Don't Be Like Joe

Joe Swilvak had a remodeling business in Martinsville, New Jersey. Up to about eight years ago he was working almost everyday. Then the business started to slack, so much that he spent more time sitting in front of the TV then behind his miter saw.

It wasn’t only his business that slacked off. He stopped getting invited to parties. His wife Jill and him would always be invited to his neighbors for parties and picnics. Now he sits alone, just him and his TV.

It wasn’t just customers and neighbors avoiding him. It was also his kids and relatives. Their calls to his trickled to next to nothing. It was so his parents look for ways just avoid him. Again, there he sits in front of hi TV to keep him company.

When does this avoidance start? About eight years ago he installed cheap windows while doing a remodeling job. Before then, all products he installed were top of the line. He had a reputation for top of products while others were installing cheap grade products.

It did stop with the windows and cheap products. His work ethics displayed be his crew and him started to slide. His crew saw him slacking and not caring, so they followed suit.

This poor ethics occurred when he installed a new ceiling and leaked. Instead of just fixing the  he tried to blame it on the roof and told the customer to get a roofer to roofer to look at it.

Joe made some mistakes in the past and he would try to repair them. This time he couldn’t be bothered trying to correct try to correct it or at least find out what was causing the problem before just blaming it on the roof. This one of many mistakes that he would make and avoid making the situation right.

He was supposed to put a new addition onto the house. While in the midst of framing out the addition, he did not have enough 2x4s. The project was slightly delayed while he waited for more 2x4s to arrive. Even though the customer had the money to pay for the 2x4s, they were quite angry.

About three years ago, the town of Martinsville was going to do some remodeling work. You would think that he is from the town and would ask for an estimate. That would not be the case. Even wasn’t even asked for a bid. The job went to out of town company. The only saving grace, there were two other town companies.

His lax behavior started to affect his help. They saw that he did not care, so their work habits grew bad also. Their habits got so bad that it drew the ire of a customer when they left a mess after they were done. Joe promised to send his crew back to cleanup, but he never did.

These complaints about a lack of work ethics and customer service started to add up. This caused a lack of jobs which left him sitting in front of g a TV instead of out working.

Not only were people not hiring him, he and his family stopped getting invitations to parties and picnics. He did not even get invited to the town’s annual local get together. The town holds this get together so that businesses get meet each other and hopefully network with eact h other.

Joe and his family stopped getting invitations about seven or eight years ago. It started with his longtime friend Stephen Smith who lives a couple of houses away from Joe. Stephen had a street party and invited everyone on the street except for Joe and his family.

Joe knew Stephen for 37 years, so why did Joe not receive an invitation? It started about seven years ago when Joe stopped socializing with Stephen. They would talk every day to Stephen and for some reason unknown it stopped. Whenever Stephen would a picnic, Joe would contribute money for food and beverages. He would help Stephen get his yard ready for picnics or paint a room or two for inside parties. They were close and for some reason Joe just stopped having anything to do with Stephen. So, Stephen returned the favor.

Joe did not stop getting invitations from Stephen extended to everyone on the street and beyond. It was so bad that his relatives wanted nothing to do with him. Even if for some reason he did get invited to a family function, he and family sat alone by themselves in the corner.,

It wasn’t just those outside of his house avoiding him. His own children wanted nothing to do with him. Joe had a boy named Joseph and a daughter named Sam. They asked him not to attend any of their functions. Jill was more than welcome, but Joe had to stay away from their functions. They said they were embarrassed that he was their father. Not even this had any effect on Joe. He was quite content to sit in front of his TV.

Now before I go on, Joe was neither an alcoholic nor a drug addict. He was brought up around alcohol. It was present at every family gathering. His parents were heavy drinkers that drank every day of the week. Their drinking most of all had a positive influence on his life. Rather than developing a drinking habit, he developed a healthy work ethic which right now was going in the wrong direction.

Being not invited to parties and lack of work for seven years finally came to a head one day. Jill could no longer take it anymore. One would have to be surprised that she lasted seven years before she let Joe have it.

It happened one Sunday afternoon during the fall. Joe was in the middle of watching the Giants lose the Rams when she walked into the living room and pulled the TV cord out of the socket. His TV going blank sent such a jolt up Joe’s spine that he sat straight in the chair.

He looked blankly right into Jill’s red face. He did not say before or during Jill’s reaming him out.

Her voice grew loud so loud that I would not be surprised everyone within a square mile heard. She was angry. She told him that she and their children are sick and tired of him and his not caring. His children are embarrassed to have as their father. They don’t want you at any of their school events. When they go to Mass please sit in another pew. They hope their pictures are not in his wallet.

She was not finished because we was just beginning. Stephen told her a while ago why she and the kids have not gotten any invitations. It is not because of her the kids, him, Joe! You are the whole reason the reason we haven't been invited to any parties. No one wants you around anymore because you changed. You not same friendly and outgoing Joe. No, you changed to a non-caring and self-centered person.

Finally came his lack of jobs. For this one she pulled out her cell phone and began to the reviews about is company. None of them good but all negative. She started with the way you handle the leaking ceiling and blaming it on the roof. You could find the reason for the leak or humored them gone up on the roof. But you chose to blame the roof and walk away.

She rattled off a list of bad reviews and ended with the short order of 2x4s which the customer was not about. The reviews were so bad that no wonder he had no work. Finally, she asked him directly, what was wrong with him?

He turned his head away from her face to out the window to his left. Her face grew redder as she waited for an answer while she struggled to hold back the words that she wanted to say. The pressure was building up inside so that eyes looked like they would bulge out of her head.

How did he respond to her question? He slid between her and out of the chair. He walked right out the front door. Jill collapsed sideways in the chair and began to sob uncontrollably.

What is wrong with Joe? Death is the answer. That is what he is avoiding like we all are out some way. Some of us face it by pushing it way back in our minds but we enjoy what time we have left. For people like Joe, they shut their life down like they are going to die in the next minute. Not caring about anything because nothing matters if you are going to die anyway. Don’t be like Joe enjoy life.