You Might Be A Trunkslammer If....

You Work out of the trunk of your car!

You might be a trunkslammer if your fabrication shop has wheels and a driver's seat.

You definitely are a trunkslammer if your engineering department works out of the passenger seat of you fabrication shop.

As mentioned in the thread that prompted this, one sign is selling products that are available from a mail order catalog, in today's terms non-name or relabeled cameras from an online store.

You own and use a 1992 Black & Decker non-reversable drill with the 8 inch long orange electrical cord...

you install cameras that come with their own cables preterminated

or your headend has 16 plug in transformers jammed into a power strip

you wrap an indoor 12vdc plug in transformer with electrical tape plugged into a power strip for an outdoor camera

HA! John you need to add a "like" button a la Facebook... So I can thumbs up Marty's & Michael's comments. Michael, sounds like you still own one of those drills. :)

...you advise people to buy something cheap instead of a reputable brand, because they'd only be "paying for the name".

You might be a trunkslammer if...

-you've ever said "well, it'll hold until the check clears, I guess".

-you regularly offer to be paid "in kind", either in merchandise or business services.

-you give a significant discount for customers paying in cash.

-you still use your Blackberry Nextel Edition.

-most of your tools are from Black & Decker.

-you comparison shop cable.

-you price match cable.

-you haggle over cable prices.

-you've maxed out your credit at every equipment distributor in town, and are eyeing equipment distributors a few towns over.

-you've ever asked your customer to make a check out directly to your distributor.

-you've ever agreed to install equipment a customer picked up from eBay.

-some counterperson at a distributor ever pitched HDcctv to you using the sentence "it's like HD video, except you don't have to learn networking!"

-you bought a copy of Networking for Dummies, and are probably going to get around to reading it any day now, promise.

-you bring extra bags to ISC East in order to have room for all the swag you're planning on getting.

-the only test equipment you own is a tone generator, a battery tester, and your awesome sense of intuition.

-you've ever added 50 feet or more to a cable run becasue you decided to detour rather than move boxes or face a scary spider.

-you'v ever "accidentally" forgotten to implement a feature until a check clears.

-you've ever responded to a customer inquiry with "well, I've never done one of those before, but, hey, how hard could it be?"

-you've ever succesfully challenged a "no commercial vehicles" ticket.

-you've ever used the police blotter in your local paper for sales leads.

-you've ever given a talk on security at a church, PTA conference, or fundraising picnic in order to generate sales leads.

-you've ever stuck your business cards in every mailbox in a neighborhood to generate sales leads.

-you get a little giggly when the paper starts talking about "a wave of break-ins".

-you've ever repaired your car with electric tape.

-you've ever repaired your plumbing with electric tape.

-you've ever made a splice with packing tape.

-you've ever walked into a service call with nothing more than the tools and supplies you could fit in your pockets... and you'ce successfully diagnosed and repaired the problem.

-you've ever rented a car to complete a service call.

-you've ever taken public transportation to a service call.

-you still aren't sure how you got a Little Giant ladder on the subway but aren't eager to repeat the experience.

-instead of buying new drill bits, you sharpen your bits.

-yes, even spade bits.

-not using a Drill Doctor, either. If you could afford a Drill Doctor, you wouldn't be sitting here, sharpening bits.

-you inventory your car a couple times a year.

-you have a selection of rolls of spare cable ranging from a few inches to 20 feet.

-you get excited when you get a job in an old house being refurbished because you might be able to find old copper pipes or doorknobs to resell at the junkyard.

-you are really good at diagnosing installation errors because you've made and corrected most of those errors yourself in the past.

-you have no idea how one goes about filing plans with the AHJ.

-you've ever agreed to install a surveillance system "to catch the ghosts who keep rearranging my kitchen".

-you would love to wear protective gear on the job but are afraid your boss or coworkers would make fun of you for being a wimp.

Please note: I'm only putting things down that I've personally done or seen in my long career working for a viariety of trunk slammers.

ever used electical tape as a bandaid after slicing hand on drop ceiling grid pulling cable ;)

you tell your customers to submit invoice payments to directly to your bank rather than to your company...

You Might Be A Trunkslammer If....

