Contractors, Self Employed nice cars? You earn far too much!
Discussion
It's happens to employees too. Years ago I turned up at work in a newly purchased one year old Range Rover on a private plate. It only had 7k miles on it and it looked brand new. It's just so happen'd it was the same day 4 directors had taken delivery of brand new LR Discovery's. They were all outside admiring their new cars. The looks on their faces as I parked it next to the 4 new Disco's was a sight to behold. The b
hy HR director went into a huff and a witch hunt ensued as to how much I was being paid and how could I possibly afford it.
hy HR director went into a huff and a witch hunt ensued as to how much I was being paid and how could I possibly afford it.Durzel said:
Mostly though I don't routinely like to wind people up the wrong way, and it's pretty easy to do that by ostentatious displays of wealth. You don't necessarily have to be unable to contract yourself to think that it's a bit tactless and gauche.
It would only be ostentatious and tactless to needlessly draw attention to one's choice of car, but I spend 4 hours a day in mine so I'll be fked if I substitute it for something I don't really want to drive, just to appease others.I don't think it is just contractors or self-employed.
I am PAYE and get it a little with my SLK. My boss (and CEO) is the only person above me and he has a lovely Porsche; we're the only petrolheads in the firm and the only comments from him about when I'm going to upgrade to the Aston I have my eye on!
I have a lot of people working in my division (about half of the firm) and many are on low pay, or reasonable pay but with high outgoings of their own making. I do occasionally hear of comments made but never directly to me aside from once when I had to let someone go due to a restructure.
It's one of the (small) reasons I'm intending to get a bland Eurobox to commute to work in
I am PAYE and get it a little with my SLK. My boss (and CEO) is the only person above me and he has a lovely Porsche; we're the only petrolheads in the firm and the only comments from him about when I'm going to upgrade to the Aston I have my eye on!
I have a lot of people working in my division (about half of the firm) and many are on low pay, or reasonable pay but with high outgoings of their own making. I do occasionally hear of comments made but never directly to me aside from once when I had to let someone go due to a restructure.
It's one of the (small) reasons I'm intending to get a bland Eurobox to commute to work in
mat205125 said:
Buy a crappy diesel rep mobile for visiting clients.
Don't rock up at a clients premises in an Aston Martin, and then complain if someone questions why they're paying £500 a day for your services.
Lol, noticed a new Aston rapide in our car park today. Quite a few contractors roll up in very expensive cars.Don't rock up at a clients premises in an Aston Martin, and then complain if someone questions why they're paying £500 a day for your services.
Mind you, as some of our engineers are £100k+ some staff have nice cars too so it balances out
Pander to these idiots? Drive a crappy car to appease them? To hell with that.
My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
Having both been a contractor and a permie, no-one has uttered a word about any of my cars in terms of jealousy. Then again, I'm a weirdo with a penchant for French and Swedish barges. Must be the Scandinavian civility...
The biggest laugh coming when contracting that the hiring employer thought his 2006/7-ish Pug 607 was older than my '98 2.9 S80. And getting another to change their parking policy when I had to park my snotter Sierra in an investment bank car park when the trains went tits-up for the umpteenth time.
The biggest laugh coming when contracting that the hiring employer thought his 2006/7-ish Pug 607 was older than my '98 2.9 S80. And getting another to change their parking policy when I had to park my snotter Sierra in an investment bank car park when the trains went tits-up for the umpteenth time.
9mm said:
Pander to these idiots? Drive a crappy car to appease them? To hell with that.
My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
You sound like you were in the rare position where what you offered was of sufficient value that you could behave like this. You could stick the proverbial finger up to the misinformed/idiotic and not worry about the result.My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
For everybody else acting in an arrogant manner to towards these plebs could and possibly will result in loss of business - I am self employed and know many other self employed people, they all drive crap / vans to work and the owner of a business who supplies product to me once told me how he lost an entire contract because the buyer saw him roll up in a new BMW (about 10 years ago) - Mental, but this is now some peoples brains work.
It doesnt matter if it is old, if it is cheaper than the other 'euroboxes' or 'white leas BMW's' if it looks potentially expensive this is how it will be viewed. Its upto you if you can deal with the crap that will inevitably come with or not.
Edited by Rick1.8t on Tuesday 16th June 21:24
I have always had a weekend toy since I started work and always got some kind of flack for it.
Generally "we pay you too much". Never really listened, just kept my head down. Everyone knows I am a car guy so just let it go. Don't think it ever upset anyone to the point where it effected my job prospects.
Now on the other hand I run my own business and sometimes get the "things must be going well" line which I generally try and turn into some positive spin - hard work paid for it etc - but anyone who gets too smart gets told to take their money elsewhere. Doesn't happen often though, most of my customers tend to make more than me anyway!
Generally "we pay you too much". Never really listened, just kept my head down. Everyone knows I am a car guy so just let it go. Don't think it ever upset anyone to the point where it effected my job prospects.
