So a guy has an ad posted on our community bulletin board: “Veteran looking for someone to shovel his driveway.”
For the life of me, I can’t figure out what difference it makes that you’re a veteran, if you need your driveway shoveled out?!? Is he somehow seeking preferred treatment? If I shovel out driveways, do I care if you’re a veteran?
Your thoughts are welcome…
Perhaps the person in question has a physical disability due to their service and believe, almost certainly rightfully, that people looking to help someone during the holidays would give preferential treatment to veterans? YOU might not care if they are a veteran or not, but not all people would feel the same. As a veteran myself it’s a bit uncomfortable sometimes with all the public acknowledgments of service, but it’s a real thing in the US today, so it’s not really that incomprehensible someone might underscore that in such an ad.
I wouldn’t, but I can see how some would.
Is he looking to pay someone to shovel his driveway, or is he hoping someone will come and do it for free because he’s a veteran?
Because if he’s looking to hire and pay someone, then I don’t see what it matters if he’s a veteran or not. I think people looking to get paid for shoveling driveways aren’t super concerned if the person paying them served in the military or not.
If he’s looking for someone to volunteer their time for free, then saying he’s a veteran will probably help. People looking to help out their neighbors/community without compensation may be more inclined to help out a veteran.
But is it obnoxious? I think so, but I’m an ass who is much more likely to feel my veteran status entitles me to shovel your fucking driveway so stand aside sissypants.
Yeah, its obnoxious. But , maybe, just maybe the vet didn’t put the notice there. It could’ve been his daughter or his friend. They would be more willing to use the sympathy card. I think.
As a veteran (as if that gives me special status) yes its douchey. If he was claiming to be a disabled veteran who needed help that might get a pass.
Let me tell you, even if you want to pay, it is damn hard to find a snow shoveling service in my little corner of the city.
It’s a well-populated area with lots of sidewalks to shovel. I’ve googled, I’ve used homeadvisor, I’ve used Angies List, … There are lots of web sites advertising snow shoveling and dozens of listings in the home-maintenance sites, but hardly anybody returns your phone calls or emails. The few who kindly did said “we’re not doing it this year, it’s too hard to find workers” or “you live outside our coverage area.” Nobody wants my money.
People post requests on nextdoor.com and get no replies. There were a very few that got hits earlier in the fall, but you see I was in the hospital for a month back then which is the reason I can’t shovel my own snow now.
So, I know how it is. If the veteran has any angle to draw attention to himself and maybe get someone to bend the rules, God bless him and I don’t blame him for using it.
I really think it is unfortunate for (what I imagine to be) the majority of veterans, to have (what I hope is) a minority of vets act as though they ought to be afforded preferential treatment for life in a wide range of situations. Gotta say, tho, that the popular near deification of vets may have played a great role in encouraging some vets to adopt that attitude.
I hope, after the driveway is shoveled, the veteran thanks the laborer for his service.
mmm
I don’t think it is douchey to ask for help. I think we need to encourage help-seeking, not discourage.
But I do think throwing “veteran” out there is douchey.
Any veteran who would do this, and is not disabled, is fucked up. I don’t know anyone who’d actually seek out someone to perform a free service for them on the basis of being a veteran.
I went back and re-read the ad. It simply says “I am a Veteran looking for someone to shovel or snow blow my driveway,” so I assume he is willing to pay.
Could be worse, could say “Cancer survivor with 12 kids and no job looking for help to shovel driveway. Must come between 5 and 6am ONLY. Must transport snow off-premise using personal vehicle.”
Come shovel my driveway. Also pick up a sack of sliders from white castle on your way over.
NO ONIONS
r/choosingbeggars
This. Also, a lot of men (undeservedly) feel somewhat self-conscious about admitting that they can’t or shouldn’t perform some physically strenuous task for themselves. Self-identifying as a veteran would be one way of getting across the message “hey I’m not a lazy weakling, I gave my strength for my country”.
It is incredibly obnoxious. Anyone who served deserves thanks for their service, but it shouldn’t entitle them to a lifetime of special and preferencial treatment.
Iswydt. 
I would assume that there is a veiled message that he can’t find good work or make ends meet because of some percieved stigma of veterans by certain employers. I’m sure that happens some so I wouldn’t find it obnoxious per se, but it also wouldn’t sway me as much as being the lowest bidder would.
He will be the employer, not the employee.