn’t say it, you’re loving. Otherwise, you’d have hit it and quit it with me a year ago.”

Lucifer buried his face into Dean’s chest, trying to hide the onslaught of tears and emotions that welled up within him from Dean’s little speech. He hiccupped and coughed, still not used to using his voice, and he took a deep breath, trying to right himself as he held Dean close.

“You remember how I was having a hard time figuring out how to tell mom about you?” Dean asked as he pressed his cheek to the top of Lucifer’s head, “Well, I told her after you kicked me out that night and she told me something that stuck with me.”

“Wha’s tha’?” Lucifer asked thickly, his voice obviously tear-stained.

“He’s a fucking idiot and if he hasn’t burned out his last brain cell, he’ll realize what he’s done and come back.” Dean quoted, then laughed, “I’ve never heard her drop the ‘f’ bomb outside of traffic.”

Lucifer gave a watery chuckle and nodded. “Yeah, that’s accurate. Me, the fucking idiot who tried to get rid of the best thing that’s ever happened to him.” He gave a quiet sniffle. “I’m so sorry, Dean.”

“I accept the apology but it might take a little while to forgive you completely, but you know what?” Dean said, sitting back and brushing the hair away from Lucifer’s face.

“What?” Lucifer asked softly, looking up at Dean, gnawing on his lower lip. Tears streaked down his face and it was obvious he was hating himself for what he had done.

“I still love you,” a smirk broke out on Dean’s face as he finished, “Old Scratch.”

Lucifer gave a warm smile and he sniffled. “I love you, too,” he whispered. He looked down, then back up at Dean again, his body relaxing a little bit. It was obvious that he wanted to ask Dean something, but was nervous to from the way he bit his lower lip, a bad habit of his.

Dean noticed the way Lucifer was trying to bite back something, so using his thumb Dean tugged his lip free and gave it a quick kiss, “Spit it out, Luc’.”

Lucifer blinked at the quick kiss and looked up at Dean. “Can... can I kiss you? Please?” he asked softly, licking his lips.

“A proper kiss?” Dean asked as he bumped his nose against Lucifer’s.

Lucifer nodded, bumping his nose against Dean’s back. “Please,” he whispered.

“I’d be really disappointed if you didn’t at some point,” Dean whispered back.

Lucifer leaned in and kissed Dean softly, and his entire body sagged in relief as he gave Dean a chance to reciprocate or draw away.

Circling his arms around Lucifer’s neck, Dean kissed him back tenderly and with a touch of passion.

Lucifer ran his hands up Dean’s sides as he kept kissing him, finally feeling a bit like his old self again, now that he knew that Dean’ wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Dean was content to continue kissing but his stomach had other ideas. It grumbled loudly in protest of being so close to food and not receiving any. Breaking away, Dean genuinely smiled for the first time. “I guess I should eat before my stomach thinks my throat's been slit.”

Lucifer smiled and gave a soft laugh. “Yours and mine both,” he said, giving another quick kiss.

“Then eat your breakfast and stop beating yourself up for five minutes,” Dean said as he slipped out of Lucifer’s hold and went back to his chair.

Lucifer flushed and tucked himself back into his breakfast. “Am I that obvious?” he asked.

“Painfully,” Dean shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth and winked at the older man. He wasn’t kidding when he said it might take time to get over this bump in the road, but at least Dean felt like they were on the right path for the first time in months.

