It has been a month since I got a chance to sit down and opine with y'all (texan for you all). It wasn't by choice either. Sometimes as I have alluded life kicks you in the ass. Well, we just had this happen to us a few weeks back.
Let me help any young entrepreneur. Have a lawyer, a good one. If you don't have the money for one, put it on credit card. Legal representation is a must for any businesses entity. Make sure you read and understand contracts. Don't skim, don't procrastinate. It will be boring but you must understand what you are signing.
Don't do handshake deals. Most people suck. They will renege on it. Their spoken words are more worthless than the toilet paper you wipe your derriere (French for ass).
You might be asking what the hell happened. Well, I can't. But I can tell you what might have happened to a fictional person with similar circumstances as me.
Hypothetically speaking, this poor hard working chef who owned his own business for let's say 17 years, was renting a commercial kitchen in the area. The landlord of this establishment had recruited this very fictional character to come join this person's new commercial kitchen. It was new, it was clean, it was bloody state of the art. It was cool beans!
This very fictitious chef who is extremely debonair and good looking, decided this pad is the bomb. Let's do this. The two agreed and signed a year's lease. Well, three quarters way through the lease, the fictional owner went MIA. No one knew where this person was. Had this person been kidnapped, was this person murdered, did the person run away with a Latin lover? There were no clues. Bills for the building kept piling up, rent checks weren't being cashed. There were no cleaning supplies, their was no general maintenance, the place was falling into disarray.
In this fictitious world (which oddly mirrored mine), the MIA landlord was missing for 3 months more less. When the landlord finally returned, after a thousand phone calls and messages. This super good looking and skilled entrepreneurial chef confronted the landlord. It was amicable. After, being reassured the place wasn't going belly up, and that the landlord had been risen from the dead like Lazarus, the chef asked to renew the lease as it was now approaching the end of the lease. The landlord was very happy and excitedly said hypothetically, "Great! Perfect! Let's do it!"
Fireworks didn't erupt, but both parties were satisfied to renew the lease. All was done and dusted. (or so it seemed)
Fast forward in the magic time machine to a fictional time in the future like two weeks ago.
Imagine the surprise for the shockingly handsome chef, when he arrived to work to find a termination letter on his work table. This fictitious letter might have read something like, "Since you never renewed your lease, I will be terminating it and the end of the month..."
(WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT WILLIS?) (Ref. 70's- early 80's Different Strokes TV show reference)
Yes that is what came to mind in this chef's mind. Or WTF!!!
You see this person vividly remembers asking to be renewed and getting acknowledgement from the landlord that it would be.
But see this is the rub. You are f#@^'d! Because it is now a spitting contest and a he said she said type of thing. This isn't the good ole days when your word was your bond. When you spit into your hand and shook hands with your partner. No this is not that time. It is the bloody new millennium when values and ethics mean nothing and the only transactions of value can be done with good lawyers. Protect yourself. It is you against the world.
Again hypothetically speaking, in case you are wondering if this marvelously handsome and talented chef deserved to be thrown out? The answer is no. In fact the made up landlord said I would be happy to give you a reference. I had to kick you out because I found someone who would pay more than you. You see the word wasn't good. This landlord did not execute an extension of the lease on purpose even though they agreed orally because the landlord had some irons in the fire for a big fish client, so they strung on to the good ole chef as long as possible. Well, I believe in Karma and you reap what you sow.
Next blog, I promise will be about food reviews. The good, the bad and the not so bad.
Let me help any young entrepreneur. Have a lawyer, a good one. If you don't have the money for one, put it on credit card. Legal representation is a must for any businesses entity. Make sure you read and understand contracts. Don't skim, don't procrastinate. It will be boring but you must understand what you are signing.
Don't do handshake deals. Most people suck. They will renege on it. Their spoken words are more worthless than the toilet paper you wipe your derriere (French for ass).
You might be asking what the hell happened. Well, I can't. But I can tell you what might have happened to a fictional person with similar circumstances as me.
Hypothetically speaking, this poor hard working chef who owned his own business for let's say 17 years, was renting a commercial kitchen in the area. The landlord of this establishment had recruited this very fictional character to come join this person's new commercial kitchen. It was new, it was clean, it was bloody state of the art. It was cool beans!
This very fictitious chef who is extremely debonair and good looking, decided this pad is the bomb. Let's do this. The two agreed and signed a year's lease. Well, three quarters way through the lease, the fictional owner went MIA. No one knew where this person was. Had this person been kidnapped, was this person murdered, did the person run away with a Latin lover? There were no clues. Bills for the building kept piling up, rent checks weren't being cashed. There were no cleaning supplies, their was no general maintenance, the place was falling into disarray.
In this fictitious world (which oddly mirrored mine), the MIA landlord was missing for 3 months more less. When the landlord finally returned, after a thousand phone calls and messages. This super good looking and skilled entrepreneurial chef confronted the landlord. It was amicable. After, being reassured the place wasn't going belly up, and that the landlord had been risen from the dead like Lazarus, the chef asked to renew the lease as it was now approaching the end of the lease. The landlord was very happy and excitedly said hypothetically, "Great! Perfect! Let's do it!"
Fireworks didn't erupt, but both parties were satisfied to renew the lease. All was done and dusted. (or so it seemed)
Fast forward in the magic time machine to a fictional time in the future like two weeks ago.
Imagine the surprise for the shockingly handsome chef, when he arrived to work to find a termination letter on his work table. This fictitious letter might have read something like, "Since you never renewed your lease, I will be terminating it and the end of the month..."
(WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT WILLIS?) (Ref. 70's- early 80's Different Strokes TV show reference)
Yes that is what came to mind in this chef's mind. Or WTF!!!
You see this person vividly remembers asking to be renewed and getting acknowledgement from the landlord that it would be.
But see this is the rub. You are f#@^'d! Because it is now a spitting contest and a he said she said type of thing. This isn't the good ole days when your word was your bond. When you spit into your hand and shook hands with your partner. No this is not that time. It is the bloody new millennium when values and ethics mean nothing and the only transactions of value can be done with good lawyers. Protect yourself. It is you against the world.
Again hypothetically speaking, in case you are wondering if this marvelously handsome and talented chef deserved to be thrown out? The answer is no. In fact the made up landlord said I would be happy to give you a reference. I had to kick you out because I found someone who would pay more than you. You see the word wasn't good. This landlord did not execute an extension of the lease on purpose even though they agreed orally because the landlord had some irons in the fire for a big fish client, so they strung on to the good ole chef as long as possible. Well, I believe in Karma and you reap what you sow.
Next blog, I promise will be about food reviews. The good, the bad and the not so bad.
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