The Floor I Could Not Take Back
The café's €1 limited company owed my tile shop €8,000. It closed before paying, and my three installers expected their wages on Friday. I found the owner at the shutter with my invoice. He pointed to the company's name. I pointed to the floor inside.
Our tiles were still on the café floor. The invoice was still in my hand.
Valencia, March 2023. He had ordered the patterned floor for his new café before Christmas. My crew spent two days laying it. He asked for thirty days to pay, and I gave them to him. I saw S.L. after the name on his order and thought about the other cafés that might want our work. I did not look at its capital.
The café opened. Thirty days passed. He promised to pay after the next weekend, then stopped answering. When I reached the shop, chairs were stacked behind the glass and he was pulling down the shutter.
“The company is going into liquidation,” he said. “There isn't enough money for the bills.”
I put the invoice in front of him. “Will you sign for it yourself?”
He read the amount and shook his head. “The company ordered the floor.”
I took the papers to my adviser. She found the company's capital in the register: one euro. Spain had recently allowed an S.L. to be formed with that little. I asked whether the owner could really walk away while my tiles sat under his empty tables.
“If the company's assets cannot cover its debts in liquidation, you can pursue him under the new rule,” she said. “But the amount tied to that rule is the gap between his capital and €3,000. Here, that's €2,999.”
I asked her to pursue it. I had no promise he could pay, and even the full amount would leave most of my invoice unpaid.
Back at the stockroom, my installers were waiting by the tile racks. I took the cash I had saved for the van and counted it into three wage envelopes. The youngest offered to wait until Monday. I put his envelope in his hand. He had done every hour of the work.
Have you ever checked a customer's company capital only after its invoice went unpaid?