Man, proof that money doesn't make one happy.

An existing client, who is in the process of upping our initial A/V gig to include automation, and made somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 million $'s last year, was arrested yesterday. This poor guy not only drunkenly assaulted (allegedly) another guy but also threatened to kill him by slashing his throat. Yikes. The poor guy just seems so unhappy.

I guess mid-fi, big plasmas and automation aren't enough.

Any similar stories?

I was giving a demo to this guy once (mafia type) and everytime his wife chimed in even with a simple question the guy went completely ape-shit and told her to shut her f****** mouth. What an a-hole this guy was. She just wanted to understand how to watch tv, and he was threating to kill her. I finished the demo and made a fast exit. Felt sorry for both of them.

Had a client doing an Acoustic Innovations room, theater seats, fiber optic ceiling, the whole nine. We came in on the project half way through, the other company was completely retarded (one of those places that installs dish washers and refrigerators you know). When we would make a suggestion the guy would call the other place and see what they thought, half the time he called us f-ing this and f-ing that, the other half he called the other guys the names. Complete ass.

The wife (who was also a complete ass) didn't trust us to install the package so we called up AI and scheduled one of their techs to come out and oversee the project. The day before the tech was to come out we hear on the radio that our client shot and killed himself. Come to find out, he was kiting checks and had stolen a ton of money (he owned a title company), and was under investigation and was about to be arrested. He had paid us enough to cover our cost, so that was good.

Worst part was his wife was his business partner and she got off completely free.

Those guys at C's seem like some hard partiers, the article did make it seem as if there is another side of the story and that he could have been egged on. Either way, with that kind of money I think I could have a good time and that I would be able to realize what is really important and forget grudges and shed the a'holes from the past.

In the early 90's a good buddy of mine Cord Williams (mobile installer) was doing onsite work for a "friend of a freind". He had sold him an amp and some speakers. As he was hanging under the dash he hears sirens, tiring squealing and people yelling. Next thing he knows he is dragged out of the van and is face down with a boot on his neck. He was doing his best to explain what he was doing there (to deaf ears) when he hears "I bet your glad to see me". He looked up to see my then brother-in-law (DEA agent) staring at him. Since my B-I-L was agent in charge and recognized him (Cord had wires his unmarked car with unhood speakers to play Ride of the Valkyries during raids) he was able to walk away and keep the gear. Cord later told me that he was pretty much pooping in his pants while this was happening.
Sometimes you just get lucky, even when you arn't.

Wasn't there a story a few years back when a crazy mafia type client shot an integrator on the job site? I think it was in NJ somewhere. I can't remember the specifics though but I don't think the integrator was all above board either.

Yeah, they are indeed ape crazy. They certainly can afford good booze. This one in particular. I have also heard more since I posted and it appears that my client may have been pushed to his limit. It involved not just $ but family as well.

We have a client thats a drinker...(typical) and has been to jail on several occasions, well in doing some research on the web we find out on one of his trips he got into a scuffle with the jail folks and starting undressing in the cell and began crapping on the floor, then proceeded to throw it at the officers.

I guess this kind of act is common as I have read of others doing the same thing while in jail. I have a brother in law who is a correctional officer and some of his stories are enough to make one sick

I have a lot of these stories from my car audio days but......
My favorite is a kid comes in with a new Sentra SER and pays for a system with a stolen check, 3k or so. A week later no one has shown up to get the car so we call the cops. They are clueless. Car sits in the bay 3 months. One day NAVY MPs, cops and a NAVY credit union officer show up with a check for the 3k system and take the car. Evidently the kid went AWOL from the Navy bought a car and a system with stolen checks from the US NAVY. I am guessing he is rotting in Levinworth as we speak.

Back in my car audio days, late 80's, we had crips & bloods crack dealers that we're some of our best cash payin' customers. On 2 different occasions I had to replace speakers in car doors that had bullet damage. A couple of these guys turned up dead &/or in prison. Working on their cars made me nervous sometimes. A few different times undercover guys would show up & seize cars, etc. One time a van load of gangsters rolled up & jumped out with guns, knives, chains, bats, etc. They we're looking for the owner of a car in our shop. He was not there at the time & they took off. Pretty nuts! That was when I left that shop in Tacoma & went to work for a shop in rural low crime area about 40 miles away & a year later opened our own shop in that area & relocated the family. Best move ever!

(Mini Thread Hijack)

Worked at a big box store a while back and an employee stole one of the top of the line decks that only 3 had been delivered to the store.Only store in the area to handle this product line...

Had the install department do the install, something was wrong with the deck and he had it removed and checked into service at the same store...
All before inventory was updated to include it into the system...So there was no way to get this deck besides stealing it.

Cops came, deck was removed and conficated etc etc....

Thats a Darwin award winner.....

On a life lesson story.

One homeowner had all his eggs in one basket with a risky investment into a new product he was developing..... and after finishing a beautiful lake home with top of the line everything, AMX lutron lighting system and everything else, he lost it all ......Had to sell the house they just spent two years building and finishing.........Wife was a little pissed but thats the risks you take.....

Don't risk any more than you can afford to loose!

CI

Had a customer last Friday that kept getting the Hic-ups...Went to the Dr. and was diagnosed with advanced kidney disease, and given 3 days to live...I havn't heard back from the designer if he has passed yet...

My favorite are the coca-cola guys. The ones with all the drapes closed at one in the afternoon. Who are superfriendly until you walk near a window. I actually had to convince one that his RF (T2) remote could in no way communicate with anything other than the AV gear.

Anybody remember the Hostage situation at Good Guys in NorCal a few years back. My top Installer and myself can tell a few stories about that. It was on one of those COPS shows a couple days ago.

ejfiii
Heres the story.
[Link: state.nj.us]

Adds a new angle to qualifying the client.
" If you are unhappy with the job will ya gimme 3 steps?"