The Old Glass In The Fireplace Trick....

Here is yet another story of a fireplace......(Geez I must have built a ton of them!)

This is another experience of where I might have been burnt for my money, but I used a trick that I had learned from an old school mason that I had once worked for. His name was Joe, and he was a very patient man. I say he was patient because when I worked for him I didn't know a fraction of what I know today. He was so kind when he pointed out my mistakes and calmly go over what I had done wrong and showed me the proper way. This may seem normal to some, but my experience with my Dad was the polar opposite. My Dad was and is an inspiration to me, but man did he have a temper.

Crazy Dad!! comin at me!!

My Dad was the kind of man that if you made a mistake he would completely freak out! I remember this one time when we were putting an addition on a grocery store. I was in my early twenties and I was just out of the service. We were laying block on a scaffold that ran the entire interior of the building. It was a nice warm summer day, and I had my little radio playing, when all of a sudden I hear (and feel) the planks rumbling. I stopped what I was doing to see what the ruckus was and saw my Dad running around the corner of the
scaffold towards me. I believe I soiled my pants just at the sight of this. He came running up to where I was working, and started kicking down the entire corner that I had just built. I took a step back and just watched in amazement, and wondering what I had done. He was screaming some sort of profanities the whole time, and when he was finally finished I asked him why did he do that? Apparently I had ONE block facing the wrong way, and it could have been easily repaired......so I quit..(I believe I hold the record for quitting)

So, working with Joe was a lot less stressful and I learned so much more because of his teaching methods.

So fast forward to (somewhat) present day. I was working on a housing development and one day this guy, Jeff pulls up in his brand new Jeep Cherokee. He told me that he was building a few high end (McMansions) houses a few miles away, and that his current mason had screwed up one of the foundations so bad that when he realized it, he never came back. Since I had a pretty large crew at the time, I took on the extra work. I figured that if I personally couldn't do the work I had plenty of subcontractors that worked for me at the time, that I would have no problem taking on the extra work.

We started on that foundation that was so completely out of square that we almost had to take the entire thing down to repair it.We completed that one, and went on to build another four. Getting paid from Jeff turned out to be a challenge. Either he was never at his office or when I did get a check it was always short. I reminded Jeff that I had helped him out by taking on the work, and reminded him that when we were finished, the job was in fact perfect. Jeff swore that he would be more reliable on paying his bills. I was a  little uncomfortable about doing anymore work for him not just because of his inability to pay on time, but I also heard a few things about how he was not to be trusted.

As time went by and the houses were framed, Jeff called me back to start the brick work and the fireplaces. I made it a point to sit and talk with him to explain that I couldn't wait a month for a check. He again assured me that he would be more diligent. So, we started on the brick front for one of the houses. When Jeff received the bill, he gave me a check right then and there! I was impressed and ready to bring in another crew to start work on another large house.

As my other crew worked on the brick front, I worked on one of the two fireplaces on the same house.

 It was summer, and perfect weather for laying brick. We were moving at a pretty good pace, and we were about three quarters of the way done, and Jeff became unreliable with his payments again. I had heard rumors at the local coffee shop that he was over his head, and although this did worry me, I had to finish because if I didn't and it came down to it, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on (as I was told by my attorney).

As I was getting closer to the top, Jeff the builder started coming around the job more often. I asked him repeatedly for my payment that was now two weeks past due, and he claimed that he was having a bit of trouble with his bank, but should have that cleared up by the end of the week. That was a bit worrisome because I would be finished by the end of that week, and I was afraid that if I wasn't there and seeing Jeff once in a while, I would never get my money from him.

So, as I got to the top of the fireplace.......I had the most wonderful thought......from a guy named Joe, who

Me so smart!!

taught me this little trick. I stopped early one day, and went to a local glass shop. I purchased a 12" X 18" piece of glass for about $5.00. The next day I happily climbed up that scaffold......with my glass pane, and skillfully and carefully placed this piece of glass between the last two flues. What this will do is prevent the fireplace from drawing, and it will NOT work.

