The New Boss

It's weird being the person who people are trying to impress and get hired by. I put up a Craigslist ad yesterday to try to find painters for the summer and immediately my inbox was swamped with emails and my phone was ringing off the hook. I literally laid in bed from 8-10 this morning watching Scrubs on my computer and answering the phone every ten minutes. I wasn't expecting this big of a response so quickly, so to try to get some semblance of control over the situation I asked everyone who called me to send their resume to my email address so I could look it over. The majority of the guys who called me were of Latin descent, which is cool because so am I, but also a bit troubling because they didn't have the greatest grasp of the language. A couple responses were from legitimate painters, one from a guy who ran his own painting company for like 11 years and now is looking to work for me. I think he could be either a really good hire or a dangerous hire, as he could either teach me and my crew a lot and keep the crew producing work efficiently, or he could take off as soon as he finds another gig with better wages.

My two favorite emails were from established painters who either feel threatened by me or just hate college painters. I was going to summarize them, but I think copying and pasting them will be more effective, as well as adding my responses.

Email #1

Thanks to pathetic painters like yourselves... We have tons of CORRECTIVE work to fix your screwups. Thank God for all the college "professionals" painting for keeping everyone else in business. When you pay people $8-$14/hr you get exactly that quality of work.

Good luck... you need it

My response:

Hi Mr. (removed),

Thank you for your email. I'm a hard working 20 year old trying to pay for my college tuition. Myself and all my painters will be trained and certified by Sherwin Williams before we can think about painting a house. If you have any jobs that you are unable to get to, I'd would be very grateful for a referral. If not, I hope that my screwups provide enough corrective work for you and your crew. Also, any advice you might have to a new painter would be very much appreciated, as you've noted yourself I could use some help and luck this summer. Thanks again and good luck this summer.

Email #2

We have a group of ten small companies watching for you to lie and miss lead customers. Your lead in of collage kids making a difference has gotta old . The public first questions will be what collage does your workers attend ? So drop off your three ladders and two kids that know zone about painting and sleep well at night. 8 to 14 dollars per hour what a scam. We'll be watching

My response:

Hi Manor Painting Company,

Thank you for your email. I'm glad to see that there are professional painters in the area as well as my college painters. If you receive any jobs that you can't get to, I'd greatly appreciate the referral. If not, any advice you might have for a new painter will be very much appreciated, especially with the 35 years experience that your employees have. Thank you again for your email and good luck this summer.

I guess I have enemies.