Ungrateful Bros...and the infamous Bro deal!!

General Discussion
1

I have a story for you guys…this one has really gotten my E-cloth all up in a wad.

I offered to do I board for a girl I know…let me elaborate. I dated this girl for 3 years. She actually lived with my parents for a year in Connecticut, where we are from, because of some personal issues, after I had moved to FL. She eventually joined me in FL and we were seriously considering marriage, until one day she up and left me for a random guy that i call raccoon chest because…well…he looked like he had a raccoon growing out of his chest. She moved to KY with him even though they had only met a few weeks prior, only for her to come back and bang on my door one night at 4 am telling me she had driven back to FL from KY and wanted to get back together. Now…I may be dumb, but I am not stupid, as my dad always says, so of course I tell her no way! But she has been back in FL for 6 months now and it has been a year since we split, and once day we ran into each other thru a mutual friend at the beach. She was in bad need of a new board, and I figured, what the hell? So I offered to shape her a new shortboard…

alas, the infamous bro deal! She is a financial mess, and I worry about her still, so I, against my better judgement, offer to do the board for cost. I get a deposit, get the supplies, fire up the hotwire, and have at it.

I finish the board today, and it is sweet. Its light, stong, and a completely custom shape…2# EPS/RR Epoxy. I glass my name very small on all my boards along the rail…she had requested that I glass the small logo on the nose, hull side. Kinda wierd…

But when I did it, I glassed it on the nose, deck side by accident.

So she sees the board today and flips out about the logo placement!! She wanted to do a paint pen graphic on the nose, and my logo is apparently in the way…even though she isnt even sure what the graphic will be yet!! So she wants another board!

I almost lost it, we went back and forth a little and we left it. I basically told her to come back for her deposit, even though I should keep it, because I don’t want her money…

Now I am stuck with a board that i don’t need, is a very custom shape with the weird rails and dimensions she likes, so I probably can’t get a good price for it on consignment, and I am out the cost of materials!!

And pissed off!

So anyway, I just wanted to vent, and invite you all to share your stories of bro deals, or board sales in general that went all wrong!! I’d love to hear some good ones!!

Scott

2

i’m no doctor phil, but that chick needs a swift roundhouse scissor kick to the face…

or just get out of there, get her out of your life, uhhh this sounds like the oprah show…

A

3

w-e-l-l …

I dunno about 'bro ’ deals , or kicks to her head ,

but…

this arrived yesterday… [and now I think I know WHY !!]

http://www.swaylocks.com/…e_view;message=39789;

[no offence intended , Rachel , and any other lurking ladies here …we DO love you being here …]

…I just thought it was humorous [the shopping one ], showing the different way we [the sexes] spend our time …

[and I don’t think any ladies who spend their money on blanks , glass , and resin are a problem , either…keep up the good work , shape your own !!]

cheers !

ben

4

Hoo boy.

Look, nobody can burn you like somebody close to ya. 'Cos if you’ve got any self-preservation instincts at all, ya don’t let just anybody get you into that sort of position, you save it for those you care about.

And when it goes sour, it goes sour beyond fixing. Write it off to experience.

Been there, done that, I might even be on the poster. Though I too have a chest that could be mistaken for a cute and furry woodland creature.

You can’t help everybody. In this life, you’re doing well if you can help yourself. You want to do good for somebody, hit the Red Cross and donate blood.

A little advice, based on both my own past and very personal experience and watching a few of life’s other little soap operas;

Nobody up and runs off with somebody out of nowhere. Something has been going on for a while before that. You wanna be dealing with this any longer?

Leopards don’t change their spots, nor tigers change their stripes. Tigers, in fact, have striped skin. She burned you once, she’ll do it repeatedly, until you find yourself with enough material for a country and western song. And probably living in a trailer someplace with seven teeth and fourteen tattoos, sucking down a thirty-pack of bad beer every night, keeping a pit bull and wearing black t-shirts all the time.

You don’t need that. Call this the last straw and call it done, see ya, bye bye, don’t call, don’t write and watch out for that door on your way out.

Don’t sell the board, though. Keep it, as a reminder, mounted on your workshop wall. Maybe buy some darts. You may be out for the cost of materials, but as a reminder it’s priceless…

good luck, man

doc…

5

Don’t sell the board, though. Keep it, as a reminder, mounted on your workshop wall. Maybe buy some darts. You may be out for the cost of materials, but as a reminder it’s priceless…

classic !!

10/10 , doc !

6

hey now, ive got all my teeth, a pitbull, half my body is tattooed, i drink a thrity pack of good beer every night, i live in a run down surf getto surrounded by million dollar homes. AND i attract crazy women like a ceramic magnet.(i think its the tattoo on my forehead that says “damaged goods returned here”. And they always blame it on me and tell me i’m a surf bum. but other than that i just roll with the punches. see ya in the line up.

charlie

oh yea, i work on harleys for a living so the only t shirts i can get are black and have stupid sayings on them that read like bumper stickers.

