Why I have to fire my lawnman.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We are fairly new to this community. My job does not give me very much free time. **babygirl ** has again resumed her responsibilities as a Red Cross volunteer. So, we really don’t have the time, nor the energy to cut our own grass. We saw a business card at a local shoppette for a lawnman. This lawnman, whom we will call Charles arrived out our house when babygirl was home and gave an estimate of $30 to cut our grass one time.

Charles cut the grass, and offered to pick up the leaves and fallen tree limbs for an extra $50. babygirl agreed and this was performed also. Charles did do a good job. Charles stated that he could charge babygirl $100 for a monthly service to which I had doubts, but she agreed. **babygirl **agreed to this also. She paid him at that time and we should have service until the middle of May.

On Friday, with still three weeks remaining until we should have to pay him again, Charles arrived and asked if we could advance him on his pay. He told me that if I gave him $20 he would only charge $120 for the service the following month. I told him I didn’t have the money to give him. (Really, I didn’t have extra cash and don’t pay in advance for service as a policy anyway) He then said that if I gave him $40 he would only charge $100 for the following month. Charles offered up a bunch of reasons why he needed the money now (business is not as good as it usually is, dad is sick and needs medication.) I again explained that I couldn’t pay him what he was asking for.

Charles left, kind of upset, but he left anyway. Then it dawned on me, that babygirl had agreed to $100 a month, but he was talking about $140 a month. She told me that after she had agreed to monthly payments, Charles stated that he could not cut the grass for the initial price quoted, because our lawn would require more frequent mowing than he originally thought. So, she paid him $140 for the first month and forgot to tell me.

He is done as far as I am concerned. I only hope that he will continue to come out until the month is done and I have time to hire a real lawn cutting team that will not come to my house to ask for money. I am thinking that I will have to find someone else to cut the grass at that time and tell him why he is being fired. I know this is a small town and word about the both of our actions will get around. I hope he can be successful, but I can’t keep someone like this on.

This was going to be in the Pit, but I waited three days to think about this and I am calmed down now.

SSG Schwartz

2

Wow. Life’s rough, isn’t it? :rolleyes:

3

[QUOTE=Leaffan]
Wow. Life’s rough, isn’t it? :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]

I don’t get the eye roll. There’s reason to believe the guy Schwartz had hired was trying to screw him out of money. Like he said, he’s calmed down, it’s not a pit thread, I don’t get why you’d give him that sort of attitude.

4

[QUOTE=JimSox5]
I don’t get the eye roll. There’s reason to believe the guy Schwartz had hired was trying to screw him out of money. Like he said, he’s calmed down, it’s not a pit thread, I don’t get why you’d give him that sort of attitude.
[/QUOTE]

Cultural differences I guess. Hiring someone to cut your lawn isn’t really a common thing here: unless you make a shit load of money.

5

Yep, I was about to reply too. What’s with the disdain?

6

[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso]
Yep, I was about to reply too. What’s with the disdain?
[/QUOTE]

The disdain is that:

a) You’ve got a guy contracted out to cut your lawn.
b) Which you can’t be bothered to do yourself.
c) Gas prices are through the roof.
d) The guy is asking for a little help.
e) You fire him 'cause, you know, that’s not the original agreed-to price.
f) Then you feel the need to tell us all about it on here!!!

I think item “F” speaks volumes. Why would you even feel the need to inform us of your decision on here? Frankly, I read your post and thought “What an arrogant shit!” But that’s just me.

7

At risk of being eye-rolled for our apparent bounty, my husband and I have a situation in which help we aren’t paying for is actually costing us. We live in a two-flat, and the gentleman upstairs is well-off. His family’s business sends over “groundskeeping” help now and then. It was great when they did winter prep one year, doing some trimming and removing of brush and leaves.

My husband mows the lawn of the property. Last year, to our surprise, they sent over a guy during the warmer months who mowed our lawn too short, finally damaging it badly when he did it during a drought period. My husband talked to the guy who was doing the mowing, and to our neighbor, and thinks he has that under control now - only husband will do the mowing. The grass didn’t really recover, especially because our watering was limited by town regulations. Then in late fall they raked up leaves during a period of illness for my husband and I, and instead of putting them in the street gutter for pickup (as is standard) left them in a big pile on the back lawn just in time for an ice storm to pack them in place. Our lawn this spring has big bare patches that we’re fertilizing and reseeding, and may have to use a patch treatment or more.

8

[QUOTE=Leaffan]
The disdain is that:

a) You’ve got a guy contracted out to cut your lawn.
b) Which you can’t be bothered to do yourself.
c) Gas prices are through the roof.
d) The guy is asking for a little help.
e) You fire him 'cause, you know, that’s not the original agreed-to price.
f) Then you feel the need to tell us all about it on here!!!

I think item “F” speaks volumes. Why would you even feel the need to inform us of your decision on here? Frankly, I read your post and thought “What an arrogant shit!” But that’s just me.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not the OP but I strongly agree with “c” and “e”.