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Jeremy Enns of Counterweight Creative, a company that offers podcast production and strategy.Some stats:Product: Podcast production and strategy.Revenue/mo: $10,000Started: April 2016Location: CanadaFounders: 1Employees: 0Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hey there! I’m Jeremy Enns, the founder and Storyteller In Chief at Counterweight Creative, a podcast production and strategy agency.We specialize in simplifying the process of producing a podcast for busy companies, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders, working closely to guide and assist them during the launch and setup phase, and then taking on the bulk of the production work once the show is live.I started the company 3 years ago, in 2016 with one client, making $15/hour and have grown into a team of 10 contractors producing more than 30 shows per week with revenue of over $10K/mo.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I went to school for audio engineering, initially wanting to produce records for bands and artists. After graduating in 2012, I interned at a big studio in my hometown of Vancouver, and while I learned a lot, I quickly realized that I didn’t have the drive (or financial ability) to show up at the studio at 8am and work (for free) until 4am six or seven days a week for a year or more before moving up into a position that might pay $10/hr and actually start getting paid to work on music.After interning just a couple of days per week for over a year, while also working full-time at a retail job, I quit the internship and put my dreams of working in the music industry behind me. I worked a number of manual labour jobs including landscape construction and maintenance, tree planting in northern Canada, and others before taking a year off to travel, bicycling across Europe, and backpacking through the Balkans, and Asia.When I came home in the fall of 2015, I went back to a landscaping job making $15/hr and soon after discovered podcasts as a way to make use of the hours spent at work, diving into shows like Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn among many others as I dove into learning about the world of online business.After a few months of learning and beginning to experiment with a few half baked business ideas, a friend of mine with a well-known podcast made an off-hand comment about his podcast editor and a switch clicked in my mind. I had spent the past six months or so listening to 50+ hours of podcast content per week, and with my background in audio engineering I had more than the necessary technical knowledge to produce high quality podcasts for others.I went home that night, started a profile on UpWork, got my first client three days later, and within six months had quit my landscaping job and was working for myself full time as a podcast producer.Take us through the process of producing your first podcast and launching the business.When I first started, I catered my services heavily to my client’s needs and what they were asking for. While this was a great way to get clients early on, I soon realized that by creating set production and launch packages, I could charge more, and do more to ensure the success of the podcasters I worked with, as there were often crucial steps that they were overlooking when producing and launching their shows on their own.Most of the people we work with have zero experience working with audio, and many have limited experience with online marketing and content production of any sort. One of the ways we’ve been able to justify raising rates while also helping our clients get better results has been by incorporating a lot of education into our onboarding processes.Many clients come to us thinking all they need is the post production aspect of what we do. The problem is that without understanding how to capture great sounding audio at the source, conduct engaging interviews, structure their overall content plans, and introduce their listeners into a funnel, they’re not going to get the results they really want from the podcast. Expanding my initial services into this educational side of things was a big turning point early on that established me in many client’s eyes as a podcast expert rather than simply an audio editor.I also shifted from a per-episode billing model to a monthly “subscription” (of sorts) model. In the early days, I was charging as little as $30/ep, which often would take me 2+ hours to complete. Since I had a full-time job at the time and wasn’t chasing every single client however, I was fairly aggressive with my rate raises, upping my prices by $5/ep with every new client I got.The monthly subscription helped keep my clients accountable to getting me and my team the materials we need to produce their shows on time, keeps them consistently putting out episodes which helps them grow their shows, and allows us to reliably predict our monthly revenues and expenses. But there were issues with how I initially set those monthly fees.After switching to the package pricing 6-12 months into the business, I was making a better hourly rate, but I was still shooting in the dark when it came to how I had set my prices. I made rough calculations based on how long I figured the tasks included in the packages would take me, but had nothing to really back them up.It wasn’t until 2 years in that I read a book called Profit First and really understood how I should be approaching pricing. To that point, I had a ton of overhead that I wasn’t accounting for when I was determining my pricing structure.I had been in decent shape when it was just me, but as I started adding members to my team and outsourcing a lot of the work I had personally been doing, I realized that my current pricing was unsustainable as I transitioned from freelancer to agency.I started tracking my expenses in much greater depth and basing all pricing by shooting for a minimum 40% profit margin over my costs - which included the costs associated with my own time spent working on any project. Setting prices this way rather than going with my gut has sped up the proposal process, reduced my own stress, and allows me to be confident that we’re profitable on every project we take on.When it came to start up costs, there were almost zero. I already had the business registered and a website set up for my music production business which I then re-focussed on podcast clients. I owned all the software I needed, and did zero advertising, relying on free platforms like UpWork at the start and word of mouth as we grew.I didn’t have an official launch for the business, initially applying for freelance job postings and doing cold outreach to potential clients, which grew into a referral-driven business.For the first year I had almost zero online presence, just a simple one-page website outlining the brand story and the services I offered.One of the things I had learned during my cold outreach and freelance marketplace application phase was that personality was incredibly important, and that clients would pay a premium to work with people they felt like they connected with on a personal level. So with that in mind, I injected as much personality into my website copy as possible, making jokes, and writing in a style that would appeal to the type of people that I actually wanted to work with.For a while, I opened all cold outreach emails with something along the lines of:“Ok, so here’s the deal yo. My name is Jeremy and I guess you could say I’m a bit like a zombie, except instead of brains, I have an insatiable urge to devour audio and spit it out the other side all clean and spiffy! BTW audio is way tastier than brains, not that I know what brains taste like...”Our personality driven copy on our website as well as on all our marketing channels does a good job of pre-screening people, so that often before we even talk over a video call with a potential client, we’re both feeling really good about the prospect of working together.A year into the business I began writing a weekly blog covering podcasting topics that I didn’t feel were getting covered elsewhere. Things like how to improve your podcast by using the principles of storytelling (specifically as they’re used in Star Wars of course. Yes, I’m a nerd…), what Oprah can teach us about podcasting and breaking down a client’s podcast launch plan were topics I covered among many others. I also started a Facebook group, Cut The Bullshit Podcasting, which has grown into a thriving community of 1500 podcasters, and is often recognized as one of the top podcasting groups in terms of usefulness and the positive, supportive vibe of the community.