Starting at the Bottom

Prior to leaving his post at his previous job the Pickup Truck Architect (PTA) began a little reconnaissance work, some might call moonlighting, and others might call it getting paid by someone else to work on something else right under their nose.

The PTA does not recommend this unethical behavior but it is amazing how much one can neglect their real work and not stir up any trouble. Everyone who doesn't work for the government, (they already know this secret,) should try it for a week and you'll be amazed. It's the Peter Gibbons approach. For those who slept or are older than 60, Peter Gibbons is the main character from Office Space (played by Ron Livingston) who has a reawakening and decided to not care about his job and ends up getting promoted. In the PTA's case, he was diverting his attention to a basement renovation that his father saw posted on a local community website.

In what may go down in history as the most over-designed basement in the history of New Jersey, strike that the world, the PTA came in with guns blazing; suit, tie, jazz hands, you name it, and won the job.

Now what. Well before going any further I think we need to look at the PTA's accomplices in his pursuit of the American dream, his business partners (aka Father and Uncle).

Going into business with family is probably located just below cleaning a propane tank, naked, in your bathtub, while smoking in the book of good ideas. The latter activity is unfortunately not made up but was, in fact, someone who became a real patient of the PTA's wife, the Pickup Truck Nurse, at a burn unit she used to work on.

The problems usual center around communication and lingering resentments. There are two ways of communicating with members of your family . You either don't or you do but when you do it's usually screaming at them. The PTA experienced both examples when it came to his business partners.

He had, up until they incorporated, a good relationship with his father. Their discussions usually centered around baseball, fishing, and more baseball. As with any parent/child relationship, the child had all kinds of deep-seeded resentments and hatred for certain aspects of the parent's personality. The child had long-since reached the age where he realized that his parents not only didn't know everything and could solve any /all problems, they actually knew very little, were completely winging it, and it was amazing the child survived to adulthood.

These resentments and other assorted angst came raging to the surface as soon as they had their first official "meeting" as business partners. The father came from a consulting world who's specialty was creating busy work for the government. Their "meetings" usually consisted of numerous bubble diagrams and pie charts in which the PTA would tear to shreds. "This is common sense! You don't need these diagrams to start a business," the PTA shrieked. The Father's rebuttal, "This is what I've been doing for twenty years, I think I know what I'm talking about." The PTA: "Twenty years! How the hell can you live with yourself!"

The long, warm discussions about baseball seemed a distant memory. This was new territory, mano y mano.

The PTA's past relationship with his uncle was like a lot of peoples. You see them at holidays or other get-togethers. You exchange pleasantries. About all you really know about them is through your parents. Pretty basic stuff. The Uncle had been in the building trades and was a very talented finish carpenter. The PTA could remember, back to childhood, how massive his Uncle's hands were from hammering nails, sometime through said hands.

The Father had always contended that the Uncle, his brother, had a lot of un-tapped potential. He never went to college but could of, read a lot, etc. etc. The Father also acknowledge a propensity in his Brother for periodic silent treatments, (he was quiet by nature) of the family for reasons only known to him. At the outset of the business, the PTA's understanding was that the Uncle would be the "Build" part of the Design-Build operation. He was going to rely on his Uncle's 30+ years of being in the construction industry.

The stars were aligning, the architect, the builder, and the Father's knowledge of bubble diagrams. It may be time to point out that as the basement project was commencing the PTA should really of been called the PT (three tests away from being licensed) A. Not a problem, right? You don't need to be "licensed" to do a basement, right . . .