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Hey...back again. Guess what happened to me today? An auto body shop up the street, who by the way has called about sign prices, etc., but never purchased any from me, had someone stop in. The woman explained that they had just bought a used sign cutter "to do signs for our shop, because we spend so much money on signs, we figured we'd just go ahead and make our own" (their sign for years consisted of a faded hot-pink neon helvetica jobbie with no negative space, I mean the copy touched all 4 sides of the frame) She sez they paid 3K for the plotter, and wanted to add features to their computer, and inadvertantly (she didn't use that word-probably can't pronounce it)null & voided their sign program. "Could we borrow your disc?" I said "I don't think so...I paid a thousand bucks for my program, new, why would I loan it to YOU?" She wasted my time for a few more moments by asking if she could purchase "some of that paper stuff that goes in the machine" I gave her a # for one of my suppliers, thinking she was lucky she got that! The NERVE of some folks! GRRRRR. Love- JILL
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Hi Jillbeans, It never ceases to amaze me how these people have the nerve that they do. I experienced the same thing a few years back. Two dudes from a panel shop came in and told me that they were going to set up in my patch and could I advise them on the best systems to get and if they got one from an auction could I help show them how to set up!!. One of them even said "He would work for me for FREE until he learnt how to do layout etc." I don't have to explain to anyone what I told them and I certainly don't think I was as polite as you were.
-------------------- Drane Signs Sunshine Coast Nambour, Qld. dranesigns@bigpond.com Downunder "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer" Posts: 965 | From: Nambour, Qld. Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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Jill, turn-about is fair play. A while back A race team contacted me through a friend and said they had some sign eguipment for sale. I ran right over and checked it out. He had a Gerber 4B and a S750. I still see 4b's selling used for $2000 and s750's for $500-$750. Here's what I did. He said he had bought the stuff at an auction thinking he could letter his own race cars. When he got the stuff home he said he found he needed a sign program to run the 4B.(YOU DON'T NEED A PROGRAM FOR THE 4B)It is a stand alone machine. I told him he was probably right and I would purchase the 4B for $100. He said yes. After talking to Bob Rochon about the usefulness of the S750 I went back and gave him $200 for that. Both machines are hooked up to my PC now and cut out of flexi with my 24" roland. If this guy only knew what he had he would be home lettering his race car as we speak. heheheheheh
-------------------- Rob Larkham Rob Larkham Signs & Lettering 21 Middlefield Road Chester, MA. 01011
413-354-0287 Posts: 517 | From: Chester, MA | Registered: May 2001
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had a guy show up one day to watch me pounce and hand paint a storefront sign on a stucco wall. he asked me a million questions, how he had never seen anyone hand paint as sign that big, how'd I get all those holes in all that paper, what' a pounce machine, if I did any vinyl signs, what kind of system I had, how much did it cost, how do you "make it do" the signs for you...on and on and on. I was pretty vague about everything and mainly talked about the most expensive equipment out on the market.
Couple of months later this guy shows up at one of my customers business, while I am picking up a deposit for a project, soliciting his new "Sign Business" right in front of me. unbelievable!!
This guy then has the nerve to call me and ask for a logo that I had designed (the same one for the storefront I had painted) he had lowballed the price and was going to do some truck doors out of vinyl for MY customer. He couldn't figure out how come the logo he had scanned in had all them jaggies all over it!!!
the funny thing is, when I wouldn't give the logo to him, he just went ahead and used his jaggie version and filled up the ENTIRE truck door!! You can definately see it coming down the road.
The last I heard he is wanting to get out of the sign business and be a supplier!! Watch out Roger, he may decide to move to Hawaii and "invent" Rapider-Tack next! Ha
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1736 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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Just today, I get an e-mail from a client, telling me that one of my competitors has asked them to e-mail a version of their logo to ME so he can avoid the risk of getting a virus on his computer. Apparently he intends coming over to ask me to burn it to CD for him.........HUH??!!