We finished the job, took down all of our scaffold, and headed to another part of town, another job.
I was really worried because I had a very heavy payroll, and Jeff owed me quite a bit of money. I was actually in a panic every day because it was like Jeff had fallen off the face of the earth! He never returned my calls, and although my messages were beginning to teeter on threats, that wasn't enough for him to do the right thing and at least call me back.

So now every chance I got, I would leave my current job, and head over to the houses that Jeff built. It took about three weeks but finally I found him there one day. It had been so long that there were people living in the house that I hadn't got paid on. He tried to ignore me at first, by talking to the excavator, as I waited for him in my truck. When he finished, he made a dash for his Jeep, got in, and began to perform a K turn. I was not going to let him get away!! I started my truck, and parked it diagonally across the street.....he wasn't going no where.

I got out and walked to his Jeep, and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't smiling, which was why (I guess) he rolled up his window! I gave him a look like REALLY??, and he opened the door and came out. He actually started the conversation with an apology of why he hasn't returned my calls.

"I'm sorry Dominick, but my wife has been very sick, and I've spent so much of my time in the hospital with her" I began to feel like a fool, and I shook his hand in a sincerely warming way. And that's when he tells me that there is a problem with the brick front that we did, and he felt that he wasn't going to pay me until it was repaired. I kinda wanted to punch him in the face at this point, but I just had to keep my cool.

We walked up to the house in question and he pointed to the top of the house..."See that brick there?...it's crooked! How are you going to repair that? And I'm not sure if I want you too because the cement will be a different color, and" That's when I cut him off....."Are you F*n kidding me? I don't see any crooked brick Jeff!  This is BS, and your just looking for a way not to pay me, and that's NOT gonna happen. There are 96 courses of brick on this house, and your telling me that ONE brick is crooked?? C'mon, you could have done better than that!"    

We went back and forth for about twenty minutes, and he finally agreed to have a check for me the following Monday. Monday came, and he did have a check, but it was for only half of what he owed me. I know for a fact that he knew I was not happy about this. He "promised" that he would have the balance in two weeks. I had no choice but to agree to his terms.

About three weeks went by, and again I'm doing "the hunt for Jeff" thing. Then one cool fall night I get a call

Smoke is supposed to go out, not in!!

from Jeff. "Hey Dominick, your fireplace that you built doesn't work! You better get your ass up there and fix it, I don't care if you have to tear the whole thing down, I want it done immediately!" I REMEMBERED..... THE GLASS!!!! Now the ball was back in my court! And I replied..

"Jeff, I know exactly whats wrong with the fireplace"

"You do"

"Yep...but I will only fix it if you bring a check with you...I can be there tomorrow, and don't forget my check, Um....IN FULL!"

He now agreed to my terms. 

The following day, was cold and windy. I brought a extension ladder with me to the house in question. Jeff was there when I pulled in and I could see him talking to the homeowner. I got out of my truck and Jeff introduced me to the homeowner, who praised my work, and told me how happy he was with everything.....except that darn fireplace that smokes up the house. He looked at me with desperate eyes..."Can you fix it?" I replied that yes, I have an idea of what the problem might be, but I needed to talk to Jeff in private.  I pulled Jeff to the side, he handed me an envelope and assured me that it was all there...

"So how are you going to fix it? I sure hope you can because I don't want these people suing me" I told him
not to worry, as I opened the envelope to glance in at the check. It was there and it was in full! So, I then put my ladder up against the house, and I called to the homeowner to make sure that no one was next to the fireplace inside. After he confirmed this, I dropped a brick into the chimney, and amazingly enough it made a much louder crash than even I expected!

Not me

I made sure that the glass was completely gone, climbed down the ladder and looked Jeff straight in the eye and said "Funny, isn't it? why did it take something like this for me to get paid?" He was still pretty stunned but he was able to mutter these words..

"That, Dominick was the most clever thing I have ever seen.....The Old Glass in The Fireplace Trick!!"  He slapped me on the back and we went inside to clean up the glass and start a fire. The draw on that chimney was so good that you could actually hear the suction from inside the room.

I never worked for Jeff again.

TIP OF THE DAY: (light)

Instincts......follow them, you're probably right!

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