Eliminating the Useless Ones

As I stated in my last post, one of the few good things about this year has been getting rid of useless people in my life. I usually do a purge every year or two, just to make sure I don’t hear my phone ring and see a worthless person’s name on the screen. But this year, I really took it to a new level.

In total, I ended my relations with 11 people. Sam’s wife Sonya was a big one that I needed to cut out. She was very annoying and had that “I can say what I want to you but you can’t say what you want to me” attitudes. After the Thanksgiving incident, I don’t play that pathetic game anymore. I still text Sam from time to time, but we don't hang out much anymore. The only time I ever miss him is when I'm at Home Depot or Lowes and an out-of-shape disgusting contractor bending over showing his ass crack. There's no one to poke and make fun of it with. Small loss. I even got rid of Ola, my Nigerian former co-worker. I had no real reason to do it, as he hadn’t done anything wrong to me. I simply have no use for him. But the biggest one by far was my HVAC guy Gonzalez. Ever since I came to Smalltown, I used Gonzalez whenever I had a furnace problem. Though his name is Hispanic, he’s a down south African American whom Sam introduced me to. For a long time I was comfortable with him because he was the first (and only) reliable contractor I got from Sam. But recently he’s been slipping, and I finally wised up to his bullshit.

Last week Saturday I got a call from Rory and Brie at Property 3. They said that their heat wasn’t working, so I called Gonzalez to go take a look. He calls me back and tells me that the furnace’s inducer motor is bad and needs to be replaced. Since the parts store is closed on the weekends, he’ll do it Monday at 3pm. Monday comes and I drive by Property 3 a little past 3pm, just to make sure his van is there. Of course it’s not. So I call him, and he gives me some story about how he forgot to call and tell me that his van broke down and he can’t make the appointment. So now I have to tell the tenants they have to wait another day for heat. Gonzalez promises me that he’ll be there “first thing” Tuesday morning to fix the furnace. Tuesday morning at 9am I call him and he says that he’s on his way to pick up the part. On your way to pick up the part?! He was supposed to be AT THE PROPERTY by 9am! At noon, he finally calls me and says he’s on his way to the property. 18 minutes later, Gonzalez calls me to say that it’s all finished. That means it took him less than 10 minutes to do the job and to give my tenants heat. All that drama for 10 minutes of work. $375 was the cost.

I met him at a pizza place to pay him. He had the nerve to mention to me that I should consider getting a grant to insulate the entire building. This “grant” is actually something the city would pay him, and then I’d have to pay the city back. I'm trying to get out of debt, not the other way around. At our last dinner, Damon told me that he paid about $1400 for his furnace to be replaced... ducts included. That was what sealed it for me. Gonzalez charged me $2500 for the furnace job plus $600 to have the ducts replaced at the beginning of this year at Property X. This guy’s been my HVAC for years, so why don’t I get a break? I used Damon’s guys on Monday and their service charge was $60, $15 less than Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who was my go-to HVAC guy, is now my last resort.

Writing this out, I realize that my problem with Gonzalez wasn’t the money. He charges about the same as other HVAC guys in Smalltown. My problem is that he can be unprofessional, and that he presents everything as if he’s giving me a great deal. A "no heat" call is supposed to be taken very seriously by HVAC repairmen, but this asshole wasted over 24 hours doing nothing for a job that took less than 10 minutes. And, if I can get a better deal from other licensed HVAC guys, what good is he if only as a last resort? I’ll try these new guys out from now on, and hopefully they prove just as professional as they introduced themselves as. Every single person in my life must have a purpose, and I’m getting very good at weeding out who should stay and who should go.

P.S.: I won’t lie, okay? There aren’t a lot of African Americans in Smalltown that do what I do. Maybe one or two others that own property, mostly on the south side. I was kinda hoping that Gonzalez would see that and give me a break on prices. I know it’s not his duty or anything, but c’mon man. These new HVAC guys are Italian for God’s sake, and they have a cheaper service charge and probably charge less for their labor. I’ve been loyal to Gonzalez for years, so doesn’t that get me a deal every once in a while? Maybe if he was more professional I would continue to use him as my go-to guy, but I see nothing in him that I can’t get from someone else.