We had a couple of painting jobs that needed doing sometime or other at Scunner Towers, and were told of a couple of Turkish guys who would not only do a good job, but were in some strife because the boss of their company had vanished, without paying their wages.
We decided that as the jobs had to be done we might as well get them done now, and do a good deed by helping these chaps at the same time.
Negotiations started as expected - at over double the price we were prepared to pay, slowly grinded back to around half of that but in that time we decided to do one of the jobs ourselves and let them do the other.
They did their job (and very well indeed) but hadn't forgotten the other work. On completion they came to me and told me that money was no problem, they would do the other job for nothing if we provided the paint.
After they had gone, we sat and discussed. I said there is no way you can let them work for nothing. Wouldn't hear of it. I told Steph to tell them they could have 300 YTL for doing it. You can't take advantage of people.
When they returned Steph told them we wouldn't let them do the job for nothing, it wasn't fair at all. When she said they could have 300 YTL for doing it, they discussed it in some detail between themselves, and informed her that it was impossible, but they would do it at a special price of 600 YTL for us.
So there you have it. They'd do it for 600, they'd do it for nothing, but they wouldn't do it for 300.
My brain hurts
