However in every group, there is a bad apple. This particular bad apple will remain nameless right now. Actually no, lets call him FF (Stands for Fuck Face) So, FF gets on to my posting and begins to shame people for referring me. He first states that I am in the wrong section. He then says that I should contact the site to be commercial. He THEN tells people to stop publicly referring me, that they can do so in private messaging. He told me that I had enough praise and that I should just take the posting down. This went on for DAYS. My clients (and even people that I didn't know) immediately came to my defense! They stated that that was what this site was for! (True) And that they had every right to tell people how happy they are with my services. (Also true) We went back and forth. I tried to stay out of it, but I finally had to speak up. I sent FF a private message asking him to stop harassing me and my clients. I asked him why he cared in the first place. I asked, "What's it to you if I post on here? Why do you care how people respond when it is all positive?" I asked him to refrain from any more comments and to just ignore me. Well, he didn't. Things escalated and he started an argument with another neighbor on there under my business posting! How inappropriate! Then FF had MY postings flagged! I was receiving emails from complete strangers telling me what an ass FF was and to just ignore him. They said that he is a hated man who thinks he knows it all. That he has way too much time on his hands and wants to control everything.
Given all of this information, I could not be stifled any longer. I decided to tell FF off under my posting just long enough for him to see it and then close the entire thread. I don't remember exactly what I said word for word, but it was something along the lines of "This is bordering on harassment. You are not my boss or my father or the moderator or this site so you have NO right to tell me what I can and cannot post." There may have been a few more expletives in there .... it was warranted, believe me.
A few weeks went by (this was around the first week in June). My schedule was busy, I wasn't checking emails that were not work related , and then yesterday I received a letter in the mail from L&I (License & Inspection for those of you not in Philly) It stated that They came to my home to do a property investigation and that I was being cited a property violation because I was operating a business without a Commercial Activity License. I read this letter about 6 times to make sure that I understood. They stated that I could appeal, but I would have to print out an appeal form and hand deliver it to Broad and JFK within 30 days. I immediately called, but the office was closed. I emailed the investigator and explained the situation. The more I thought about it, the more this seemed to be the work of FF. Why would the city come after me out of nowhere? Especially since I have been a registered business since 2010?
I emailed my contact who knows FF (and his partner) and asked if he thought that FF would do something like this. His reply was "Absolutely. I put nothing past him." Sigh.... I then saw that he had me kicked off of the neighborhood website.
So this morning I called L&I to inquire about this letter. I was informed that someone made a complaint that I was operating a business out of my home without a license and that is why they investigated. I asked if they could tell me who made the complaint. Her reply was, "I don't know who it was. YOU would have a better idea than I would of who would do this." The ONLY person that I could think of was FF. The timing of the complaint coincides with our spat on the stupid website about my offering pet sitting services. So I asked her why I was in violation. She said, "Because you don't have a business privilege license." And I said, "But I DO have a business privilege license!" And she seemed surprised and said, "Well fax me your license number and this all goes away." So I did. And it did. The one thing that did not go away is FF. I have no beef with anyone else. No one else would do this to me. Not my neighbors, not my clients, no one except for this South Philly psycho with too much time on his hands. This man literally tried to disrupt my life and business because he didn't like my business posting on a neighborhood website and I wouldn't let him have control of the situation. Karma is a bitch and FF will get his - that I am sure of. From what I hear he has a line of enemies just waiting to pounce. I am in the back of that line just waiting to see what happens next.
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| This is how I envision FF in my mind (even though I know his name and his face) |
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