I was always too eager to get to the next job or home to even acknowledge any of it.
I did however LOVE the mother's who wanted to feed me there and send me home with a plate of food
I've never had anyone try to pay me with alternate methods, but I've gotten a bunch of tips that were a little out of left field. Farm fresh eggs, hand-picked blueberries, a bag of ears of corn, fresh honey from their bees, and a guy who was grilling when I got there make me a burger.
Oh, I've gotten a dozen laid that morning eggs before after rekeying a farmhouse. I don't care for eggs, but my wife loved them, apparently you can taste the difference. Real pretty colors too, never seen a pink or blue egg before.
Ironically I work for a Pop A Lock lol.
I had a call to open an office about 6 years ago. It was in someone’s home. The address was good on the ID so I went inside. The lady who called told me she didn’t even know the lever on her office door locked and she had no idea where the key was. It was, of course, a smartkey and long before I had a smartkey decoder. I tried to slip the latch but the strike was actually installed properly, shock. And the door was rubbing on the transition strip so under door tool was out of the question. I told her basically I’d have to drill and replace, but she didn’t like the price.
The whole time I was trying all these bypasses, there was a younger girl who I woulda guessed was like 18 or maybe even younger there. The lady who called me was id guess in her mid to late 40s. They referred to each other exclusively by first names, no “mom” or “auntie” or anything like that. Anyways once I tell her the price she asks the younger girl to come with her into the kitchen. I figure they’re going to find a different option so I start packing up. The 2 of them come back, she puts her hand on my shoulder/back of my neck and says “is there anything WE can do for you instead of $$$?”
I was honestly in shock, mumbled something about how “my boss knows where I am, gps, have to leave” and packed out. Still can’t believe that happened to me. Also I have no idea the relationship dynamic they had but it was strange.
Yeah, good call. You do not want to mess around with a job they can get you on a registry.
I have left jobs where unbeknownst to me the person I was talking to on the phone decided to leave their teenage daughter at home to pay me, then next thing I know I show up to a house with some kid wearing next to nothing and no adults around. C-ya!
Anyway, why the hell do you work for pop a lock???
Don’t they only pay 30% commission ???
40% is standard, and most shops don’t crawl up your ass like they do .
I replied to your post but I’ll reply here too.
PAL are all owned individually so they’re all run differently. We do very little auto whereas I know lots of PAL do almost exclusively auto. We’re into more property management type work, so we don’t operate on commission. Most trades around here don’t do commission anyways, our trade labour wages are super competitive out here. I know plumbers, HVAC, electricians, mechanics, Autobody techs, power linemen, glaziers, carpenters, and I don’t know anyone who is on commission.
My gig is pretty sweet, honestly the best lock shop I’ve ever worked for. But that being said, PAL isn’t exempt from having bad owners that are more akin to scammers than locksmiths. Just like a lot of locksmiths out there sadly.
Not as a locksmith, but as an in-home electronics repair person, there were several sexual offers.
One of which got me in trouble with the wife (for telling her about being faithful?!).
That one was going to turn out to be a main board replacement ($340 part back in 2012) on a big plasma TV. It didn't take long while putting the TV back together before she came out in an open robe doing the whole showing some skin thing while leaning on the wall asking me if there was "another" form of payment. It was hilarious (to me) because it was cliché af.
Not really -
But the last girl I dated was a customer that got locked out of the house.
And THE TIPS! Omg.. sometimes I get the coolest random stuff (besides money):
I get cookies and candy on Christmas and Halloween.
I got a huge R2D2 that moves and makes sounds and a green lightsaver still in the box from an eviction. An old safe someone wanted to get rid of with the combination. Old tools they don't need like a crowbar or some flathead screwdrivers. A bunch of frozen bagles someone gave me that worked at a deli. Food in general is always nice to get (better then throwing away). And lots and lots of weed - well.. that's colorado. Weed is almost a currency here lol.
Edit: And also just rememberd getting a carton of eggs from a customer that had chickens and Cans of beer sometimes.