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?Since about the one year anniversary mark of the business, our client-base has grown almost entirely through referrals, of which we have a consistent stream. I attribute this to being picky about working only with clients who we absolutely know are a good fit for us, who know we’ll be able to get results for.Like most freelancers and business owners, when starting out, there had been clients who I had misgivings about from the start, but decided to work with anyways. While I never had a truly horrible client who refused to pay or tried to scam me in some other way, there were definitely clients that caused more headaches and frustration than they were worth. The problem with a subscription service like ours is that there’s no natural end to the project, and difficult clients could end up being thorns in our side indefinitely.After working with a few of these types of clients I knew I needed to do a better job filtering problem clients out before beginning to work with them. I examined the clients who caused us the fewest problems and who were the most fun to work with and started noting the attributes that made the relationship work.Generally we had similar approaches to business, believed in having fun with what we did, surrounding ourselves with positive people, and believed that the work we did mattered to the world. Our prices at this point filtered out most people who were just taking their first steps into the world of online business, but nevertheless I made a point of only working with people who had experience running online businesses, creating content, and had the systems and support team to be consistent with the production schedule. Maybe most importantly of all, our clients are clear on why they’re doing their podcasts, what makes their shows unique, and who their audiences are.On top of working with clients who are a good fit, I’m a big believer in the value of providing a high personal touch. That involves regular hand-written notes, individualized gifts to commemorate milestones and a very generous referral program of a free month at their current production package for every referral who signs up and sticks with us for 3 months.To encourage referrals, we share the details with all new clients during the onboarding phase and make sure to remind them about the program as part of our bi-annual customer satisfaction surveys.One of the results of being extremely selective about the people we take on as clients is that often, the people in their networks are also a really good fit for us as well. We have some clients who’ve referred so many clients to us that we haven’t billed them in more than 6 months, saving them thousands of dollars over that time.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?In the past 18 months we’ve grown from just me to a team of 13. In addition to myself, our team consists of six audio editors, four writers, and two admin people, all of whom are currently contractors scattered across Canada, The US, and The UK, who work remotely, although I’m guessing a couple of those may be converting into part-time positions within the coming year as we continue to expand both our client base and our team.As with our clients, I’m incredibly picky with who joins the team. I’m a believer that skills can be taught, but culture fit can’t be, and as a result, my first concern when bringing anyone on is ensuring they’re a good fit for our team and our clients. Almost everyone on the team has been referred to me by existing team members or people in my network who are familiar with the work we do and our team’s culture.I’m also a believer that my first responsibility is to my team, and then to our clients, and that a happy, cohesive team provides better results for our clients. I know a lot of similar agencies hire almost exclusively overseas as a way to reduce costs. While this is appealing financially, I’ve always had a gut feeling that in the long-run, there are intangible factors that come with building a cohesive team with a strong internal culture who are all based in the same geographic region as the bulk of our clients.Financially, over the past year, we’ve tripled our revenue, and are looking to continue or exceed that rate of growth this year as we continue taking on new production and consulting clients.Our profit margin is consistently between 30-40% across the services we offer, with an average customer value of $750/mo on an ongoing subscription basis.The biggest focuses over the coming year are first and foremost to systematize the production side of things to a greater extent than they already are so I can remove myself from the day to day operations of production and work one-on-one as a consultant with high-level clients looking to start and grow podcasts.Secondly, we’re looking to expand into digital products, packaging the knowledge and processes we use everyday with our clients to help beginner, indie, and hobby podcasters produce and grow their shows more efficiently and effectively.We’re also really excited about The Podcast Power Pack, an annual bundle sale to help podcasters produce, promote, monetize and systematize their shows. The first Power Pack sale wrapped up in March and we’re looking forward to bringing together and offering a whole new suite of products for next year’s sale!Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?I’ve always been a big believer in the importance of continual learning and education, and starting this business has definitely reinforced that belief. At the same time, there came a point - for me about a year ago - where I realized I needed to tone down my content intake and instead focus on executing what I already knew I needed to do.One of the other big lessons or takeaways from starting my business has been that I have the ability and perhaps even responsibility to be a leader in other aspects of my life, including my general community. So many of the skills that are crucial to starting and growing a business can be used to help improve the lives of everyone around us. Often all it takes is to take the lead and get the ball rolling on some initiative and others will take it and run with it from there. I’m looking forward to stepping into this role more frequently and with more intention in the coming years.When it comes to challenges, one of the things that has been difficult but necessary for me has been taking full responsibility for products or client services that fell short of expectations, either my own, or my customers and clients. While in many cases there may be extenuating circumstances, in almost every case where things have failed to meet expectations, I’ve been able to look back and point to areas where I could’ve personally done more to improve the outcome of the project.One of the biggest mistakes I made was taking my foot off the gas and simply coasting after things had been going really well through the first 18 months of the business. There was a stretch of time where I lost a couple of clients and realized that I was not in nearly as comfortable a position financially as I thought I had been.While this was a stressful few months, it was a necessary lesson and forced me to re-examine everything about my business and marketing, and led to a more diversified set of services, and a stronger focus on improving my lead pipeline.What platform/tools do you use for your business?The list of tools for the production agency side of things is fairly concise. We share files between our team as well as with our clients through Google Drive, communicate through Slack, and use Trello for project management, although we’re looking to move over to Teamwork in the near future for a better dashboard.For online marketing we use ConvertKit and LeadPages regularly, and have our podcast community on Facebook. I’m also a big fan of Typeform for surveying clients, customers, our audience, team, and much more. I’m basically a survey nerd and would create them all day if I could...What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?I’m a big reader and podcast listener, so it’s hard to pick specifics, but I’ll give it a shot.In terms of books, Profit First was a book that really changed the way I approached the finances and profit margins of the business, including how I was billing clients. Built To Sell was another book that, after reading, completely changed my mindset and approach to the way I was building my business and instilled a passion for systematizing everything that we do. Lastly, as a creative, both Big Magic* and *The War of Art were really influential books for me in terms of understanding what it takes to be successful as a creative in business.When it comes to podcasts, I’ve listened to hundreds of different shows over the past few years, but some of my favourites, include Smart Passive Income from Pat Flynn and Akimbo by Seth Godin. I’m someone who takes inspiration from a lot of places, and so while not specifically business related, I really enjoy 99% Invisible, Stuff You Should Know, and Revisionist History.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?When it comes to getting started, I’m a big believer in moving slowly but intentionally. I waited to quit my day job until I was making just as much from my freelance podcast production work as I was from my paycheck. One of the most common mistakes I see is people quitting their stable jobs and going all-in on an idea that they’re excited about but is unproven.Without the pressure of needing to earn a paycheck from your new venture you’re able to build things the right way from the start, be picky about your timing, pricing and clients, plus you’ve got a steady source of income which you can invest into your growing business.I also think it’s important to know what you want from your business from the start. For me, I knew I didn’t want to be doing the actual production work forever, and so I made a point of documenting the various aspects of what I was doing from the beginning so that it was easier to begin shifting those tasks off of myself when the time came, and could be sure that they would be done well.I’ve seen a lot of people work themselves into businesses that they don’t actually like, simply because they didn’t start with a clear vision of how their business would fit into the broader context of their lives, and how they would fit into their businesses.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?We’re always looking to connect with audio editors who use Pro Tools and have worked on podcasts before, as well as writers for writing up show notes/blog posts for the shows to work as contractors.We also may be looking for a dedicated Operations person in the near future. If you fall into one of these categories, we’d love to chat!Where can we go to learn more?Counterweight CreativeIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM

