Have you ever been stiffed on a job?

This week we introduce you to the ultimate stiff.

A property investor thought he was posting his deep thoughts and life advice when he took to X.

“Painter finishes job at 7.38pm on Friday night,” he wrote in his post, which was viewed more than eight million times for all the wrong reasons. “Immediately wants payment (check). What’s your move? Seems like every single time, they need a check immediately after the job is done. Is it bad money management?”

The property investor’s post included a photo of the newly painted house as well as a screenshot of a text from the painter: “We finish. Do you think I can have my check today? Tomorrow I’m going to Chicago and I won’t be there until Monday.”

If the property investor was expecting a rousing hurrah from his fellow travelers, he clearly walked into the wrong saloon.

“Pay the f*cking guy, Mike,” admonished one tweet. “WTF is wrong with you? Why are you even posting this? You hired him, you pay him when the job is completed.”

Even professional sports players expressed disapproval.

“So the guy stayed late to make sure the job got completed? Sounds like he should get a tip for overtime as thanks,” wrote Seth McClung, who played baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Professional painting contractors also brought their expertise to confirm that indeed, payment is expected upon completion of the job.

“As someone who owns a painting company, we also want payment upon completion,” said Brian Beers of That 1 Painter. 

The investor didn’t help his cause when he chimed in on the comments himself, digging his hole even deeper. The investor said the quiet part out loud and suggested that the desire to be paid promptly for work might be a cultural thing, alluding to the fact that the painting contractor was Hispanic.

Race has nothing to do with it. This is about money. He did the job, and now you have to pay the man.

One wonders if the property investor requires immediate payment for rent, or if he’s cool with tenants putting off payment until they feel like it.

What seems pretty clear is that the property investor was taking advantage of a painting contractor for whom English isn’t a first language, and that this obvious display of power wasn’t enough. So he went on X to humiliate the painting contractor and validate his own aberrant behavior.

Unfortunately for him, it backfired.

It’s telling that the property investor has since deleted his post, and with it the entire thread of outraged responses. He clearly realized that he failed to read the room.