Now on the other hand I run my own business and sometimes get the "things must be going well" line which I generally try and turn into some positive spin - hard work paid for it etc - but anyone who gets too smart gets told to take their money elsewhere. Doesn't happen often though, most of my customers tend to make more than me anyway!
Had this today as someone goggled what my bike was, so when I came in today they were commenting on my 25K Motorbike & how I must be charging to much.I just smiled & explained that if I was charging what I was worth I'd be riding in on a Desmosedici RR I even wrote it down so they could google that!
I was working on a civil engineering project as a contractor 2 years ago. One day the 'staff' managing quantity surveyor was moaning about contract staff earning too much while sat in the large open plan office, I made a comment back, his response was 'well we all don't get paid enough to drive a flash Audi' my response was 'if you work a bit harder maybe one day you will!' He stormed off in the huff while his juniors laughed at him.
My current boss bought a £5k Boxster last week, all the women in the office were having a right bh on behind his back about how he's earning too much. Thick as fk!
My current boss bought a £5k Boxster last week, all the women in the office were having a right b
h on behind his back about how he's earning too much. Thick as fk!Troubleatmill said:
Try...
Not earning for 5 months of the year.
No one else is paying into your pension pot.
Family health insurance costing £5K per annum
Citical illness cover .... (don't ask)
A higher mortgage rate
No sick pay.
Any training - you have to pay for - and it means that you are not earning when you do it.
Any cost cutting - you are the first to go.
Rubbish mostly. Health insurance just isn't necessary in the UK for example.Not earning for 5 months of the year.
No one else is paying into your pension pot.
Family health insurance costing £5K per annum
Citical illness cover .... (don't ask)
A higher mortgage rate
No sick pay.
Any training - you have to pay for - and it means that you are not earning when you do it.
Any cost cutting - you are the first to go.
doogz said:
Some of you are quite polite about it.
I was thinking the same thing.
I've never really had this problem, but then, I rarely work with any petrolheads, and most of the time I work in London, and so you never see what people have in the car park. Many that I've worked with in Central London haven't/don't even own a car and it's not often a subject that is discussed!
Even among my fellow contractors I know during the past decade or more, there's only a few that are/have been into cars in any real way.
I have seen it from both sides, was wonderful going from skint to taking 1200 quid a week home, only did it for a year but having cash coming in like that and not paying as much in tax was fantastic, then went back perm.
Our lot are pretty good but do express that I must be mad running a car that does 18 mpg and costs £500 a year to tax and so many of them have leased diesel German things they pay £300 - £500 a month for.
Our lot are pretty good but do express that I must be mad running a car that does 18 mpg and costs £500 a year to tax and so many of them have leased diesel German things they pay £300 - £500 a month for.
I'm quite fortunate in that road cars don't really interest me that much, so my tatty old 122k mile BMW is all my employers ever see, and only one or two guys at work know how far my obsession with cars and motor racing goes. I've often wondered about the negativity I'd get if I put my entire car budget into one road car and owned something tasty looking like some of my contractor friends; the chances are that I may not be getting rate increases or even contract renewals - it's all part of the game I guess. It's unfair of course, because people who put their money into their houses, their children or nice holidays don't have to worry about it (I know multi-millionaires who turn up to work in tattered old cars and everyone probably thinks they earn about £30k a year), but that's life, people always judge you in their terms, not yours.
Rick1.8t said:
9mm said:
Pander to these idiots? Drive a crappy car to appease them? To hell with that.
My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
You sound like you were in the rare position where what you offered was of sufficient value that you could behave like this. You could stick the proverbial finger up to the misinformed/idiotic and not worry about the result.My clients tend to fall into categories. The first group celebrate success and the second are more like those described by the op.
I'm afraid I can't resist winding up the second group. A house photo often works well. Whilst I no longer need to work, I was no different when I did. I guess it's important to be selling something the employer would find hard to get elsewhere but I never lost work as a result of 'being paid too much'.
For everybody else acting in an arrogant manner to towards these plebs could and possibly will result in loss of business - I am self employed and know many other self employed people, they all drive crap / vans to work and the owner of a business who supplies product to me once told me how he lost an entire contract because the buyer saw him roll up in a new BMW (about 10 years ago) - Mental, but this is now some peoples brains work.
It doesnt matter if it is old, if it is cheaper than the other 'euroboxes' or 'white leas BMW's' if it looks potentially expensive this is how it will be viewed. Its upto you if you can deal with the crap that will inevitably come with or not.
Edited by Rick1.8t on Tuesday 16th June 21:24
My experience is that the decision makers don't have a problem or they wouldn't employ you in the first place. The 'shop floor' can moan all they like to who they like but they damage themselves far more than any contractor.
I feel sorry for people who put on an act/drive something they'd rather not in order to placate cretins. I can only feel that the overall working environment must be rather unpleasant.
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