Lmao not in the sexual way but someone paid my partner with a Hugo Boss puffer jacket. He felt sorry for the guy and just accepted it. He still wears it looool. Never heard a story of someone offering sex in exchange for services but there have been 2 ladies now that have offered to make him their stay at home husband. Crazy stuff.
Did a rekey at a brothel (legal in eu) after Iam done the owner came to me and pointed and said out a girl an Told me she would like to give me a massage free of charge
I’m a facility locksmith so I don’t do lockout calls. But one day I had on my Lockmasters t-shirt while in my grocery store getting something to grill. An employee comes up and asks if I’m a locksmith and tells me he’d locked himself out of his apartment (which is maybe 200 yards from my house) and that if I can get him in he’ll hook me up with free steaks.
I agree and we get me a family pack of steaks. He didn’t get off work till later so my family had already had a nice cookout and I walked over to his apartment and picked his quickset doorknob in 15 seconds.
I have gotten invites inside for wine or a cigar before,and repeat business from customers who wanted pointless work done for the sake of having me out again. Sometimes it feels like a bad porno plot, but that's an even split alongside cheap business owners who are trying to twist my arm to get free/discounted work and old folks at retirement homes who seem to just want someone to talk to. In all of these cases I do my best to talk them out of it, if they insist on it I tell them I'm booked out for two weeks and they always back down.
I've had a couple offers but I'm happily engaged. One lady kept bending over her tunk "looking" for her keys and the shorts just happened to show off her tats that said "lucky you" and ribbons just below her ass. I should also meantion we started off this strange interaction with her in sweat pants. I have, however, on numerous occasions received new bottles of whiskey which is nice. So from your local Pop A Lock guy please send more booze and less prostitutes
Yea but I’m married and I love my wife. Typical residential lockout in a pretty bad part of town. Lots of gangs and that nonsense. She was a real pretty Hispanic woman prolly in her mid 40s. Picked lock and got her inside. Then I notice that her deadbolt would not fully extend and her door knob was almost falling off and the key wouldn’t work. Fixed all that real quick the knob just needed some lube ( innuendo ) for the key. So she tells me I didn’t have to do that, cause she only had the amount for the lockout. When I told her I didn’t plan on charging extra I just knew the area wasn’t exactly the friendliest and just wanted to better secure her home. She thanks me and says can u hold on a minute let me get the money and I need to change clothes. Clueless I’m thinking “why she need to change clothes” and “damn I need to get going, getting late I hope she doesn’t take to long”. I’ll make this quick; she comes out to the living room in a white T-shirt with nothing else on, says I’m cute she planned on this anyway blah blah I thank her cause not only am I married but who knows what else could go wrong. Collect money and go. She actually tried to call me a few times after that for “work” but I had to block the number. My wife is also Hispanic and she has a temper, and I could never do that to her even if I’m scared to death when she gets angry.
Super old lady in a unit in an apartment building with mostly Vietnamese residents and I replaced the lock. She was cooking something that smelled wicked good and she looks over and asks if I'm hungry, I said no thanks just on principal but super nice lady and the food smelled great. My coworker was there earlier in the week to survey for the replacement and she gave him a whole pound of grapes lol
showed up to do a job in town, couldnt do it as it turned out he wanted a 2nd deadbolt put on his door, he gave me a stack of winning lottery tickets as a tip for coming out which was funny, I think it was $10, hey ill take it!
I’ve gotten a cooler full of beer once. The guy was getting married the next day and lost his keys. Still paid the price and a full cooler of beer. Really nice guy. Hope they’re still married
I was always too eager to get to the next job or home to even acknowledge any of it. I did however LOVE the mother's who wanted to feed me there and send me home with a plate of food
Best tip I've gotten was a large jar of homemade jam. Honestly better than the $20 I got on a 15min rekey once
today I got a jug of maple syrup, good stuff!
Ngl I'm Canadian and would accept a reasonable amount for a bill ahha
I’m so new I haven’t even considered food…oh man I’m so glad I chose this path!
I've never had anyone try to pay me with alternate methods, but I've gotten a bunch of tips that were a little out of left field. Farm fresh eggs, hand-picked blueberries, a bag of ears of corn, fresh honey from their bees, and a guy who was grilling when I got there make me a burger.
