Introduction Burned in his memory 
 
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 During the Atlantic City casino boom in the 1980s, Philadelphia cabinet-builder Edward Friel Jr. landed a $400,000 contract to build the bases for slot machines, registration desks, bars and other cabinets at Harrah's at Trump Plaza. According to her account, he liked the work, but when the bill came, he only paid half. On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing. Another contractor on the Taj Mahal job who didn’t want to be named because he was afraid of being sued by Trump, said the Taj Mahal job was the first time he’d had to negotiate for his final payment in 30 years of working, including jobs on other high profile Atlantic City casino properties like the Golden Nugget, The Sands and Bally’s. After initially saying during Monday’s interview he didn’t remember her, Trump then said he hadn’t wanted to pay the full amount because he was unhappy with the quality of the work. “It’s not that common to just come back and unilaterally start slicing off the big percentages of contracts and saying ‘we’ll settle out for this, you can take it or leave it,’” Sperry said. “That’s what the country should be doing.” 
 
 Chapter 1 'Visibly winced' 
 
 To be sure, Trump and his companies have prevailed in many legal disputes over missing payments, or reached settlements that cloud the terms reached by the parties. “If you bill Donald Trump fairly and you’re transparent and you get him results, you’re not going to have a problem,” said Lawrence Rosen, a lawyer who has represented Trump on various matters since 1993. “I’ve had many people that when they work for me they get very rich,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters, but, “sometimes I renegotiate.” Adding: “I’ll do that with probably 10 or 15 percent of contractors.” 
 
 The strategy has left some small business owners who have done jobs for him over three decades of real estate deals saying they have felt cheated and don’t want to ever work for him again. “We pay everybody what they’re supposed to be paid, and we pay everybody on time,” he said. Trump told his dad that he could work on other Trump projects in the future. And we have, for the most part, exceptional contractors on them who get paid, and get paid quickly. Was it bad work?” And, then, after being told that the general contractor had approved it, Trump added, “Well, see here’s the thing. “You can’t spend millions of dollars for something you could do for $2,000.” 
 
 “POOR HABITS” 
 
 To be sure, wrangling over prices and fees is more common in construction than in other industries. The majority said they were paid in full and happy to work for him but at least a dozen said they had been left out of pocket or had watched as other contractors were short-changed. Trump said on Monday he did not know who Scherer was and did not remember the incident. In 2007 Trump sued his lawyer in the case, Y. David Scharf, and his firm Morrison Cohen, for malpractice, accusing the firm of treating him like a “cash cow” and charging him unfairly, according to court records and news reports. In court records, the law firm alleged Trump didn’t pay nearly a half million dollars in legal fees. He said they eventually received 90 percent of what they were owed.  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump has a message for anyone who agrees to do a job for him: If I don’t like your work or I think you’re trying to rip me off, don’t expect to be paid in full. “Other people don’t and they’re suckers.” 
 
 FIGHT TO GET PAID 
 
 Trump said at first he did not remember the story Tama Starr, the president of Artkraft Strauss, told in a Nov 4 op-ed in the New York Daily News.
– Donald Trump is a deadbeat boss who regards paying workers and contracting companies as optional, according to a USA Today review of some of the 3,500 or so lawsuits from the last 30 years involving Trump. Scores of lawsuits and hundreds of liens came from waiters, bartenders, plumbers, real estate brokers, and even lawyers who say Trump never paid them for their work. On a single project, Atlantic City's Taj Mahal casino, records show 253 subcontractors didn't receive full payment on time. Trump—who told Reuters last year that he "renegotiates" with around 15% of contractors—says that's just how he operates. "Let's say that they do a job that's not good, or a job that they didn't finish, or a job that was way late. I'll deduct from their contract, absolutely," he says. "That's what the country should be doing." USA Today, however, notes that the volume of lawsuits suggests that either Trump and his businesses are being unscrupulous, or he's terrible at choosing contractors. In many cases, Trump organizations appear to have used their legal might to overpower those claiming they were stiffed, sometimes leaving them bankrupt. One firm to go bust was that of cabinetmaker Edward J. Friel, which never received the $83,600 it billed Trump for work at the Harrah's at Trump Plaza casino in 1984. "That began the demise of the Edward J. Friel Company," says Friel's son Paul, who was the company's accountant. He says Trump told his father he wouldn't be getting paid because the work was inferior—and then, bizarrely, told him that he could work on future Trump projects. (Step aside, Jesus toast, here comes the Trump tile.)