Friday, January 27, 2012

Farmhand update

New haircut is an improvement, Isaac!

I was in small claims court with Isaac Dozier earlier this week for our initial appearance.  I've written about the issue I had with Isaac, and then about serving him with papers from the lawsuit.  In addition to taking my equipment, Isaac also made complaints about me to the Washington department of labor and industries, the health department and so on.  Guess that's what I deserve for hiring him, eh? 

So I'm sitting there in small claims court, and they're calling the names of the people on the docket, and much to my surprise, I'm not the only person there to sue Isaac that day

When I served Isaac I wrote "...does this stuff happen to Isaac every day?", and I didnt' realize that it apparently does.

We sat down with a mediator, and basically I asked him to return my equipment and tools and I'd call it a day.  I don't hate the guy; I just want my stuff back.  He agreed.  The Labor and Industries complaint was the next topic, and after thinking about it, I said, ok, Isaac, I don't want to chase you around or deal with you any more.  I'll give you $100.00 if you drop that, and any other complaints you have. 

I did that not because I wanted to give him $100.00, but because it costs me time and money to deal  with labor and industries, and with my equipment and tools returned, I really didn't want to have to chase this guy around any more. 

He took the $100.00, and that resolved our basic issues. 

He asked me to remove the blog entries.  "It's just your opinion!" and I said "Isaac, when you do this sort of stuff there are consequences.  " 

6 months later Isaac appears to be unemployed. 

Oh yea:  The other person there to sue Isaac was a woman who was owed about $2,000.00.  This is the second time she's been in court with him.  Apparently they signed a lease together, and while he was working for me he wasn't paying his rent.  Or utilities.  Or anything.  She sued, got a judgement, and a payment plan.  Isaac apparently didn't make his payments, and she was back in court to get a judgement for the remaining amount. 

The judge listened to her testimony, looked at the original judgement, asked Isaac for his side, and then gave the woman everything she was asking for; judgement against Isaac. 

Take home lesson for me:  New employees get a background check and a credit check, no exceptions.  If they're not paying their bills or they have a record, I'm going to pass. 

Good luck, Isaac.   Good riddance. 

6 comments:

sheila said...

Maybe you should make sure Isaac removes his complaints before you give him the $100. Sounds like he doesn't follow though with agreements.

Sagecreek said...

So, did you get your stuff back?

Bruce King said...

No yet. He has until feb 6th. If he doesn't I will be in small claims in front of this same judge asking for a judgement against him.

If it goes that way I'll probably not see a penny but it'll be on his credit report for the next 10 years, and who knows? Maybe he will get a job. Judgements

Bruce King said...

Carri: I've read your comment and will reply to it here.

1) We do not sell purebred berkshires. We sell primarily berkshire cross pigs, crossed with either hampshire or yorkshire. We do have purebred stock that we use to produce those crossbred pigs.

2) You're saying that you're a local farmer, and you have many opinions on how I should run my farm. Perhaps you'd be open to a tour to show me YOUR farm and show me how things are properly done. I'm open to constructive comments, or even outright criticism,but you just seem angry.

3) Hope you have a better day.

Bruce King said...

[background: Carri has been writing comments about my farm for a year or so now, and they appear to me to be very angry and insulting. S/he claims to be a local pig farmer. What I think is that S/he's a commuter who drives by the farm every now and then and really enjoys writing angry messages]

Carri, I'm going to have to say that I know all of the local producers of berkshires in the area, and I just don't believe your claim that you're one of them, or have any animals or a farm at all. I'm open to any proof that you do or have any connection to farming pigs at all - except through my blog.

I'm open to comments from anyone, but you're all about saying what I do is wrong -- why don't you start a blog and show me (and the rest of the world) how it's done? You could be so much better as a role model than me, right? I challenge you to do something positive with all this energy.

Until then, I'm happy that you find reading my farm blog is so interesting that you return day after day, week after week and comment after comment.

Work on the comments to make them constructive criticism and I'll be more than happy to publish them.

Or... horrors! Tell me one thing you like about the blog, since you spend so much time on it.

Bruce King said...

Followup: Isaac did return my tools and equipment ON february 6th, the day of the deadline. I have no further interest in the guy.

And if you need to ask, he is not eligible for rehire.