The Dishonest Jeweler..... Part 1

There will always be dishonest people....I'm sure of that!

Nice Roman coins found on  the Shores of Italy!
nudge nudge..wink wink (hint)

Over the years not only have I run into them on a personal basis, but I've also had my encounters with them in my business. Luckily, there were only a few and in my business I only got burnt by one. This individual which I would LOVE to name, but I don't want any legal troubles, was by far one of the most Dishonorable, Dishonest, Despicable, and Deranged persons I ever met, who I will call "The Jeweler". This man owns a jewelry store at the local mall, and a couple other stores in the area. He used to run a commercial on the local cable channel and his daughter says (even though it's obviously a sales pitch)......... 

"I will never forget the day he sat me on his lap and asked me if I knew the three most important things about being a jeweler.  Well, I was guessing all kinds of things, but all my answers were wrong.  He said, “I will tell you what my father taught me at your age: To be a jeweler, you need to know three things; be honest, honest, and more honest."

Now if that isn't a bunch of malarkey, I don't know what is! This is a man who proudly told me (after I started working on his house) that he went bankrupt seven times! Now if that's honest, then BERNIE MADOFF is a good businessman. 

So the story begins..........

The Jeweler!

It was several years ago I got a call from an architect that I had become friends with after doing several jobs together with him. He asked me if I wanted to do work on a 4 million dollar home in Flemington NJ. This was a good thing for me, as it was winter and here in New Jersey the winter can be harsh, therefore work can be hard to come by. I went to meet with the man who was a jeweler, but somehow now he was a builder.

He was a slightly overweight man with a heavy Russian accent...

He was on his cell phone when I arrived, and signaled for me to go ahead of him up the steep winding driveway to the house, which I did.  The massive building had already been started, and it seemed to be deserted. I parked my truck and walked around the house. I was so impressed at the size of this mansion. The front entryway was actually bigger than MY house!, maybe even double the size! I guess you kind of gain respect for a man who can afford such a Grand undertaking, and I began to wonder what must a man do to afford such a luxury.

I took notice that there was no one working on this house, even tough it was a weekday. The home had been framed, sheathed, the windows were in and roof was on.....but that seemed to be all. I went inside and took notice that there was very little plumbing work done and the electric had just been started. I started to fantasize that I could live in the attic, and no one would ever notice that I was there! I went back outside to look around, and the Jeweler drove up.

Not the house, but shown here for size!

We discussed pricing for me to do the massive amount of brickwork and the multilevel fireplace. He tried to tell me that he could get a "Mexican" crew to do the job for almost half of what I was asking, but I stood my ground and he agreed to my price, and we got started there the following week.

We started on the fireplace in the basement building the base. A fireplace is built in stages, and requires multiple inspections. That first day I noticed that the area that the fireplace was to be built in seemed very small and I told him of my concerns.

His reply was "Dominick...I'm engineer in Russia, don't tell me this...it is plenty big for you to build this fireplace!" I explained to him that he was now in the US of A and we probably do things much different here. I emphasized that I didn't think there was enough room required by the township. "Dominick....just go ahead and build fireplace...I will worry about how big space is."

I prepped for and got my first inspection.

 The first inspection was for the hearth and once we got our passing sticker we went onto the next stage. The next stage was to build the firebox which is where you build the fire. I personally made sure that the measurements were exact. I had the firebox about half way built, when the jeweler came in and asked me if I would move the fireplace over about three inches.

Firebox being built....A second time!

"Dominick, I'm not happy with the way the fireplace does not line up with the stairs across the room, could you move it over?" I wasn't happy because this part of the fireplace took a whole day, and I replied "It's exactly where it should be according to the blueprint, but if you want me to take it down and rebuild it, no problem but you have to pay me for that" He became a bit indignant and replied "Is everything about money? The fireplace is not center to the stairs, and you should have realized that!" I reiterated that it was an exact measurement as shown on the prints. I took out my tape measure and began to show that the fireplace was measured properly and the jeweler said,


"I don't care what the print says.....just move it and we will discuss payment later" He walked away and left the building. I went ahead and as per the jewelers wishes, took the firebox down and cleaned up all of the cement off of the firebrick. By now it was 4:00 pm. and it was starting to get dark, so we called it a day and cleaned up to go home.