[vvbrake]

60 Best Pieces of Financial Advice That Will Make You A Millionaire

This site gathered all the best, honest, practical, no bullshit pieces of financial advice from thousands of business and self-help books here in one article.

1. If you rely on earning a wage or salary to put money in your pocket, you will be forever caught up in the vicious cycle of needing money, earning money and spending money.

2. People who drive Lamborghinis and jetset around the world did not get there because they “Got Rich Slowly” by investing in mutual funds, clipping coupons, and maxing out their 401(k)s. Those techniques are not an effective road to wealth.

3. The “Get Rich Slowly” approach is faulty because it takes a lifetime of work, it’s dependent on getting lucky with your investments, and even if you do get rich, you’ll be too old to enjoy it.

4. “Think about it. Have you ever met a college student who got rich investing in mutual funds or his employer’s 401(k)? How about the guy who bought municipal bonds in 2006 and retired in 2009? I wonder if that guy driving a $1.2-million car can because of his well-balanced portfolio of mutual funds? These people don’t exist because the youthful rich are not leveraging 8% returns but 800%.” (Source)

5. People think that working hard for money and then buying things that make them look rich will make them rich. In most cases it doesn’t. It only makes them more tired.

6. Rich people believe that financial freedom is more important than displaying high social status. You can display high social status all you want, but if you’re still dependent on active income then you’re one very vulnerable fella.

7. If you think you can afford it, you can’t. When you buy something cheap, like a candy bar or a pair of $10 sandals, you never ask “can I afford this?” or “how can I make this purchase work?”. If you are trying to justify a large purchase to yourself, then you can’t really afford it.

8. Your debts are parasitic because they force you to work harder and longer. Your mortgage, car payment, credit card bill, etc. all force you to work more than you had to if you bought less stuff. Having to work limits your choices. When you’re making a big purchase, consider its time cost. Is that $50k BMW worth 1 year of your life?

9. The key to controlling parasitic debt is to control instant gratification. It’s much easier not to eat chocolate cookies if you don’t bring them home from the grocery store, and it’s easier to avoid debt if you don’t buy useless things. When you’re thinking about buying something, think about whether you really need it, whether you’ll still be using it 6 months from now, and so on.

10. In general, jobs suck because you have limited leverage (being more productive will not get you a raise) and limited control (what if you’re fired? What if your company is doing poorly and forces you to take a pay cut? etc.) General problems with jobs: you’re selling your time (and your life) for money, the experience you accumulate is limited (you’d learn much more running your own business for a month than working for someone else for a year), you’re subject to the whims of your boss/employer, you have to deal with office politics, and you have almost no control over your income.

11. Take advice from people who have lived what they wrote. If they are primarily writers and public speakers, and that is their business model, toss the book and move on. The best advice comes from people who have lived it. Don’t waste your money on expensive ($3k+) seminars and workshops. Those make the speakers rich but are rarely worth the money for attendees.

12. Amateurs have a million plans and they all start tomorrow. Professionals work hard on a single plan detail by detail. Thinking big is overrated. Ninety-nine percent of success is to get the work done.

13. Find a need, create a business to meet it and affect millions (or fewer but for lots of money per sale), exceed expectations, plan the business to lead to a major liquidation event down the road, sell, let that money earn for you for the rest of your life and live off the income. The more your money works, the less you will have to work.

14. The vast majority of millionaires became rich by being in their own business.

15. People don’t pay to satisfy your need to do what you love, they pay for you to solve their problems.

16. When you’re not a pushy asshole, people trust you. When they trust you, they do business with you.

17. Most businesses work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

18. Use the wisdom, knowledge, and skills of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you an aura of efficiency and speed. That’s how billionaires are made.

19. People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.

20. Unsuccessful people procrastinate by giving up on their long-term goals for immediate gratification. Procrastination is like an addiction. It offers temporary excitement and relief from boring reality.

21. Being wealthy is not about money, fancy cars, expensive vacations, or vacation homes in Fiji. Being wealthy means being healthy, being surrounded by great friends and family, and the freedom to live life how you want to live it.

22. The more scared we are of a work to improve our business, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

23. Process, Not Product. If you find yourself avoiding certain tasks because they make you uncomfortable, there is a great way to reframe things: Learn to focus on process, not product.

24. Clarity about what matters the most in your business provides clarity about what does not.

25. Use the 80/20 rule. Give 80 percent of your effort to the top 20 percent (most important) activities. Another way is to focus on exceptional opportunities that promise a huge return. It comes down to this: give your attention to the areas that bear fruit.

26. Assume and expect every project will take 10x the resources and put effort into it accordingly. Literally, the amount of resources you think a project will consume, multiply that by ten and that is what is required. (Source)

27. Opportunities are everywhere, people just don’t see them. Whenever you hear people complaining or you observe inefficiencies, those are great opportunities to start a business!

28. If you have a great idea but someone is already doing it, don’t worry and do it anyway! There will always be competition, and you should aim to be better than them, not to run away from them.

29. Forget chasing big ideas and instead try to take something and make it better. Starbucks, McDonald’s, Walmart, etc. are all iterations of ideas and businesses that had existing for many years.

30. The price of freedom is money. Whether you want to buy a nice car, start a non-profit foundation, or work on your personal dream project, not having to worry about money is what lets you focus on those things. Figure out what you want so that you can work backward and figure out what you need to get there.

31. You have free time and indentured time. Indentured time is for stuff you have to do: brush teeth, shower, commute to work, work, etc. Free time is everything else. Money buys free time and eliminates indentured time.

32. A terrific way to grow your business is to have amazing customer service. When you surprise and delight your customers with your service, they will do your advertising for you. Figure out what kind of service your customers expect and then exceed it: if they expect a call with hours, try to call within 1 hour; if they expect to have to search for your contact number, put it in bold at the top of the webpage; etc.

33. On the flip side, no matter how awesome your product is, if people deal with crappy customer service then they’ll be left with a bitter taste in their mouths.

