'Life is not a YouTube tutorial': Tradesman gets vindicated when DIY neighbor devalues his professional skill and totally ruins a welding project

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 15, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

Many of us are DIYers and YouTube tutorial survivalists by necessity. Sure, an online tutorial video can help an amateur complete a project at a lower price, but none of us are out here diluting the value of an actual professional's skills. As I stare at the cattywampus angles of the tilted tiles in my DIY bathroom, it becomes painfully clear that a pro would have done it a lot better than me. 

For some, though, admitting a professional's value is hard. It seems like every friend-of-a-friend is always asking for a professional's 'free' advice or assistance simply because they feel entitled to their friend discount. Friends of lawyers are always asking for free legal advice, friends of doctors are showing pediatricians their weird mole at a party, and friends of teachers are just expected to teach their neighbor's kid algebra after hours. 

Sorry, everyone, but these pros do this for actual money, not for charity. 

In this story, a tradesman offered to help out his neighbor with a complicated welding project and sent him a simple 'friend price' quote for his time and expertise. Being a snooty DIYer, the neighbor decided that, at that price, he was willing to roll the dice and figure it out himself because it 'looked simple enough on YouTube.' Scroll onward to read further about a job that would have taken the tradesman 4 hours to complete and the bittersweet satisfaction he had as he watched his neighbor struggle from afar for almost a week with the same project.

For more audacious entitlement, check out this story of a bride who invited her sister's ex to her wedding in the hopes of rekindling their love– except it backfired royally, and the sister decided to not even attend.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/Recommendation No191 19 hours ago Everything is easy why are you charging me so much? M OC
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 02
    Font - So I work in the trades and my neighbor is retired and he recently asked me to fabricate a roof rack for his RV to put his boat on.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 03
    Font - I really don't like to do side work because my regular work is hard enough but it's my neighbor so I agree and said no problem, fairly simple, 5 hours worth of work, 150 bucks. This is
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 04
    Font - friend and neighbor price. I make a lot more than that in real life. On the flip side, everyone else he talked to wanted a s'oad more money. Go figure.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 05
    Font - He balked at it because he saw a video on YouTube and it's easy and doesn't take that long and I'm charging him an arm and a leg. I told him that is video editing. Fab takes time.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 06
    Font - Okay, no problem I told him if he did the Fab I would do the welding for free. The Fab is the most work and it's not as much fun as the welding. This is the malicious compliance
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 07
    Font - because he told me that the fabrication work is easy. Over and over again. It's like a reverse UNO card, I let him do the easy part of everything.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 08
    Font - This is in real time because it's still not finished at the time of posting. This started Sunday. Today is Wednesday afternoon, so four whole days available to do it. It's still not done. 4 hours in my estimate.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 09
    Font - Unfortunately a bunch of the cuts got rejected by the QC and the welder because they weren't square and his design is a poor design so it needs gussets and the like. Likewise all of the weld locations that are not
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 10
    Font - ground down to bare metal but are showing rust, so he needs to take the top bit of the rust off. For those in the know, it's a mix of new and old square tube and angle.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 11
    Font - If I weld something up and it breaks because of s' .J design it's on me. You have an RV that's going off road and you have a 6-ft reach on this roof rack with a boat vibrating on a forest service road. I'm not going to weld
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 12
    Font - 1in square tube to 1 inch square tube and say it's okay. I'm a certified welder and I'm well aware of limitations of 1-in Dom square tube no matter my penetration. Gussets gussets gussets.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 13
    Font - Today, Wednesday afternoon, get home he's still working on it. That's four full days that he can work on it, the Fab work that I said would take me 4 hours but he didn't want to pay for.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 14
    Font - And now he's asking a lot of questions. I love the guy and I've lived here a long time and I'll live here much longer but shouldn't he be looking up those answers in the comments on the YouTube tutorial? I'm sorry, but life is not a YouTube video tutorial.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 15
    Font - He understands now. He is almost finished the fabrication and he looked at me after doing hours of grinding on Wednesday and said this is not that easy.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 16
    Font - Yeah, that's why I told you to do it. Could have been done on Monday and you would be camping this week. Sorry for the rant but I'm a carpenter and a welder and
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 17
    Font - everything is so easy, yet no one wants to do it themselves, why can't I just do it for free? Try asking a mover after their 40 hours of the week if they can move all of your s just for pizza and a beer. Think about it. I should have got into HVAC.
    via ReccommendationNo191
  • 18
    Font - Breaking news edit!!!: It has been welded!!! Not by me! And I'm guessing it's a handyman because a lot of those welds look cold and no prep was done on painted or rusty surfaces. Think he's on Reddit? If so, I think it's the cabbage rolls that gave it away.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 19
    Font - Edit: Just a little addition here. IT guys are in the same vein as us. Hey man, can you look at my computer....?
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 20
    Font - Double edit: there is a whole lot of other professions that I never expected to be asked to do free work. I would never expect to ask a healthcare professional an off the record idea of what's wrong with me.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 21
    Font - The biggest lesson here is that you need to respect what other people do and if they tell you it's a friend price accept it.
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 22
    Font - 10 stumblewiggins 19 hr. ago It's not even just trades. Oh, you're a doctor? Can you look at this thing on my Oh, you're a lawyer? Can you give me your opinion on my case?
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 23
    Font - Oh, you're a teacher? Can you tutor my kid? Pretty much whatever your professional skill set, someone will expect you to do it for them for free
    via RecommendationNo191
  • 24
    Welding
    via u/canva

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discount neighbors welding tradesman malicious compliance youtube friends youtube tutorial entitled DIY trade Reddit handyman
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