Randomness: the 18th sequel

[Glitterwolf]

[Mad Jack]

46 minutes ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

Nanu Nanu

 

 

 

 

 When I was younger, I actually repainted a sign like this...

 

 

 

[haldir]

1 hour ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

Nanu Nanu

 

 

[kristof65]

2 hours ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

I'd suggest to them that not doing Y could cause accounting errors that will translate into Tax Problems their accountant won't be able to correct.

Doing Z to correct what should be corrected by doing Y could send up Red Flags that in case of an audit would be extremely expensive.

Good Luck

GEM

I don't know how Canadian tax laws work, so I tend to keep my mouth shut regarding that sort of stuff. I do know that a lot of sites like to use the cleaning account reports to reduce their tax liability - being able show just how much time/water was used by employees for non-revenue things is something the accountants I've talked to really like. 

I have no clue why this particular customer is being so resistant.   I found some previous service tickets where they were told the same thing - though the tech didn't note how big the balances were back then, so I don't know if these are new balances, or the same accounts. 

[Green Eyed Monsty]

14 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

I don't know how Canadian tax laws work, so I tend to keep my mouth shut regarding that sort of stuff. I do know that a lot of sites like to use the cleaning account reports to reduce their tax liability - being able show just how much time/water was used by employees for non-revenue things is something the accountants I've talked to really like. 

I have no clue why this particular customer is being so resistant.   I found some previous service tickets where they were told the same thing - though the tech didn't note how big the balances were back then, so I don't know if these are new balances, or the same accounts. 

This is one where if it was me I'd kick it up through management for an opinion of your companies lawyers and accountants on the potential liability for applying the wrong "fix", should that "fix" trigger tax consequences.

And, should the opinion come back negative I would be requiring a signed by a Company Officer Order In Writing stating it is the customer instructing you to apply strategy Z instead of the recommended strategy Y.

GEM

[Serenity]

The Crafty Creative with Josh Foreman!Rock Carving and Drawing!  Start screen up at 1:59 PM.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/reaperminiatures

[TripleH]

[TGP]

6 hours ago, kristof65 said:

Me (to customer): You're having that problem because of X*.  If you do Y, it should resolve X. 
Customer: But I don't understand why I have to do Y.  Can't we do Z to fix it?  

I think you should ask them Why they want option Z; what their reasons are; …innocently ask, “is there an aspect of Canada Tax laws that make option Z preferable?”

Maybe ask why there are multiple cleaner accounts? It makes me wonder if somebody just created a new one when they decided the previous one had accumulated an excessively large balance. 

 

And CC your legal department because this whole thing sounds kinda dodgy. 
 

Did I understand that they have 3+ accounts with over 100K in each?

 

How does that compare with the amount of normal paid business they are doing?

[kristof65]

2 hours ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

This is one where if it was me I'd kick it up through management for an opinion of your companies lawyers and accountants on the potential liability for applying the wrong "fix", should that "fix" trigger tax consequences.

And, should the opinion come back negative I would be requiring a signed by a Company Officer Order In Writing stating it is the customer instructing you to apply strategy Z instead of the recommended strategy Y.

GEM

Meh, I have bigger fish to fry. 

Like the scummy Real Estate agent who is seizing one of my customer's location to run it himself. I don't know the full story of how he managed it this time, but I was pointed towards some news paper articles where the same guy has done the same thing in the past with restaurants.  Basically, he looks for businesses that don't own the land/building, but are just leasing, then he quietly buys that property/building, then refuses to renew the lease, and tries to take over the business.   In the case of the previous restaurants, the restaurant owners refused to sell or turnover the business to him, instead choosing to relocate, so he allegedly used his access to the property to acquire copies of their recipes, etc, then launches a new business with similar name and menu. To give you an idea, if the restaurant was named Burger Barn, his version would be Burger Bar. Even used same fonts and similar item names. None of his businesses have lasted a year. 

Right now he's trying to glean all of the information he can about the current owner's business, because he wants to be able to take over and have everything running the same day they have to turn over the property. I keep getting phone calls from him asking questions I've already told him I can't answer - for example, he wanted to know the current owner's credit card merchant services company and their merchant ID number. Yeah, no. 

 

Our policy is that we won't do an ownership change without several things, one of which is either a letter of transfer from the previous owner, or legal documentation proving ownership that's been reviewed & approved by our lawyer.  I strongly suspect the current owners will refuse to send a letter, so he'll have to wait for the ownership transfer to legally happen, and then our lawyer to review it. And darn, that's going to happen over a holiday weekend. 



And those people who changed their network, and broke things? The senior tech returned, and I talked to him today. My opinion of him right now is about the size of a Reaper gremlin mini.   He refuses to do something that would be easier for him to do, and instead is making me remotely work with the idiot site personnel to get him some basic information so he can configure the network correctly. So now the customer's going to get billed for my time for something that should have been part of his initial work. 

