Y’all Betta Quit!

Recently, I had a situation to happen that led me to make this statement “Y’all betta quit!” Can you hear the frustration in my voice as you read those words? If so, then you know that the situation was one where one or more people were in jeopardy of seeing the “not so good side of me”. I hope you know that I know better than to threaten anyone or to do harm to anyone. But the mere fact that they got me to that point, made me realize that I needed to remove myself from the situation – FAST. I know you’re wondering what happened. I’ll get there by telling you the story, but know this, it all worked out for the good and in my favor in the end.

One of my pet peeves is a person NOT doing the job for which they are being paid. However, y’all ( I’m talking about those who are abusing their position) are taking it to a whole other level by trying to scam the people who come to you for your service. A few coworkers and I were qualified for a $10K grant to get a weather resistant roof because of our profession. We were informed that there may be an additional cost that we would have to pay if the inspection revealed more work than expected would be needed. My coworkers started informing me that they had to pay an additional $1K for their repairs. I however, had the materials delivered to my home without the request for additional payment. The materials sat in my yard for weeks. Then one day I get home and the materials are gone. I call the company in control of the grant because I’m hoping no one stole the materials since they’d been in my yard so long. No answer. I call the roofing company and the man hesitantly tells me to contact the company because my paperwork was incorrect. I called them back and I left a message. The next day, the representative calls me and blatantly lies to me telling me that he left a message for me the week before telling me that I had to pay over $2K for my repairs.

I let him lie to me as I tried to assess the situation. What are my options now? I ask. “Bring a payment and we’ll get started”. I just couldn’t do it. Besides, I wasn’t in a position at the time to hand over $2K of non – budgeted money. So I asked for an extension. “Fine” he says. “Call me when you’re ready”. Months later I call him to let him know that I’m ready. He tells me to call him the next day because he has to see when he can put me back in the rotation. When I call him the next day, these are his words to me “Let me talk to the roofing guy to see if he can still do the work for the amount I gave you. You know the cost of materials have gone up, heh heh. Call me sometime next week”. When I hung up the phone, I felt violated. It felt like he had touched me inappropriately and there was nothing I could do about it. I had finally come to terms that I would be paying $1K more than my other coworkers. But now, he was going to charge me even more because I waited until I was able to afford his original offer. What?! This is the part where I wanted to show him the other side of me. How in the world do I justify paying even more than $2K when I’ve been approved for a $10K grant to install a new roof? Why is this man trying to SCAM me? That part right there. Why is this man trying to scam me?

I’m not new to someone trying to scam me. You can read about that experience here. After reading that post, you know I don’t mind calling out those who abuse their authority. So, to the Representative at Habitat for Humanity – and anybody else operating like him on their job, Y’all betta quit! You ARE abusing your authority and misrepresenting legitimate companies who are trying to help people. I know that I may not be the first person he’s tried to scam. Because he acted like it was commonplace. But know this, God takes good care of me and He keeps good records. He takes the dishonest actions of others toward me and turns them into blessings, favor and help for me. That being said, I had a new roof installed for way under the $10K grant I was originally offered.