I quickly lost all faith in them, and ended up fixing it all myself. However, since I would never have unstepped the mast, which they said I had to do so the could fix the chainplates and hole, I didn't appreciate them charging me for it. Anyway, my launch has been somewhat delayed as we've been going back and forth about it.
I finally told Pip this morning that if we couldn't come to an agreement, I'd have to take them to court after I left -- which might also delay my trip south, but there's nothing like getting cheated (and threatened -- see below) to motivate you.
That was at the end of our morning walk, so we went back to the boat and started finishing up a few tasks I wanted to finish before she went in. I'd just tied up Zoe and gone on board to get her water, when Wes walks up and starts telling me that I "might as well get some tomato plants and put them around the boat, because you're never going in." He also said I'd broken a cardinal rule by threatening to sue, to which I answered that it wasn't a threat, I was definitely going to do unless we could work out a deal. It's just business after all.
So he tells me he doesn't know where I'm going to stay and he wants me out of the yard because he thinks I'm a threat to his business. Well, I'm no lawyer, but I do tend to hang out with a lot of them and even worked for a big firm in Houston during college, so I do know a few things. I've also lived in NYC long enough to be familiar with city ordinances concerning renters (ah, yes, as a liveabroad, I'm a tenant). So I sorta laughed and told him it didn't work that way and I wasn't going anywhere.
Now, he was already pretty jazzed up when he came over, but my standing up to him seemed to put him over the edge. He's also a pretty big guy, so he got right in my face and tries to intimidate me -- which was also sorta funny since he'd never be mistaken for a drill instructor. I've heard he does thus a lot so I wasn't surprised.
Anyway I told him to back off several times and even gave way, but he just kept coming and bumping into me. He even put his hands in his pockets and kept saying, as if it mattered, "but my hands are in my pockets."
This could have gone on all morning, but after I told him again and again to stop butting into me, he said, "oh, how about a headbutt." Now, back when I played rugby, I could headbutt with the best of them. In fact some of the forwards (I was a back) liked to come up and headbutt you at the parties or at the bar. One time I got tired if it, so I told the guy, okay, let's go again, and again, and again, etc. Once his forehead started getting a little mushy, he decided it really wasn't that much fun anymore and never bothered me again. I don't know if I've just got a hard head or just plain stubborn, but I'd still be doing it today if he hadn't quit.
But that was 25 years ago right after I'd gotten out of the Corps. At 51, I no longer have a desire to mix it up with idiots looking for a fight. So, when he threatened to headbutt me, I pulled out my phone and called the police. That got him off me for the time being, he still felt the need to harass me later in, so I had to call a second time later in the morning.
I carried a 45 my last 2 years with 26 MAU, but I'd forgotten how quickly things calm down when a couple of guys with guns drive up. It was quite refreshing. A lot of cops are ex-military, so I normally have a pretty good rapport with them.
Things have settled down now, and the boat's ready to go in, but it looks like I'll have to wait till Monday. Fernando, the guy who normally moves the boats, but not the guy who dropped mine, had to go out of town and won't be back till Monday, so I decided to wait for him -- the rest of them are incompetent, and I don't want to take a chance of them dropping her again.
They're probably going to charge me an extra week, but since I was ready on the 29, and they chose not to put me in, and have been making me wait, I'll try to get that back too when I sue.
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