34. If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive — no matter how skilled or talented you are. If your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist.

35. There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.

36. Don’t approach your business from only one angle. You don’t want to have a single strategy for your business success (e.g. “I’m just going to compete on price”). You want a multi-pronged attack where you work on your marketing, your execution, your product, your customer services, your ideas, and so on. You can raise prices, lower costs, sell more to existing customers, find new distribution channels, and so on. Don’t just focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.

37. Strategy is about choices. It’s about knowing what to do and what not to do and when. Being able to make these choices well and execute them effectively over time is the hallmark of great companies.

38. People fear failure because they overestimate the worst-case consequences. But the worst case of failing at business is usually going back to work or trying again. That’s not that bad!

39. The Mediocre is filled with hope: hope that your stocks go up, that you get a promotion, that your employer stays in business, and so on. Hope is not a good plan. If you don’t control the variables in your plan, then you can’t control the outcome.

40. People don’t take action because they’re waiting for *someday*. Someday I’ll start a business, someday I’ll do this or that, etc. The problem is, *someday* never comes. Making plans but not acting on them is dangerous and paralyzing. Make *someday* today.

41. percent of all companies that ultimately become successful had to abandon their original strategy—because the original plan proved not to be viable. In other words, successful companies don’t succeed because they have the right strategy at the beginning; but rather, because they have money left over after the original strategy fails, so that they can pivot and try another approach. Most of those that fail, in contrast, spend all their money on their original strategy—which is usually wrong. (Source)

42. When you chase opportunities, you will occasionally fail. What matters is what you do after you fail — do you try something new, or do you give up and move back to the Slowlane? Oftentimes, a failure drives you in a better direction (e.g. the discovery of penicillin or Flickr pivoting from being a video game to being a photo-sharing service).

43. There are smart risks and idiotic risks. Stupid risks have limited upside and unlimited downside. For example, not keeping a backup of your work saves you a little bit of time and money, but it can be devastating if you lose your only copy. In contrast, smart risk don’t have a lot of downside, but have big upside potential – investing in your own business is a good example.

44. You’re only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You’ve done something. (Source)

45. Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig. (Source)

46. Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don’t. They are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky – but all critical to making them who they are. (Source)

47. It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest nine and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage. (Source)

48. Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities. (Source)

49. You can make two types of choices: what to think and what to do. The first step to making better choices is to work on how you think and perceive things — that will dictate the actions you decide to take. For example, if you want to build wealth, you first have to believe that you can do it, that you don’t need to wait until you’re retired to be a millionaire, and so on.

50. People who react to your goals and dreams with doubt and discouragement should be ignored. Befriend people who are where you want to be and who encourage you and inspire you to be your best. Find a mentor. A lot of times, your spouse will be you biggest detractor or your biggest supporter.

51. When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity… you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others (Source)

52. Understand: people will constantly attack you in life. One of their main weapons will be to instill in you doubts about yourself – your worth, your abilities, your potential. They will often disguise this as their objective opinion, but invariably it has a political purpose – they want to keep you down. (Source)

53. It is very difficult to make really big, important, life-changing decisions because we are all susceptible to a formidable array of decision biases. There are more of them than we realize, and they come to visit us more often than we like to admit. (Source)

54. In business, sometimes you’ll put up a good business and lose. Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go in order to move forward.

55. Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you are, in effect, generating more interest in your work. People feel closer to your work because you’re letting them in on what you know. (Source)

56. If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy. Working hard for success is like kicking a drug habit or stopping drinking. It’s a decision to which we must re-commit every day.

57. If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to disappear for a while.

58. You will never know true freedom until you achieve financial freedom. It is the ability to live the lifestyle you desire without having to work or rely on anyone else for money.

59. In the future, the great division will be between those who have trained themselves to handle these complexities and those who are overwhelmed by them — those who can acquire skills and discipline their minds and those who are irrevocably distracted by all the media around them and can never focus enough to learn. (Source)

60. We are irrationally prone to jump to conclusions based on rule-of-thumb shortcuts to actual reasoning, and in reliance on bad evidence, even though we have the capacity to think our way to better conclusions. But we’re lazy, so we don’t. We don’t understand statistics, and if we did, we’d be more cautious in our judgments, and less prone to think highly of our own skill at judging probabilities and outcomes. Life not only is uncertain, we cannot understand it systemically, and luck has just as much to do with what happens to us — maybe even more — than we care to admit. When in doubt, rely on an algorithm, because it’s more accurate than your best guess or some expert’s opinion. Above all, determine the baseline before you come to any decisions.

If you like this article, I recommend reading The Millionaire Fastlane. Some of these pieces of advice are influenced by the ideas from that book and it is also considered as the best book on ‘wealth creation’ for beginning entrepreneurs. I also made a list of the most powerful books dedicated for self-development.

[prorevenge]

25 year reign of terror, a cane, and me sweet sweet revenge

We human will learn many lessons, in our lifetimes. Look both ways when you cross the street. Hot things will burn you. Don't pass out with your shoes on. But of all the things we learn, in our lifetimes, one stands out to me the most; it's the one's closest to you that will most likely stab you in the back.

This is something that I had to learn to hard way.

I've been in therapy for almost three years because of this horse shit, it really fucked me up. This is going to be a long and sad one, just be warned.

Some background

I grew up in a house with my mom, grandmother (GM), and my great-aunt G (AG); near the North Carolina/Virginia borader. My gm is the youngest of three sisters. AG is the middle child and great-aunt E (AE) is the oldest. I love both of my great-aunts, but my grandma is the scum of the earth.

I was her own personal punching bag from the age of 8 till 13. It only stopped because words like CPS and jail were being thrown around, by my doctor. No 13 year old should have the blood pressure of a 40 year old.