You think that the 'finish carpenter' must have been born in Scandinavia

Notice the phone number on the signs. This particular business is also a 'mail mart'. The cameras are hanging on the backside of the business.

Yes sir, here at 9900, all systems come with our standard tail light guarantee. When out tail lights are out of sight....the guarantee is over. Any problem with that? Yes sir, that guarentee is free also..Free is our middle name here at Absolute Advantage. Now , about that leaky roof...........>>

.... (in the US) None of your product manuals has an English version.

.... Qoutes are done in Office 97.

... Your phone number changes on average of once every 6 months.

... Your business name changes on average of once every 6 months.

... You have "CEO" as job title in your 1 to 3 man operation.

... You ....... I give up. Ari's were just too good.

You've bought a 30' extension ladder at Home Depot, with explicit instructions to your crew to 'not scuff it up' because you intend on returning it tomorrow.

if you are a company of any size that installs systems of any size and then don't provide any service. Even if you produce the best shop drawings and install a reputable product. If you have more salespeople than installers or service techs in a specific area. Anyone who sales a product they cannot or do not support.

....you finish writing your quote on a yellow pad and go back to your car to get the equipment already inside to install it.

....you tell the distributor counter person to charge the customers card (which you supplied) at a higher price and then wanted a rebate for your cost. (yes, that's real)

"You've ever used reclaimed scrap wood to build a mount for a camera, a shelf for rack mounted equipment (racks are expensive!) or an equipment enclosure."

To be fair, I have a rack in my garage; I just didn't want to drag a 42U into my basement. I swear I'll get around to cable management some day....

Edit for one a coworker had:

...you've ever been paid in a brown paper bag full of cash.

...if your company pitch is "Your warranty's not up 'til the lid comes down!"...

...if this is your momento from "Bring your wife to work day."

A door-to-door salesman for a national alarm company just offered me a 'cash for clunkers' (his exact pitch) deal.

According to him, for every old panel I give him, he will give me $200 cash today and a new premium alarm system monitored by his company.

Guys, thread over. I just found this.

You are proud of the fact that two teeth on the right side of your mouth create a 'natural' 22 gauge gap, which enables you to strip insulation off wire, sans tools, with ease.

You brag about your 'free throw' percentage at sinking waste-can baskets of insulation shells ejected from your mouth at great distances, averaging more than Steve Nash at the line.

 You have a ladder rack on your 1983 Toyota Corolla.

You always purchase your gear in 'kits', and that is what you use.

You once put a little giant ladder in A frame ontop of a scissor lift to reach between the dang electrician’s conduit to pull your lines...

You have ever ridden on top of a pallet while someone drove you around with a forklift to pull your lines because the boss was too cheap to even rent a lift...

You and/or your “techs” sound like orc peons from Warcraft: “Ready to work” “I’ll try” “Me can do that” “Be happy to” “Okidoki”...

You actually believe/tell others that the cameras you install can really do the things seen on tv shows...

You have multiple small holes burned into a couple of your wiring tools from cutting energized lines...

You install perimeter beams using garden stakes...

You find your leads on Craigslist/Home Advisor/etc...

You hang motion detectors/cameras/other devices with half the number of recommended screws to save cost...

You still install cameras measured in tv lines...

You install bullet cameras inside of old box housings...

You think a CAD drawing needs to be drawn by a man named Cad...

You don’t know the difference between margins and markups...

You don’t know the difference between a 1099 sub and W2 employee...

You don’t know how to statically set the IP address on your own laptop...

For that matter you don’t even know what a static IP is...

All but the CAD one I have either witnessed or done myself... poor wiring tools... zug zug

EDIT: corrected spelling thanks to U4

Half your income is bartering.

...You defend your right to sell Hick-vision during your month long trial membership.

Wish I still had the picture of it but having an extension ladder strapped to the top of your mid 80's Cadillac. Well at least it was a nice vehicle, back in the day maybe.

you can't afford to install a $30 patch panel for a $13,000 installation.

Here's the after shot.
BTW, the previous install was from a famous big box store, they seem to be the mother of trunk slamming.

you charge a flat price for any tv installation.

Tie wraps and duck tape are your idea of integration...

You offer the ‘taillight warranty’...warranty is up when the taillights are gone...