7

at least with a name like ‘liquid wrench’ , you can tell them you know how to deal with people that have a screw loose .

girls ? they never suck when you WANT them to , in my [limited ] experiance .

cecil

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Quote:

i’m no doctor phil, but that chick needs a swift roundhouse scissor kick to the face…

or just get out of there, get her out of your life, uhhh this sounds like the oprah show…

9

You can’t help everybody. In this life, you’re doing well if you can help yourself. You want to do good for somebody, hit the Red Cross and donate blood.

===================================================================

great post Doc.

10

I got screwed on a skim board once. It wasn’t a bro deal, but I wanted to get materials to make a board for myself also so I bought the materials before getting a deposite. I buy the materials in batches to make 4 boards because you can cut 4 cores from an 8’x4’ sheet of dyvinicell. He was busy and could never get the deposite to me, but he seemed so stoked about getting a custom skimmer. I knew what kind of board he wanted, and of course he wanted a green board with a BIG POT LEAF on the front!! So I made my board and his board at the same time so I didnt have to set up and tear down my skimboard jigs and glassing stuff twice. Still no deposite. I was pissed and called him daily for 3 weeks strait (I still have not seen him at the beach since). 4 months later I still have a brand new POT board in my garage. I finally convinced myself that Im stuck with the thing so I took it out to the beach. That damn Pot board is the best one I ever rode! Now I ride the Pot board and the skimmer I made for myself stays at home!! I lucked out and I managed to cover most of the Pot leaf with wax

11

I saw Bronx Tale the other day and some punk owed the main character $20, but this punk keeps avoiding him. Chazz Palminteri points out the kid was a punk and “It costs you $20 to get rid of him.”

She cost you a few bills to get rid of her, imagine if you had married her… it’d cost you a more than a few.

~ Peace in the middle east

12

First off…didn’t you ever learn? Never get involved with crazy girls. The amazing sex isn’t worth it in the long run.

LP, don’t worry, it’ll fade…after 30 years or so :slight_smile:

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Quote:

So she sees the board today and flips out about the logo placement!! She wanted to do a paint pen graphic on the nose, and my logo is apparently in the way…even though she isnt even sure what the graphic will be yet!! So she wants another board!

Well, first off she ain’t a Bro, if you get my drift…I bet she does want another board. The world is full of surf shops. Tell her to put on a thong and a tight tank top and go find something else.

Sell the board yourself. Somebody will buy it. Maybe sell for your cost plus enough for another blank or something reasonable. Tell the buyer it was a custom that didn’t get picked up, hence the deal. You don’t need the reminder around anyway.

I’ll probably regret this: There was a movie back in the 1970’s that showed relentlessly on cable tv back when cable played the same movies a lot. Don’t recall the name but it starred Gary Busey and Eddie Albert. Classic advice from an older man to a younger man…

“You can have a dog for a friend, or you can have whiskey for a friend, but if you have a woman for a friend you’ll wind up drunk kissing your dog.”

14

Ha! Bro deals indeed. I made a board for a friend who wanted a thin railed triple stringer 8’ mini gun w/ full deck fabric inlay, cutlaps and color. Fine, a lot of work but no real problem. But at the same time I made a more “normal” triple stringer gun (clear, thicker rails and 9’ plus) for somebody else. So guy #1 sees guy #2’s board and decides he doesn’t WANT the board he asked for. He wants a board like #2. GEEZ…

I ended up putting board #1 on permanent loan to a third party, where I plan to never see it again. Did NOT make the Bro another board.

It’s all good, though. Everything happens for a reason. Somebody who needs it will get the board the BRO rejects…

15

Guys, thanks for all the kind words, stories, and assorted advice!

You guys made my day…hahaha

I have learned the same lesson over and over with this girl, but I just keep trying…I really gotta stop doing that.

Lavz…"i’m no doctor phil, but that chick needs a swift roundhouse scissor kick to the face… "

quote of the year right there…it is written on a chalkboard next to where i glass my boards now, as a reminder…

Doc…good advice. I think I might donate some blood actually, I haven’t in awhile…

Art-that pic of Dr. Phil, classic!!

LP-i guess I could have a pot leaf skim board…haha it could be worse. At least it rode good!! Maybe I can borrow you hollow board and beat this girl over the head with it…it is plenty strong, right!!!

ghost…so true…have any of you read the everybody surfs column in surfer mag by dave parmenter?? The one called the Mister Resister??? It is the same idea!!