Now, you maybe thinking, why didn't my mom and great-aunt put a stop to the abuse. Mom was under Grandma's full control. She had some kind of dirt on my great-aunt. Enough to keep her quiet.

Too make things worse, I was bullied in school from 4th grade till my freshman year. By then I was tired of it all and tried to put a end to all of it. I failed seeing that you are reading this story, but sometimes I wish I didn't. (Story for another day)

Now on to the story.

Junior year meant thinking about your future, Junior prom, and all that BS. For me it meant that I was one year closer to blowing that popsicle stand. The one good memory I have my class rings.

I was told by my great-aunts, that I could order any kind if ring I wanted and they would pay for it. The ring I wanted was pretty standard, with one exception; I wanted my birthstone, a sapphire. As promised, I got what I wanted and it cost a pretty penny. The thing was my grandma wanted it. In her mind I didn't deserve something so nice. Trust me, she tried everything to get it and failed.

Graduation comes along and as soon as it's done, I high tail it to Virginia. I got a job and worked towards my personal goal, backpacking through Europe. (More on this later)

Two years later, my best friends younger sister was graduating high school and I was invited. After the ugliness of my freshman year, they became my second family. I worked in the families cafe and attended the oldest sister and my best friends graduations.

For the sake of the story os is older sister, bf is best friend, and ys is youngest sister.

The offer to stay with them was put forward to me, but I declined as I wanted to spend sometime with my little brother. "This was a big mistake." I was about to head out to ys's graduation party, when I have this conversation with my grandma.

GM: where do you think your going?

Me: I'm going to ys's graduation party. (By this time I had started wearing my class ring on a chain around my neck.)

GM: you aren't going anywhere with that.(pointing to my ring) We paid to much money for it, so you can lost it.

Me: YOU didn't pay anything for this ring. AG and AE paid for this ring.

GM: you aren't leaving this house till you give it here. (Head extended)

Me: oh yeah, you and what army? (As I turn to the door, I see mom blocking my way out.

Mom: hand it over and you can go.

Now the yelling and screaming starts. AG was also on the way out to do something, I don't remember what, but she puts a end to the fight quickly.

AG: ALL OF YOU SHUT UP! Give me the ring and I'll put it somewhere safe, if it means we can go about our business.

Smiling, I hand her my ring and wait for to put it up; so we can leave. Grandma following and yelling at her, all the way to her room. All is said and done; we head to our cars and go on our marry ways. I don't come back except to take my brother to lunch a few days later.

On the day I was to head back to Virginia, AG discovers my ring is missing. she thinks she may have moved it, but isn't completely sure. She tells me "when I find it I'll send it by CJ (her son my cousin). I agree to the terms and head back to Virginia.

A month has passed and still no ring. AG is extremely upset and I tell her, "don't worry, it'll turn up". It turned up, alright. A friend had ran into my mom in a pawn shop, with the ring. He calls me and here is the convo, as best as I can remember.

Friend: hey

Me: hey, it's been a while. How are you doing?

Friend: I'm good. By some chance, did you ask your mom to pawn your class ring.

Me: WHAT!

Friend: I'll take that as a no. Saw her at ABC pawn on main, yesterday. Just thought I'd ask.

Me: That bitch is so Dead! Thanks for the info. I owe you big.

After hanging up, with my friend. I was on the phone with AG and AE. I was told that they will handle Mom and Grandma. They were going to order me another ring, but I didn't want one. I wanted payback, but was told not to do anything I would regret and let it go. AE put some money in my account and I dropped it, for now

Flash forward a year.

The bullshit of my ring has passed and I'm about to apply for my passport. Now, I hope you remember me mentioning my bank account. My mom set it up for me, when I was young. Saving money for a rainy day and child support payments. I continued to use it after I moved away. Her name was still on the account, but it was never a issue.

On one of my phone calls to my brother,. I mentioned my Europe trip. He told Mom, not knowing any better. Which brought on the next round of horse shit. It was this round that literally broke me emotionally and mentally broke me.

I had recently opened a new bank account for the trip. I was going to withdraw the money and transfer it to my new account. I hope that you can see were I'm going with this. When I go to do this, i find out that it's all gone. Close to $25,000 gone and I flip my shit.

I call the bank to find out what the fuck is going on. They tell me that I withdrew it.

CS: Sir you withdraw the money a week ago.

Me: No I didn't. I have withdrawn from my account in months.

CS: It says here you withdrew the money from 123 Adams St bfe, North Carolina.

Me: Wait what, I haven't been to bfe in nearly a year. Son of a bitch. (Hang up on customer service and called home.)

AG: hey sweetie, how are you.

Me: PUT MOM ON THE PHONE NOW!

AG: what's wrong, sweetie?

Me: PUT MOM ON THE FUCKING PHONE NOW!!!

She puts down the phone and in the background i can, just barely her "I'm not letting him blow my hard earned money on some foolish trip." (I should add that my paychecks had been going into this account for years. Entitled bitch) By the time AG comes back to the phone I'm in tears and in no state to talk.

After I got off the phone, I was a complete mess. My roommate comes home to find me curled into a ball, crying. I must have worried her, cause she was trying to console me. The why me? I wish I was never born and I wished I was dead; started.

It was finally official, those cold hearted bitches finally broke me. The crying didn't stop and I was worrying my friends and colleagues. Then I stopped eating. Three later my best friend was there and their was no knocking me out of it. It was off to the hospital I go.

A month later Im released and my best friend is staying with me, for a bit. I was over crying, past pissed, and my rage was coming forth. I was long past getting even. I wanted my due revenge. Didn't care how long it would take, someone was going to pay.

I eventually return to work, a changed man. I was starting over when it came to my trip. Lawyers were suggested, but the law was not going to do. I wanted 10lbs of flesh.