Da noive of some people alright!! This is a true story. I'll paste in the e-mail so you can see for yourself.
quote: "Secondly, attached is artwork for Gary O'Brien who said to email it through to you and he would collect it from you! I hope this is ok...it's artwork for Rotary????
Give me a shout if this doesn't make any sense!
Thanks Rob!
Kind regards,
Clare" end quote
(Gary Obrian is the proprietor of GO signs Bundaberg.)
go figure, and don't worry, I'm having trouble making sense of this myself.
RobC
[ April 10, 2002, 06:01 AM: Message edited by: Rob Clark ]
-------------------- Rob Clark Rob Clark Design 11 Lassig st Moore Park Queensland Australia 0741598092 Posts: 421 | From: Australia | Registered: May 1999
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The opportunities for mischief are legion, boys and girls. Don't get mad. Get even. Think of what a small magnet can do to the computer they want you to help set up, or the fun you can have making that disk for your competitor. With so many formats and systems out there, is it anyone's fault the logo won't open, or cut, or comes up as an indecipherable mess? What? It erased your hard drive? How could that have happened????
They want you to train them? Oh, PLEASE send them to me! They can learn all my secrets, like using bleach to clean brushes and my secret brake fluid based recipe for application fluid. They want to learn layout and design? Let me show them the distort feature, you can do all these cool effects. Best of all, teach them the incredible benefits of the wonder substrate known as Medex, and how they should use it for ALL their signs. (just seal these edges with soap, it works great, trust me.) I have over twenty years of experience in things that work and things that produce spectacular failures and mind-boggling screw-ups - which ones will they be shown? Duh....
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hey Rob, I love that story, he is a unique character. It just occured to me if you represent one end of the spectrum in this town I guess you need someone to balance out the other end.
-------------------- Badges2 is Bob Wright from Bundy Badges Screenprinting located in Bundaberg Queensland Australia (The land of OZ)& Dad to Katie, The Kookaburra Bird. badges@interworx.com.au Posts: 69 | From: Bundaberg, Qld. Australia | Registered: Oct 1999
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I don't think it's a lot of nerve that causes this but rather a lot of stupidity. I'm a firm believer that the majority of people are just plain stupid when it comes to common sense. The fact that what they are doing might affect others just doesn't enter their minds, they are the only ones on the planet, kinda like when you are following some folks out of a store and they stop right in the middle of the doorway!!!!!!!
I get these folks all the time. I had one racer, who by the way never was a customer of mine as I was "too high" go through a mutual friend who is a customer of mine and make a bunch of inquiries on where to buy all the fancy foils and tape and what not. I obliged, he's got a machine, have at it. My friend called back a few days later saying the other guy was going nuts about how expensive all the vinyl was and there was no way he could do a car for the $125 the other guy had been charging hahahahahaha. Rob, I love your story, what goes around comes around
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
I had a local guy who fields several hobby stock cars( he owns a salvage) decide he wanted to letter his own cars and friends cars.
They called me and asked what kind of cutter, vinyl, where to find it etc. I gave all the vague answers and told her to go look on the web, there were lots of things out there.
Well, they went into the sign business, I guess. They have about fizzled out in one year. I've seen their work and had some of their customers come to me because of quality, or them not getting to the job, etc,etc.
A classic case of someone jumping in over their head. These days, if you can afford a car payment you can be a "sign maker".
Quality, Service and Experience always wins!
"Don't try this at home folks. We are trained professionals!"
I have a neighbor who has been in the engraving business. (control tags & such) He's been doing this for about 30 years and I sub out all my engraving to him. (he's homebased as well)
Anyway, there's a woman that comes to him a few years ago wanting to learn about engraving. So he takes a little time to show her a few things, where to get supplies etc. Next thing you know shes off and running! Well, here comes the good part, where we live there's 3 shipbuilding companies that have been using my guy for as long as he's been doing it. She goes out and talks to ALL his customers and tries to hustle them.