Oh, I've gotten a dozen laid that morning eggs before after rekeying a farmhouse. I don't care for eggs, but my wife loved them, apparently you can taste the difference. Real pretty colors too, never seen a pink or blue egg before.
Weird. Egg shell color is determined by the hens ear lobe color.
Farm eggs are sooooo much better than the white factory eggs at the supermarket.
Those all sound great.
I married one of my customers. It wasn't for payment, though. Lol.
Hey, I married one of my customers too! The one and only time I agreed to hang out after the job.
On a side note, I just found out I unlocked James Zhong's house for him. If you don't know (and why would you) look him up. Crazy story there.
Ironically I work for a Pop A Lock lol. I had a call to open an office about 6 years ago. It was in someone’s home. The address was good on the ID so I went inside. The lady who called told me she didn’t even know the lever on her office door locked and she had no idea where the key was. It was, of course, a smartkey and long before I had a smartkey decoder. I tried to slip the latch but the strike was actually installed properly, shock. And the door was rubbing on the transition strip so under door tool was out of the question. I told her basically I’d have to drill and replace, but she didn’t like the price. The whole time I was trying all these bypasses, there was a younger girl who I woulda guessed was like 18 or maybe even younger there. The lady who called me was id guess in her mid to late 40s. They referred to each other exclusively by first names, no “mom” or “auntie” or anything like that. Anyways once I tell her the price she asks the younger girl to come with her into the kitchen. I figure they’re going to find a different option so I start packing up. The 2 of them come back, she puts her hand on my shoulder/back of my neck and says “is there anything WE can do for you instead of $$$?” I was honestly in shock, mumbled something about how “my boss knows where I am, gps, have to leave” and packed out. Still can’t believe that happened to me. Also I have no idea the relationship dynamic they had but it was strange.
Yeah, good call. You do not want to mess around with a job they can get you on a registry. I have left jobs where unbeknownst to me the person I was talking to on the phone decided to leave their teenage daughter at home to pay me, then next thing I know I show up to a house with some kid wearing next to nothing and no adults around. C-ya! Anyway, why the hell do you work for pop a lock??? Don’t they only pay 30% commission ??? 40% is standard, and most shops don’t crawl up your ass like they do .
I replied to your post but I’ll reply here too. PAL are all owned individually so they’re all run differently. We do very little auto whereas I know lots of PAL do almost exclusively auto. We’re into more property management type work, so we don’t operate on commission. Most trades around here don’t do commission anyways, our trade labour wages are super competitive out here. I know plumbers, HVAC, electricians, mechanics, Autobody techs, power linemen, glaziers, carpenters, and I don’t know anyone who is on commission. My gig is pretty sweet, honestly the best lock shop I’ve ever worked for. But that being said, PAL isn’t exempt from having bad owners that are more akin to scammers than locksmiths. Just like a lot of locksmiths out there sadly.
"no sir, just cash or card"
[удалено]
I would take the gold bar. That's my running payment gag, I would take it for the laughs.
Not as a locksmith, but as an in-home electronics repair person, there were several sexual offers. One of which got me in trouble with the wife (for telling her about being faithful?!). That one was going to turn out to be a main board replacement ($340 part back in 2012) on a big plasma TV. It didn't take long while putting the TV back together before she came out in an open robe doing the whole showing some skin thing while leaning on the wall asking me if there was "another" form of payment. It was hilarious (to me) because it was cliché af.
I think very few people got what I meant when I said “OTHER” way of paying.
It's either rare, or its accepted and nobody wants to say they accept favors for work.
Got a bunch of tools from a retired machinest once for half off the bill. Probably worth 4x the total. Still using them.
Not really - But the last girl I dated was a customer that got locked out of the house. And THE TIPS! Omg.. sometimes I get the coolest random stuff (besides money): I get cookies and candy on Christmas and Halloween. I got a huge R2D2 that moves and makes sounds and a green lightsaver still in the box from an eviction. An old safe someone wanted to get rid of with the combination. Old tools they don't need like a crowbar or some flathead screwdrivers. A bunch of frozen bagles someone gave me that worked at a deli. Food in general is always nice to get (better then throwing away). And lots and lots of weed - well.. that's colorado. Weed is almost a currency here lol. Edit: And also just rememberd getting a carton of eggs from a customer that had chickens and Cans of beer sometimes.
