yeah its not a good idea to work for someone that is more broke than you are. I had a job recently the guy called me and said he would pay me for doing this job and after the job was over he expected me to wait until he got paid to recieve my money. I dont think so .Its like that other poster said you may as well be the contractor because if he is more broke than you and you supply the tools and insurance and do the job and he makes a profit for supplying a line of crap. And if he goes down you are going to be on the hook for a month of pay. so definitley a red flag. and its entirely possible even the cable company is experiencing financial trouble right now. all i can say is if you want more of this vote republican because you think the business went downhill since 9 11 but in reality it started when bush and the republicans took office and decided to give corporate america a free ticket to screw over workers and line their pockets doing it.