This is the good part, she came back to him (I guess just to chit chat) and tells him she went to his customers and that one in particular told her that they were'nt ready to let him go him yet. He is an older man who I guess has a lot of restraint, but I would have kicked her ass out of my house! But then again, I wouldn't have made the mistake of showing her anything in the first place. She was too close to not be competition.
She ended up taking some of his customers including one of the shipyards. I think I'll have myself a engraving service sales campain to solicit her customers and guess who will get to do them? You guessed it! Full circle baby!
-------------------- Tony Broussard Graphic Details Digital Media Loreauville, LA Posts: 395 | From: Loreauville, LA | Registered: Jul 1999
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Thanks, Guys! I don't feel so bad now. Rob, I love what you did- more power to ya, baby. And dear, dear Cam, you are so insideously clever. Why didn't I think of that? I kinda agree that it is stupidity on the other person's part, everyone seems to think that they are the only person who matters, but it still took a lotta noive for Miss Fake-Bake Trailer Trash to come flouncing into my shop, pierced navel, good perfume over sweaty skin, acne scars, bad teeth, & all. I can just see her now, bending over in Daisy Duke shorts, applying all caps Brush Script (misspelled)in cheap red vinyl onto a towtruck held together with grey primer. Humph! Love- JILL ps betcha didn't know I was such a b*tch!
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I know what will cheer ya up--a re-fill on yer pink hair dye job!
Bill "baldy" Krupinski
-------------------- Wm. J. Krupinski ArtFirst Studio Jefferson, WI kruptoons@yahoo.com Posts: 95 | From: Jefferson, WI USA | Registered: Oct 2000
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Jill, if she flounces around in a skimpy outfit installing U/C Brush Script, I hate to say it, but she'll probably do pretty well, especially with the tow truck crowd. Maybe there's a lesson there ?
-------------------- Jim Upchurch Artworks Olympia WA Posts: 797 | From: Olympia, WA | Registered: Nov 1998
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As a dues-paying, card-carrying member in fairly good standing of the tow truck crowd, I feel a smart-a-- answer coming on. If I could only remember what it was.
-------------------- Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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me, i'm always delighted to find somebody i can refer work to... the kind of work involving:
vehicles with more primer than paint,
"repaints" (all new words and a different logo, for a different business, but an existing sign) on warped and peeling waferboard
a free banner for the church bingo (not my church, not even my neighborhood -- where'd they ever get my phone number?)
a menu for a barbeque joint... painted on the brick wall ("we don't want to have to clean it, so we figured we could just pressure wash it once a month with the rest of the wall")
a used car lot that "offered" to "let" me pinstripe their cars... and they'll pay me for each one when it sells.
the people who gave me a photocopy of a Union mark ("bug") to add to the sign because "it has to have a Union bug on it". (i'm not a union shop and the bug wasn't even for the sign union)
and the winner is: the always popular vinyl removal projects.
in fact, i'd almost GIVE the heat gun to some of these people so they can go out into the world and clean up with the high-volume customers who don't understand why they should pay me to remove somebody else's vinyl before i do my work.
i've been tempted, but i'm too nice, to hand them my Snap-On heat gun and say "here, just try it -- it's easy". it looks like a hair dryer, but the lights dims when you plug it in and it could crisp the vinyl AND the paint off the door in about 15 seconds, and that's on the LOW setting.
there are a lot of people who want a low-priced, low-quality job. it is always good to have somebody to refer them to. Keep them busy!
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: :: Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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Hey Jim- Does that mean I'm supposed to go around dressed like Brittney Spears (my butt is 2 axe handles wide) or was that just a general jab at the tow-truck crowd? I admit to dressing sexier when I work for tow-truck types, holier when I work at a church, and preppier while working for yuppies. I'm a Jill of all Trades, a karma chameleon! Woo Hoo! Krupeeeeenski- the hair's gonna go poiple for Mars! Love- JILL ps Scooter- mebbe we can use that heat gun on the sticker-chick's sign cutter! ps
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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