 

14 minutes ago, TGP said:

I think you should ask them Why they want option Z; what their reasons are; …innocently ask, “is there an aspect of Canada Tax laws that make option Z preferable?”

Maybe ask why there are multiple cleaner accounts? It makes me wonder if somebody just created a new one when they decided the previous one had accumulated an excessively large balance. 

 

And CC your legal department because this whole thing sounds kinda dodgy. 
 

Did I understand that they have 3+ accounts with over 100K in each?

 

How does that compare with the amount of normal paid business they are doing?

We recommend multiple cleaning accounts - one per employee.  That way it's easier to monitor which employees are abusing their accounts and stop them from getting free car washes after they quit.  It also helps keep balances from getting out of hand. 

All of the accounts appear to be in use - they have like 8 accounts total. It's a big site - like 10-12 bays and it's busy - so I'm guessing they have multiple employees using the same few accounts, and they're probably washing the bays down after every customer if they can.  I'm also guessing that these accounts probably date back a decade or more, and have never been reset. 

As for why they want option Z? I'm guessing that it's just because they're lazy - they'd rather pay me to do something than do it themselves.  I haven't heard back from them stating that I'm willing to charge them to do Y - probably won't until tomorrow or Monday at the earliest. But I have also seen that they're cheap, so they may just try and get someone else to take pity on them and do it for them. 

[TGP]

31 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

As for why they want option Z? I'm guessing that it's just because they're lazy - they'd rather pay me to do something than do it themselves.

At a certain point it seems like best practice to:

 

…just close your umbrella and let it rain money.

 

 ??

[PaganMegan]

A new high point on Corvid-Human relations!

 

Crazy Crow fed me a bug!

 

I hid it in my hand. It's the thought that counts. He is SUCH a good boy!  

[Chaoswolf]

[Green Eyed Monsty]

2 hours ago, kristof65 said:

Meh, I have bigger fish to fry. 

>snip<

Right now he's trying to glean all of the information he can about the current owner's business, because he wants to be able to take over and have everything running the same day they have to turn over the property. I keep getting phone calls from him asking questions I've already told him I can't answer - for example, he wanted to know the current owner's credit card merchant services company and their merchant ID number. Yeah, no. 

 

Our policy is that we won't do an ownership change without several things, one of which is either a letter of transfer from the previous owner, or legal documentation proving ownership that's been reviewed & approved by our lawyer.  I strongly suspect the current owners will refuse to send a letter, so he'll have to wait for the ownership transfer to legally happen, and then our lawyer to review it. And darn, that's going to happen over a holiday weekend. 



And those people who changed their network, and broke things? The senior tech returned, and I talked to him today. My opinion of him right now is about the size of a Reaper gremlin mini.   He refuses to do something that would be easier for him to do, and instead is making me remotely work with the idiot site personnel to get him some basic information so he can configure the network correctly. So now the customer's going to get billed for my time for something that should have been part of his initial work. 

 

We recommend multiple cleaning accounts - one per employee.  That way it's easier to monitor which employees are abusing their accounts and stop them from getting free car washes after they quit.  It also helps keep balances from getting out of hand. 

>snip<

The bottom feeder asking for merchant services and account numbers would be raising Red Flags with Flare Illumination if it were being asked of me in your situation.  Perhaps a report both up your Chain of Authority/Supervision and notification of the appropriate authorities at both the current owners Merchant Services Provider and the Local Law Enforcement are in order, just to cover your own 6 o'clock.

And when the business is taken over, the Merchant Services Provider will already have the guy flagged as someone to scrutinize very carefully.

If any of the past victims of this guys shady dealings have filed a police report or a report with either the DA or Board of Realtors, this latest bit of shady business will at least add to the file, and might be enough to trigger further scrutiny, depending on the jurisdiction.

If/when the slime sucker does take over the car wash, obsolete as much of the equipment as quickly as possible.  If it gets expensive enough quickly enough he may decide car washes are too much work and additional cost for the short term return on investment and pick some other business for his future predatory moves.

-

The multiple cleaning accounts sounds good, add in a site log where every cleaning is required to be logged for time/date and procedures would help establish an audit trail, should it become necessary to question what is going on for either troubleshooting or accounting purposes.

Good Luck, and may you have a peaceful Memorial Day Weekend.

GEM

[Pegazus]

My current activity is staring at the wall. 
 

Yup. 
 

That’s it. Just staring at the wall. 
 

Perhaps tomorrow will be better. I have a four day weekend. High school graduation is Saturday.

 

But for now, the wall it is. 

[Corsair]