Betty The Restauranteur

[eltf177]

I just reread the entire sorry trilogy for laughs. Is there any update to this?

[registerrodeo]

Maybe they have been Captain..maaaaaybe they have

[shanarocks]

This is very interesting to me. I work for BigCorpration Bank (not giving the name for security reasons) in the credit card customer service area and everyday we get the same calls from people who tell us thier sob story to get out of fees. I constantly see people make balance transfers from one card to pay another and end up in the same boat with the second card. Then, they want all sorts of extensions on thier APR promo and due dates with no consequences. They're trying to run from thier debt by creating more debt problems. Before they know it, that have more credit cards and debt than they can handle and then proceed to blame BigCorpration Bank for thier problems.

[Captain Trips]

She has 2 employees working for her that I have no doubt she is paying under the table now to get around taxes (did I mention she asked me to cook the books?)

Hmmm...I wonder if the IRS would like an anonymous tip?

[registerrodeo]

I as informed I would have to (at my own expense) take her to court. She has 2 employees working for her that I have no doubt she is paying under the table now to get around taxes (did I mention she asked me to cook the books?) and she already lost the building that was in her family since the 1800's and recently moved the business but didn't put any signs or anything up. Midnight move, maybe?

[Captain Trips]

You could always place an ad "Don't work for <name>, she has a proven record of not paying employees." It wouldn't be libel, you have her own testimony at the UI hearing as proof. ("I couldn't pay everyone, so I chose to not pay YOU." Really? How could she be so stupid to actually blurt that out under oath? What site is this? Oh, yeah....)

[mjr]

That describes the former owner of the company I work for- can't get spare parts for critical machines but dammed if the "corporate"yacht wasn't gassed up and ready to go from April to October (to say nothing of his fleet of company cars that maintenance gassed up and kept clean). Nobody feels bad for him as he cleared around 10 million in cash after taxes for selling us to the competition.

I worked for a guy like this. Seemed to not pay his employees much, but he had FOUR different Mercedes-Benz cars.

And yes, he outsourced work that could have been done internally.

[sirwired]

No kidding, doesn't your state DOL have a wage claim division which can make life unpleasant for those who owe back pay.

My local paper just did an article about this... the state labor board (here in NC, anyway) is so worthless, that the most they do is ask the business owner to cough up the back pay. If the business owner simply says "no", they nearly always let the matter drop, leaving it up to the employee to recover. (Throughout the whole state, the government pursued all of six pay violations last year, out of 2,300 complaints.)

I could go into why they show no evidence of a spine, but that's clear Fratching territory.

[taxguykarl]

How can she refuse? If she owes, and has the money, doesn't she HAVE to give it to you?

No kidding, doesn't your state DOL have a wage claim division which can make life unpleasant for those who owe back pay.

[dalesys]

That sounds like an awesome business relationship. Two people with differing skill-sets being stronger as a team.

It also sounds like a great idea for a new TV sitcom. Dang it ADHD, now I am going to be writing the pilot when I should be organizing stuff.

If they were rip-off artistes you could call them...


The Fraud Couple!

[Gilhelmi]

The person who handled the finances constantly reigned in the other, giving him various reports to help him. It worked well! The first guy is an amazing sales person. Conveyed confidence and was the front man, so it can work if it's done carefully.

That sounds like an awesome business relationship. Two people with differing skill-sets being stronger as a team.

It also sounds like a great idea for a new TV sitcom. Dang it ADHD, now I am going to be writing the pilot when I should be organizing stuff.

[notalwaysright]

I don't see anything wrong with owning and running a business if you're incompetent with money - but ONLY if you hire someone who IS. And listen to them. And probably hire an independant, totally separate second person to run audits on them every so often, to reduce the risk of theft/embezzlement.

This is so funny, I was about to say something similar. The small business I worked at had someone (was an LLC so it had several owners) who was terrible with money. Not that he would deliberately steal or hide anything from the other owners, he just didn't have a full grasp of where the finances were. The person who handled the finances constantly reigned in the other, giving him various reports to help him. It worked well! The first guy is an amazing sales person. Conveyed confidence and was the front man, so it can work if it's done carefully.

[Seshat]

I don't see anything wrong with owning and running a business if you're incompetent with money - but ONLY if you hire someone who IS. And listen to them. And probably hire an independant, totally separate second person to run audits on them every so often, to reduce the risk of theft/embezzlement.

(No offence intended to those of you whose jobs involve being competent with money, but there are people in any field who need to be watched.)


Pity that Betty (et alia) doesn't seem to have learned this lesson.

[bbbr]

But he was undone by his belief that it was a piggy bank that he could pull money out of whenever something shiny caught his eye.

Idiot.

That describes the former owner of the company I work for- can't get spare parts for critical machines but dammed if the "corporate"yacht wasn't gassed up and ready to go from April to October (to say nothing of his fleet of company cars that maintenance gassed up and kept clean). Nobody feels bad for him as he cleared around 10 million in cash after taxes for selling us to the competition.

[BPFH]

Not speaking to that situation, but $5,000 is the borderline for small-claims.

Not necessarily--it depends on where you are. Michigan's limit is $3,000, for instance (and IIRC a $70 filing fee).

And yeah, I found that one out the hard way, when I had to file suit against the guy who totaled my car while it was parked outside my house.