That night it had snowed and we got about 14" of snow. 

 

We arrived at the property a little late due to the traffic, and we found that the very long and winding driveway had not been plowed. I parked my truck at the bottom of the hill and we carried our tools and a huge kerosene heater up that driveway, in the snow, which took us about an hour.


I got started on the new (moved two inches) firebox right away. I called the jeweler and asked him when the driveway was going to be plowed, and he assured me that he would have someone there by mid afternoon. Unfortunately no one ever came to plow the driveway. I worked hard all morning to try to make up the time lost because of the jewelers request. It was around 2:00 in the afternoon and the jeweler shows up. I greeted him in my usual upbeat way, and he complimented me in how nice the work was coming along.

Firebox with Herringbone Design.

He sat across the room just watching for a while. He tilted his head like a confused puppy would and in a matter of fact way he asked "Dominick, do you know how to do a herringbone design?" I replied that yes, in fact I did. "Is there any way that you would make the firebox in a herringbone design?" I became a bit frustrated by his comment and I reminded him that the firebox was almost completed AGAIN. "But it would look so nice to have the herringbone here." I told him he would have to pay for me to rebuild it yet again...."Always about money, you Americans are so spoiled!! Just do it...we will discuss later"

Needless to say I took it down a second time, and rebuilt it in the herringbone design.

There was too many things that went on with this job to put here, so I will try to condense the events.

• Because he never plowed the driveway, I ended up blowing my transmission on my truck while attempting to deliver my equipment to his job.  
• The third framer that worked on this house, and never got paid, came by and attempted to burn the house down.......he was talked out of it.
• I found out that almost every trade got ripped off after they worked on this house because when it was time to get paid, the jeweler would fire them for one reason or another.
• I found out that the area for the fireplace was not for a masonry fireplace but a gas fireplace, so, I had to take apart the exterior wall (behind the fireplace) and move (never got paid for this) it so it would pass inspection.
• During my third inspection, the inspector noticed that there would be no room for the fireplace to pass through the attic, and there was no hole cut into the roof.  

I phoned the jeweler and told him that the roof rafters needed to be moved, and that the attic window was too close to the fireplace, and needed to be moved and lastly the hole needed to be cut into the roof for the fireplace chimney to pass through. He started yelling, and said that I should do all of this work. I explained to him that I was not going to be responsible for cutting out the roof rafters, and he needed to get the architect or engineer involved. And also that I was absolutely not going to cut the hole in the roof, because one square foot of the roofing material was worth more than my truck. We argued back and forth about this, and I stood firm on my decision.


He tells me if I won't do what he asks, then I should pack up my equipment and leave his job. I tried to reason with him by telling him that I was hired as a mason, not a framer, or roofer, or engineer. He insisted that if I didn't do his bidding that I should leave. I was really upset at this because I had completed about seven eighths of the fireplace which took me almost two weeks, but at the same time I was relieved, and because of all the ridiculous requests and situations, I was almost happy to be out of there. I told him that would be fine, but he owed me 3/4 of the total price, and I would like to be paid asap. He told me that he would mail me a check, and that was all that I needed to hear. We left that job in a hurry, and myself and all of my men were happy to be leaving.


Four weeks went by, and yet no check arrived from the jeweler. I called him several times but he was never around. I finally decided to stop by his place of business, and when he walked into the store the look on his face was priceless, and he had the nerve to ask me what I was doing there! I told him that I wanted to be paid that day, and I wasn't going to leave without a check in my hand. He told me that he was NOT going to pay me, and he turned to pick up the phone behind the counter...."I'm calling the police"


I don't know how I stayed calm at this point, but I went almost nose to nose with him and said, "Go ahead, call the police, they'll arrest you, because you're the thief! And just to give you a heads up, I'll see you in court"

Come back tomorrow for Part 2: The Court Case And The Jeweler

 

See you next time......from beyond.........