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workin' at the maul
> "Contractors" must be off the premisis by 10:00am. This means
>going out there around 6 each morning and busting butt for 3 1/2 hrs.
>It's a new mall, so there are plumbers, electricians, sheet-rockers,
>painters, HVAC installers, etc. all tripping over each other. Got to
>keep your eye on your tools too... the first words I heard there were
>"Damn!!! Someone got my cordless drill!!!" Contractors are also forced
>to take specific routes (the long way around, of course).
>
>Definitly not my idea of a good time. The next mall job is going to be
>_considerably_ more expensive - if I even consider doing it.
This is just like the hoity-toity mall where I do about 1/3 of my retail and
installation business. I have a simple policy regarding this place: "charge
up the wazoo!"
Typically I have to START at 9:00 pm and go all night for an installation.
Hardware stores here close at 5:00; drugstores with rinky-dink hardware
departments close at 8:00; consequently I've been known to provoke laughs
when I pull up and start unloading -- "you really need all that just to
install a sign?" I become basically a tool freak, hardware freak, neon
supplies freak on wheels....two months ago it burned me no end that I had to
drive home (40 minutes each way) at two in the morning in order to get 10
conduit connectors 'cause yes, I'd provided exactly ONE per letter in my
loading-up (duh!) -- now I have a massive two-sided multi-drawer
configuration with every imaginable 3/8" and 1/2" metal and plastic conduit
connector inside, goes with me everywhere...next on the list is the same for
basic nuts-and-bolts hardware; already have screws and stainless screws and
self-tap screws in every configuration from #6 to #10...and no, I don't
drive a big van with lots of room for all this -- I'm heavily partial to
15-year-old Volvo 245 wagons; very useful are the big plastic "crates" from
Costco with the flip-together lids-- one for power cords and lights, one for
GTO, one for 1/2" conduit, one for 3/8" conduit, one for 110-volt hookup
misc, one for grab-bag everything else that the tool boxes don't hold...
-Ted Pirsig