Two years had to pass, before I saw my chance. I hadn't talked to those two people, in two years at that point. Things had gotten worse, back home for AG.

Grandma was acting like her shit didn't stink, literally. She was now sitting in the living room pissing and shitting, where ever she sat. The house reaked of shit and piss. She was being a bitch to AG and AG's friends stopped coming by. By this point, even Mom had enough of her and something had to be done.

I come home from work one night and who do I see sitting in my living room; my roommate, CJ, AG, my girlfriend, and mom. Soon as I see mom, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" and walked out.

My girlfriend,at the time(let call her R) follows.

R: honey, I think you should hear them out.

Me: AG and CJ yes but that bitch gotta go.

R: my name

Me: NO

R: they are going to put your grandmother in a home.

Me: She belongs at the bottom of a six foot hole.

She seemed quite shocked I would say such a thing.

R: hear them out for me, please.

I agree and I'm told of what was going on. A agreement is reached and I will help move the old witch.

Two weeks later R and myself are driving down I95 to bfe. We take our time, as I feel a disturbance in the force. A shitstorm is brewing. After stopping for lunch, we arrive around 2pm. We just arrived in the eyes of the storm.

They had dropped the bomb on grandma and she isn't happy. We can hear her in the car. That's how loud the was screaming. It is then that my sweet revenge, comes to me.

I grab my phone and call non emergency. I informed them of the situation and say I'm worried about my grandmas health and safety, a car is on the way.

Here is the thing about the town we lived in. If the police are called; it's either going to be the county sheriff or the highway patrol that comes, depends on who is closest.

I knew I had very little time, so I tell R to stay outside and wait for the police. I walk in and see the witch; keeping everyone at a distance by swinging her cane.

I'm laughing at this point. She's got everyone scared of her. Guess what, I'm not scared. I noticed that highway patrol has arrived. (Gotta do this quick) I walk up to her and tell her like it is.

Me: Look, you waste of space. The way I see it, you have two choices. You can go to the home peacefully or I can drag your ass out back and put you down like old yeller.

She chooses option three. Highway patrol and R walk in as the handle of the cane pops me below my left eye. I take the hit and feel the blood running down my face.

It's on bitch. Grab the cane and say "your turn bitch", but before I can swing; someone grabs hold of the cane. Trooper sternly looks me in the eyes and says "Go outside before you are in cuffs too"

I turn to go,but not before I get the last word.

Me: Krama's a bitch and it looks like she finally caught up to you. Enjoy your time in jail, I Know I will.

She had hit me for the last time and I got to watch her ride away in the back of a squad car. I had finally gotten my revenge and all it took was taking a cane to the face, in front of a cop.

Afterward

I had to get stitches. She got me good, one last time. Left a scar, as well. I dropped the charges on the condition that she get some mental help, go to the nursing home and never speak to me again.

Mom and I are back on non speaking terms. Bitch brought a new fucking car with my money, so I put a cider block through her windshield after I found out. She wanted me to replace the windshield.

Me: why don't you just use the money that you stole from me, to replace it.

That is how I put a end to a 25 year reign of terror. Hope that you enjoyed my little tale of revenge. Like mentioned in the beginning grammar isn't my strong suit, please be kind. Oh and I will post some pics of Grandma's handly work.

Peace, love, and rock and roll.

(source) story by (/u/prettyfly4adazedguy)

[prorevenge]

I was doing you a favor by playing the long game...

I too was playing yet another long game by holding on to this for so long.

SO I had read earlier today the owner of a previous job of mine passed away. This was a place that tried to screw me pretty hard and I took some pro revenge on. It drug up some angry old feelings, so why not take an equal dose of catharsis?

WARNING: This is a doozy so strap in if you dare, no TL;DR it wouldn't do justice.

So this takes place almost a decade ago. I was working as a department manager for a fairly large privately owned pest control company. Their color scheme was black and yellow, much like the taxi's the owner's dad used to drive. Since the taxi industry would be around for ever(hello Uber/Lyft) so would this pest control company, (this is important later) or so the owner used to parrot constantly. My job was to over see the techs doing treatments and set their stops and generally manage assorted insect control services, inventory, payroll for that dept, etc etc. I had taken the job from the owners son who took it from the previous manager who they demoted and yet stayed in the dept...this is important later. The owners son was a late 30's early 40's man child. I mean if he had dialed it back a few degrees he would have been an awesome guy, but anytime booze was involved he was a mess. If it was weed, he turned into the stereo typical obnoxious stoner making nothing but bad Jamaican accented jokes. He also hit on anything younger than him that moved...while being married w a pregnant wife. But I digress, the owner was a piece of work too, old Jewish guy who was as racist as he was old, not with any kind of seething hatred. Just a "this is the way it is" type attitude. My fave line of his, "The sky is blue, Ch#@ks know math, N@&ers are lazy, Jews know gold. What else is new" Like it was the most clever thing of all time. Finally now on to the revenge and need for such.

I had been at said job for about two and a half years, while there I had gotten engaged about 6 month earlier. Due to the awesomeness of my staff I invited about 10 employees to my wedding(it was going to be big due to the wife's family and mine's tiny so..) including the owner his son and the previous manager. I should have felt the ripples in the water when I had planned the trip to propose. The day before I go the owner comes in to do something with a big job and I tell him of my vacation plans as he is looking at the schedule. After I tell him of the somewhat expensive accommodations (I was proposing to my then gf), he literally says, "that's a great idea I haven't been there in years, I think I'll go tomorrow too!" I think he is joking, but he immediately tells his son who was taking over my work that he needs to take over for him and be a presence at the job site. Then tries to demand I clear a day out of my booked vacation schedule for us to meet up with him so he can take us out to some expensive place or some crap. On that one day during the trip he ended up no call no show-ing after we invited him to meet and hang with our family. We spent about an hour trying to call/message/email the guy and he never responded the entire trip. I get back he starts cracking lame jokes about how I ditched him to get engaged...that really pissed me off.

