I really do not know how to check out the companies. I would like to know their reputation and that is why I have started reading this forum. I have a lot to learn and I am trying hard to build an excellent reputation. There is little doubt in my mind that I can pull the necessary communications(I save every thing) and get paid. I prefer not to waste my time struggling for the money. I could easily get stressed out over $50 and ruin a perfectly wonderful day. I do not want to do that though.

lol Life is too good to waste time that way. If it happens again, I will demand payment for both times and if I do not get it, or some kind of reciprocity, I will not work for them. The more they know my work, the more valuable I should become.

I would never do another standee. I got "swindled" one time by the exhorbinant pay (I thought as a newbie) of $30.00 to do a "standee". I agreed and was told that since this was my first one I should bring a friend, but the associate classified it as "pretty straight forward".

Well we get there and its for "The Green Lantern", all electronic with instructions that were only pictures of what to do. My friend and I spent two hours trying to put it together, she had to leave finally. I had to call my husband, get the neighbor to babysit and he had to come for another 2 hours. I gave my friend 20 bucks to help me so for 4 hours for two people we made 2.50 an hour. Never again.

And I've never seen the movie because every time I see it advertised I get annoyed.

suzieboz Wrote:
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> I would never do another standee. I got
> "swindled" one time by the exhorbinant pay (I
> thought as a newbie) of $30.00 to do a "standee".
> I agreed and was told that since this was my first
> one I should bring a friend, but the associate
> classified it as "pretty straight forward".
>
> Well we get there and its for "The Green Lantern",
> all electronic with instructions that were only
> pictures of what to do. My friend and I spent two
> hours trying to put it together, she had to leave
> finally. I had to call my husband, get the
> neighbor to babysit and he had to come for another
> 2 hours. I gave my friend 20 bucks to help me so
> for 4 hours for two people we made 2.50 an hour.
> Never again.
>
> And I've never seen the movie because every time I
> see it advertised I get annoyed.

I had similar experience. $40 with a partner, who was my son, and we spent more than 5 hours doing something supposedly relatively easy. It was
a standee for Salt, a very complicating labour and we went home in the wee hours. Never again! And I got calls right and left asking me why I would not do it again. When the calls became insulting, I told them my partner refused and I simply would/could not do standees by myself.

They got rude with me when I said I would not go and hang up ceiling banners as I don't do ladders. They persisted and I said "what if I fall"? "Oh you won't fall". Sure. They also wanted me to do this during the evening on the night "The Avengers" came out. Again, with the "OK, we schedule you", crap and I hung up on them and told someone in the Troy, NY office to mark my account to NOT call me for these assignments.

Seriously - I fall 30 feet from a ladder because some bozo runs into the ladder, etc? What happens?

You're screwed. As an IC aren't there limits on things like suing the theater? It also wouldn't just be your safety in jeopardy. What the hell would a company be thinking by scheduling those things during a high volume time period? And you have to wonder if the manager would even allow you to proceed with the job.

I'm sure if I sued the theater they in turn would sue Certified and while I would wind up losing everything I owned to pay for medical bills the only ones to make out eventually would be lawyers.

I would guess the manager would have said no to begin with; a few weeks ago I was scheduled to do a theater check of checking screens and taking pictures. It was right after the "Dark Knight" incident. The manager refused me entry, apologizing and signed my paperwork saying as such because of the police presence there. They did not feel comfortable with letting someone in and out of the theaters, taking pictures, etc in the aftermath of all that. She told me it was nothing personal and I couldn't blame her. The cop who overheard the whole thing agreed and said if "those people" wouldn't pay me, to have them call him. They did pay me for it though.

I'm glad to hear they at least paid you for that trip and who can blame them for having a strong security presence at that point.

If you had attempted the banner install and the manager refused, I'm thinking Certified would not have paid you for your trip.

icanpray4u247 Wrote:
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> I was very happy with Certified doing only trailer
> movie checks. Someone called me and asked would I
> do a merchandising job. I told her I didn't think
> I could. She said it would be easy and could I
> agree to have these be recurring. She explained
> what to do. After I did one I called her back to
> say I can't be responsible to do a good job with
> these stores. It's too hard for me. I did her a
> favor but they deactivated my name from the
> merchandising which I expected. I didn't expect to
> also be activated from the movie check side. They
> told me if I don't do the merchandising, I can't
> do the trailer checks either. at least I can say
> no problem getting paid when I was allowed to work
> for them.


Hey, that's exactly what happened to me when they deacticated my account. After I did two auditing shops, did not want to do them again. I did not accept an auditing assignment. I found I could not log in. I never cancelled, nor had a rejection on any shops I did and was always paid. So, it puzzled me.

Without my asking for reinstatement, I received a call and she asked what happened. I said I did not want to do any auditing shops anymore. She asked if I wanted to do the others. I said I could but I did not want being forced to do shops which I did not enjoy doing even if I have done them well before. She said she would reactivate my account and that's that.

In fairness to them, other than their clockwork pay, when I wrote them explaining the unfairness of not being paid for a complicated shop because of their unreasonable requirements for an special assignment given on the phone, they did pay me after I provided them with all the required documents by mail.

Another instance, they also paid me for an uncompleted work because I had an accident but still managed to go to the location. I call that mutual respect.

I know that that is what would have happened - I actually went to see "The Avengers" at that theater that night. Every show was sold out and they had it in regular and 3D in 6 of their 12 theaters, all sold out.

And of course - this call came from the "call center", not upstate New York.

If the powers that be are not reading and paying attention here, they certainly should. Physical safety issues aside, as an IC we can pick and choose which assignments we want. I don't think they want to have a challenge to IC status because then they would be forced to pay minimum wage.

I have been watching the auditor shops and it is clear to me that you will be doing good to clear minimum wages. For that reason, I have not accepted a single one and I keep getting calls to do at least one before I make a final decision. I said as soon as I see a chance to get $20 an hour, I will consider it.

They sure expect a lot for a very low wage.

Oh, I did get good money after the audit job because I covered a lot. I have never been a quitter. However, it was truly nerve-wracking. In order to accomplish the task, I had to go to a number of locations each time I was afraid I'd been spotted.

As usual, being me, I went through it until I completed the project. I guess they were pleased with the results and wanted me to do more. It is one of those experiences where you vow never to do it ever again. So, when I was asked how much money I wanted to be paid to do the job, I assured them, nothing.

I meant, nothng was ever going to make me do the shops again. Exactly what I said about the standee. That is the beauty of being an IC. One can choose to do it or not before one accepts any assignment. One can choose to do shops for a company or delete the company from one's list. There are actually many of them who are more worthy of our time.