Benny, where were you when I needed you??? That advice 3 years ago would have been great…haha. Not that I would have listened…by the way, nice pic! I am sure chippy will be all over the fin setup soon enough!!

Nels, I am thinking about getting a dog…that was the best part too…she wanted me to shape her another one!!! Hell with that!

Keith…there is a story…that is a tough one! But you are right, everything does happen for a reason, maybe someone will end up with her board and be stoked on it!!!

Thanks again guys, and keep it coming. I’d love to hear some of your stories too…LP’s was a good one…anybody else shaped a board for a “bro”(or ho, depending on how you look at it) and had it go sour??

I hope ambrose shares his wisdom…

16

Nels, ‘twas Foolin’s Around (circa 1980) not that ol’ after all huh? ;D Foolin’ Around

~ Ghost

Quote:

I’ll probably regret this: There was a movie back in the 1970’s that showed relentlessly on cable tv back when cable played the same movies a lot. Don’t recall the name but it starred Gary Busey and Eddie Albert. Classic advice from an older man to a younger man…

“You can have a dog for a friend, or you can have whiskey for a friend, but if you have a woman for a friend you’ll wind up drunk kissing your dog.”

17

If they didn’t have P____y’s. they’d all have bounty’s on there heads.

quote, Christian Schnieder, Kailua HI. circ. 1985

18

10:21 in the morning, and I am smiling because of this thread. If you can’t sell that board- you can always take it down to the beach and give it to some poor kid that doesn’t have anything but rips. That way that b**ch can see how good her board works everyday that she goes down to her local surf break. Speaking of charity- I remember when I was about 10, I saved up all of my money from my birthday and chores forever- just so I could purchase my first wetsuit, it was hanging in the old Santa Cruz surfshop forever. I even remember the price- 55 dollars. I used to stop by the shop everyday and check and see if it was still there, on my way home from school while I was saving for it. So the day finally came- I’m standing at the register and the cashier rings me up and asks me for 60 bucks… TAX! That was something that I hadn’t taken into consideration- mind you, I was only 10. Soo, as I’m standing there probably about to cry- 5 bucks was still a long way off in those days- this guy behind me in line goes- “I’ll get that!” and he pays the tax! I don’t know who he was- but I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and went skipping out the door. Wore that wetsuit till it was covered in holes, but the next one was easier to get- and so on. But to this day, I always keep my eye out for that little grom that needs a bit of help. There are so many kids running around these days with so much gear that their parents just throw at them- spoiled brats! Haha… now I’m sounding like an old fart! -Carl

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Quote:

10:21 in the morning, and I am smiling because of this thread. If you can’t sell that board- you can always take it down to the beach and give it to some poor kid that doesn’t have anything but rips. That way that b**ch can see how good her board works everyday that she goes down to her local surf break. Speaking of charity- I remember when I was about 10, I saved up all of my money from my birthday and chores forever- just so I could purchase my first wetsuit, it was hanging in the old Santa Cruz surfshop forever. I even remember the price- 55 dollars. I used to stop by the shop everyday and check and see if it was still there, on my way home from school while I was saving for it. So the day finally came- I’m standing at the register and the cashier rings me up and asks me for 60 bucks… TAX! That was something that I hadn’t taken into consideration- mind you, I was only 10. Soo, as I’m standing there probably about to cry- 5 bucks was still a long way off in those days- this guy behind me in line goes- “I’ll get that!” and he pays the tax! I don’t know who he was- but I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and went skipping out the door. Wore that wetsuit till it was covered in holes, but the next one was easier to get- and so on. But to this day, I always keep my eye out for that little grom that needs a bit of help. There are so many kids running around these days with so much gear that their parents just throw at them- spoiled brats! Haha… now I’m sounding like an old fart! -Carl

Great story! I also remember when wetsuits (full) were 55-65 bucks. You aren’t sounding like an old fart, you aren’t the only one! Perhaps we are surrounded by them.

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Quote:

I have learned the same lesson over and over

Okay…there is another one for the Swaylock’s Hall Of Fame…I don’t think there is anybody around here with any kind of sense of humor who hasn’t been there! Makes me grin just thinking about it…optimists one and all…

Quote:

Nels, ‘twas Foolin’s Around (circa 1980) not that ol’ after all huh? ;D Foolin’ Around

By God, right you are! Glad to know it wasn’t back in the 70’s, although 1980 is perilously close. That really sets the year I probably saw it though- 1980 or maybe 1981…oh the humanity! Camping for weeks of weekdays at San Onofre Bluffs, weekending with friends, that horrible debacle at The Studio Cafe in Newport…little bit of Baja, San Diego, Sierras…I wrote an epic piece about it which Jim Kempton very kindly rejected from Surfer back when plain old surfers could write anything for them…called it “We Drank, We Slept, We Swam”…