EXACTLY... the old saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" comes to mind. I'm not saying NEVER say anything "bad" because I think we ALL know of at least one particular vendor that stiffed a lot of people and went stark-raving nuts when
she was called on it... (no need to go further there, so I'll leave it at that.) If you have a LEGITIMATE gripe, fine, but such usually requires a transaction between a paying customer and a vendor that wasn't up to par... not feeling people out for 'freebies'.
As a small businessman, I've seen the same thing myself. I used to operate a custom hay cutting and baling service using our farm machinery to do work for others (kind of like that show "Harvest" that was on Discovery this past summer). I had a guy call me one time and ask me to come out to his "ranch" and look at what he wanted cut and give him a quote. SO, we jump in his truck and ride out across his native hog-wallowed pastures (rolling piles and slumps) covered with mostly old standing dry grass and weeds, which he wanted cut for hay... about 100 acres or so of it (a BIG job for small hay cutters). I told him given the status of the growth, the hay would be VERY low quality... but basically what the deal was, he wanted it BUSH-HOGGED (mowed down to the ground), BUT he didn't want to pay the same money to have it mowed and not have ANYTHING to show for it, so he decided to hire it BALED instead-- it has to be mowed first, then raked into windrows, then baled up into big round bales. After looking around, I told him I got $20 a roll for cutting, raking, and baling, and moving the bales to the edge of the field as a courtesy to clear the meadow. He got a bit indignant and started trying to chew me down, exclaiming, "Heck, I can get fertilized Jiggs Bermudagrass hay DELIVERED for $25 a roll! You gotta come down!" I looked at him nonplussed and said, "Well, do it, what are you wasting my time for?? I know what it costs me to cut/rake/bale and that's the deal... it's already cheaper than nearly everybody else around... take it or leave it... if you can get your fertilized hay delivered for $25 a bale, good for you... sounds like a HECK of a deal... go for it and have a good one!" I got out of the truck to get in my own to go to the house... He spooled the window down and hired me to come do it anyway, at my price.
Of course his old hummocky pastures were VERY hard on my tractor and equipment and I did one patch and had a breakdown, so I finished that one patch and told him I wouldn't do the rest... that breakdown alone cost me enough time and money that I was pretty much broke even on the job... and the other field (the BIG one) was worse yet... better to cut my losses and call it a day.
My Granddad and Daddy had the same crap when they sold hay back in the 50's... always some cheapskate showing up asking to buy hay, and then ranting and raving when it was "too high" (IE they're "too cheap") I understand it to a degree-- I'm "cheap" myself, but I always priced myself at the low end of the spectrum, so long as I made a profit. My old boss hired me to bale his hay, because I was a full $5-10 cheaper a bale to do it, and I'd actually come do it ASAP instead of dallying around and leaving it for weeks until the grass was old and tough and made poor hay, and then cut it and leave it on the ground for a week instead of raking it the next day like one SHOULD do, and then baling it the THIRD day (again like one should do-- this other custom guy he HAD been hiring would not only let the grass get over-ripe and old and tough, meaning the hay was low quality, but also would cut it and then not touch it til he was ready to bale it, just running a rake over it right ahead of the baler tractor to gather it into the windrow for baling, which means weathered, sun-bleached hay with little nutrient value left!) I made my old boss the best hay he'd ever gotten, good green-gold color and good smell, not the dry straw stubble his other guy made... but then the boss was GRIPING because I use a 30 year old baler that doesn't make the bales "rock-hard" like the brand new balers do... I told him "well, that's why I'm cheaper than the other guy... I'm not paying for a new $45,000 baler... If you want rock-hard bales, you'll have to hire him, and pay the high price to pay for his baler... don't know about your cows, but mine like good hay better than sorry hay and don't particularly care whether the bale is hard or soft..." He had a hard time arguing with that...
People are people, and generally speaking, PEOPLE SUCK... LOL
Later! OL JR
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Originally Posted by Jeffkermath
Plays with wood, cardboard, and carpenters glue at home. 
That sort of thing... I don't think he's trying to be malicious, but just maybe not phrasing things well or thinking about how it comes across... I've known more than a few people like that, and some FAR FAR WORSE!!! 
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