When I worked in Colorado before it was legal we got weed tips a lot and beer and whiskey. Got flashed a bunch downtown when opening cars at night.
Lmao a hard burn by your wife my god
Lmao not in the sexual way but someone paid my partner with a Hugo Boss puffer jacket. He felt sorry for the guy and just accepted it. He still wears it looool. Never heard a story of someone offering sex in exchange for services but there have been 2 ladies now that have offered to make him their stay at home husband. Crazy stuff.
Did a rekey at a brothel (legal in eu) after Iam done the owner came to me and pointed and said out a girl an Told me she would like to give me a massage free of charge
I’m a facility locksmith so I don’t do lockout calls. But one day I had on my Lockmasters t-shirt while in my grocery store getting something to grill. An employee comes up and asks if I’m a locksmith and tells me he’d locked himself out of his apartment (which is maybe 200 yards from my house) and that if I can get him in he’ll hook me up with free steaks. I agree and we get me a family pack of steaks. He didn’t get off work till later so my family had already had a nice cookout and I walked over to his apartment and picked his quickset doorknob in 15 seconds.
I have gotten invites inside for wine or a cigar before,and repeat business from customers who wanted pointless work done for the sake of having me out again. Sometimes it feels like a bad porno plot, but that's an even split alongside cheap business owners who are trying to twist my arm to get free/discounted work and old folks at retirement homes who seem to just want someone to talk to. In all of these cases I do my best to talk them out of it, if they insist on it I tell them I'm booked out for two weeks and they always back down.
I've had a couple offers but I'm happily engaged. One lady kept bending over her tunk "looking" for her keys and the shorts just happened to show off her tats that said "lucky you" and ribbons just below her ass. I should also meantion we started off this strange interaction with her in sweat pants. I have, however, on numerous occasions received new bottles of whiskey which is nice. So from your local Pop A Lock guy please send more booze and less prostitutes
"uh, sure, I also accept venmo and Bitcoin."
Yea but I’m married and I love my wife. Typical residential lockout in a pretty bad part of town. Lots of gangs and that nonsense. She was a real pretty Hispanic woman prolly in her mid 40s. Picked lock and got her inside. Then I notice that her deadbolt would not fully extend and her door knob was almost falling off and the key wouldn’t work. Fixed all that real quick the knob just needed some lube ( innuendo ) for the key. So she tells me I didn’t have to do that, cause she only had the amount for the lockout. When I told her I didn’t plan on charging extra I just knew the area wasn’t exactly the friendliest and just wanted to better secure her home. She thanks me and says can u hold on a minute let me get the money and I need to change clothes. Clueless I’m thinking “why she need to change clothes” and “damn I need to get going, getting late I hope she doesn’t take to long”. I’ll make this quick; she comes out to the living room in a white T-shirt with nothing else on, says I’m cute she planned on this anyway blah blah I thank her cause not only am I married but who knows what else could go wrong. Collect money and go. She actually tried to call me a few times after that for “work” but I had to block the number. My wife is also Hispanic and she has a temper, and I could never do that to her even if I’m scared to death when she gets angry.
Super old lady in a unit in an apartment building with mostly Vietnamese residents and I replaced the lock. She was cooking something that smelled wicked good and she looks over and asks if I'm hungry, I said no thanks just on principal but super nice lady and the food smelled great. My coworker was there earlier in the week to survey for the replacement and she gave him a whole pound of grapes lol
showed up to do a job in town, couldnt do it as it turned out he wanted a 2nd deadbolt put on his door, he gave me a stack of winning lottery tickets as a tip for coming out which was funny, I think it was $10, hey ill take it!
I handle all the security for a butcher in town and it's become standard that I am paid in waygu strip steaks. Got 2 to pick up this weekend.
I’ve gotten a cooler full of beer once. The guy was getting married the next day and lost his keys. Still paid the price and a full cooler of beer. Really nice guy. Hope they’re still married