It gets better. Over the course of the next few months strange shit starts happening. I am forced to let go of a few of my techs for BS reasons like the 3 strike rule of attendance randomly being enforced without writ-ups or even verbal warnings. One guy had a 3 month old kid with his GF and I had to let the guy go because of a 3rd lateness of over 5 min from almost 90 days earlier and the previous two being almost 2 years old with the notes of in-climate weather and no routes that day (they also denied him unemployment and tried to enforce a 90 day no compete clause that would have stopped him form getting a job w the competition). Then I get a high priority job of going through back logs of unpaid services and start trying to preform collections with me receiving a % of what I collect(that I was never paid). Over the next month or two I keep getting odd things thrown at me to make money which don't have much to do with my regular job. Till one week where the entire office gets the flu. The owners son, previous manager(now just an officer worker), my assistant and about half the techs call out over the course of the week. I still come in with a 102 fever and goddamn doctors note in case I need to bail, just to get everyone set up and do as much as I can before almost passing out 3 days in a row. I get the entire day's work done by 1pm and leave all with the boss's son's approval. He was thrilled things were still working while the plague rampaged on. But not the owner apparently. I got pulled into the office and yelled at about not taking initiative and calling out all these days...he sounds like he is about to fire me before he asks me if I have anything to say for my self. So I correct him and he looks really shaken and then tells me some BS about the EPA stepping in and making us reduce the number of services we are allowed to do from quarterly (4x a yr) to a trimester schedule (3x) all while paying the same price. Guess who got to call almost every paying customer and try to get them to swallow that? ::raises hand::. So I take care of that over another two weeks and once again get called in to the office. Saying we cannot have this anymore and the EPA is crashing down hard on us and I just keep giving out too many services because the EPA really said we are not allowed to treat more than 2x a year and they lied to me throwing me under the bus(turns out that was a lie too they were trying to get up to stop treatments all together). Knowing I never had the power to authorize a single extra service without consent from the owners. So they had to let me go...only 4 month before I was going to get married. It got a bit intense as emotions ran high, the asshole of a son tells, "My dad told me to fire you a while ago for attendance but I knew you were getting married and I didn't want to mess that up so I played the long game for you man...." In an office with no strict punch schedule for the office workers as we were salary and constantly did things like get food for the office or have to run errands for the business and get stock from another location. Along w/ the EPA bullshit he tells me he just couldn't have a dept with two other managers in it who made less than I do doing the same job. They also tried to block my unemployment with falsified paperwork, claiming unsatisfactory attendance. Tons of bullshit and I never got a strait answer as to why I was let go till I did some investigating. Turns out the old manager who was just an office hand was being put back in the spot she was fired form because she offered to take a 33% pay cut form her old salary and the son just didn't want the extra work.....So they tried to scapegoat me for EPA violations and tried to tell the rest of the office my fuckups were the reason people were let go and the department was going to close.

So now that you've read all that you may have a bit of a feel for why I took my revenge so far and for so long. Luckily I had snapped a few pics of the paperwork I signed upon leaving stating it was due to the EPA infractions. That gets printed out and sent to the department of labor with the rest of their awesome tactics(shorting over time and flat out not paying for paid vacations, time card edits). That lead to tens of thousands of dollars lost in pack pay and fines being levied. The guy w/ the 3 month kid I had to let go told me he eventually settled for almost 35k in back pay... My next stop was the EPA, who much to their surprise didn't even know the company had kept doing the treatments at all as it was supposed to be stopped altogether. Luckily they knew the deal and that it wasn't just me making treatments all willy nilly like. More fines, for each and every treatment performed by them from about 3 months before they fired me. That had to be in the 6 figure range as there was well over 1.5k treatments done in the time and the fine was supposed to be over 1k each. The problem with the treatments were they were too effective, and were wiping out the type of insect that has beneficial and necessary environmental roles. So the mfers were actually hurting the ecology of our goddamn state for their own profit. I created a few fake FB profiles to still be able to follow the owner and his son on FB and find out not 30 days after their EPA issues my department closed down.

Okay so that was 2006ish, two years pass and I keep seeing my POS old boss, speeding around the area (I lived near the place) in his old ass little red Mercedes. Guess who called the cops worrying about the safety of those on the road around this dangerous car? Guess who eventually got caught for DUI at 2pm in the afternoon?

Fast forward a few years to 2011. Mr Whiz Kahlifa drops the song Black and yellow. Decent track. But remember how my old boss was a super racist fellow? Remember the business' color scheme? So I spent about a month sending him different youtube links to that song, from random email accounts. And finally one of a commercial for the company with Whiz's song over it vs the lame jingle they used. Not two weeks after I stop they change the goddamn color scheme of the place to a horrible red white and blue one. But not exactly red white and blue like the American flag more like the Blue white red of the French one. I wait about a month after the Black and Yellow attack and send him a vid of the French national anthem while a the flag is waving in the background. The next goddamn day the place is covered in that cheesy car dealer red white and blue American bunting and American flags everywhere.

Fast forward again to about 2014 and fuck me if I am not out for a walk, and see that company's sign in a lawn advertising that same old treatment on the same old signs from 06'...guess who got sent yet another email to the EPA w pictures? That one got them in major and local news as being "no friend to the environment".

Last time I went by their place they seemingly had half fleet of what are now used blue white and red covered mini trucks. Plus their call center building was emptied of furniture. Unfortunately they are still in business but are sitting at about a 3 star rating on Yelp and that was after they did the damage control to get it back from 1.5 stars.

Sorry(not sorry) guys, I was just playing the long game for you....

(source) (story by StendhalSyndrome)