9

I have never had any luck with hiring gardeners. Every single one of them just stopped showing up. There are plenty of average people in this town who hire people to do their yardwork. Granted, this town is more affluent than most.

10

Wow, I didn’t realize that hiring someone to mow your lawn was somehow shameful.

SSG, I hear you. I was really fortunate when I found the guy that takes care of my yard for me; he’s timely, does a great job, and is really thorough about keeping on top of the maintenance projects. I hope you can find someone as good.

I had a similar situation with a handyman. I hired him to do some work, and long story short, I did give him an advance on what I had agreed to pay him, and he skipped, leaving me (a) with the work half done and (b) a couple hundred dollars lighter. I was really annoyed about it, mostly at myself and my gullibility.

11

I thought the title of the OP was “lawman”, and had images of bail bondsmen or something in my head.

I’m wondering whether a simple contract would help.

“I, , agree to perform the following services:[list=*][li].[]_______.[].[*].[/list]on the following dates/every two weeks/on request, for the following amount of money:______[/li]Signed, _______ (Client)
_______ (Contractor)”

12

[QUOTE=Leaffan]
The disdain is that:

a) You’ve got a guy contracted out to cut your lawn.
b) Which you can’t be bothered to do yourself.
c) Gas prices are through the roof.
d) The guy is asking for a little help.
e) You fire him 'cause, you know, that’s not the original agreed-to price.
f) Then you feel the need to tell us all about it on here!!!

I think item “F” speaks volumes. Why would you even feel the need to inform us of your decision on here? Frankly, I read your post and thought “What an arrogant shit!” But that’s just me.
[/QUOTE]

Maybe it is just me, and a couple other people, but I will try to respond:
a) Yes, not uncommon here.
b) I could be bothered if I could cut the grass at 9pm or only one day a week, on Sundays
c) Not to a degree of $40 for an average sized lot. Shit, I don’t use $40 of gas in my car in a day, let alone for a 90 minute cutting of my grass.
d) I gave him help, I gave him a job
e) No, I want to fire him for asking on an advance 3 weeks early on a price increase that he decided upon after agreeing to provide a service.
f) Feel free to decide what should be posted here. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. This ain’t the Washington Post fer Christ’s Sake.

Here is the way I feel, say you called an auto insurance agent and got a quote after the agent had looked at your car. Then when the bill came due, the agent said, yeah, sorry, but your car is driven more than we thought, let me add another $40 a month to your bill. You pay your bill on time, and the agent again comes to your house and asks that you pay the next month early, so he can take that amount off you bill. WHY???

Maybe I am an arrogant shit. Maybe I can’t relate to the people that have to cut their own grass anymore. Should I never run for public office? :rolleyes:

SSG Schwartz

ETA: Maybe I should have been more clear, this is the first month that I have employed him. He has quoted a price, then changed it when it was agreed to and asked for an advance when he is paid in full. If this is how he starts his service, I don’t feel I owe him a renewal.

13

I sometimes cut other people’s lawns as a kid in Texas. Some of my friends did the same, too. It was a great way to earn a little money. Has that sort of thing gone by the wayside now? I’ve never heard it considered “uppity” to hire someone to mow your lawn. :confused:

14

I had a similar experience when I hired this one dude to mow my lawn. Several things made me decide to discontinue his services.

[ul]
[li]Money was a bit tight, so I asked him to mow my lawn on a biweekly basis rather than weekly. He either forgot those instructions or conveniently ignored them though, since I saw him mowing my lawn on the second week after I hired him. (I decided to pay him for that anyway, but reiterated that I wanted biweekly mowings.)[/li][li]When I received my second bill, he had crossed out the name of his company and asked me to make the check out to his name. In other words, it looked like he was trying to avoid paying taxes on this service. Mind you, I don’t mind having an informal gentleman’s agreement, but I wasn’t thrilled that he did this without consulting me first.[/li][li]Finally, after a few weeks, his bills were marked “Due immediately” instead of “Due in 15 days.” Again, this sudden change did not sit well with me. Don’t get me wrong; I could afford the money. I wasn’t thrilled that he decided to spring this on his customers without advance notice, though.[/li][/ul]

Now, I know what you’re thinking. It sounds like money was getting a bit tight for this fella. If that was the case, and if he had simply explained the situation, I would have been happy to help him out. Instead though, he tried to slip these changes past his customers, and that did not sit well with me.

15

[QUOTE=SSG Schwartz]
Why I have to fire my lawnman
[/QUOTE]

Does he work for Pan or is he a virtual reality god?

16

SSG, I’d like to be sympathetic to you, since you’ve been ripped off and all (and you HAVE been ripped off). But really - it never occured to you to just hire a neighborhood kid to do this? They work for less, and do a better job (kids don’t get paid until they finish), AND will do all manner of other yardwork for a negotiable fee.

17

There are no “neighborhood kids” any more. They don’t play outside any more, and they certainly don’t go door to door looking for odd jobs. They don’t babysit, and they don’t mow grass.

18

Good help is hard to find. I searched a long time before I found someone reliable that I could afford. I had one guy who was still mowing every week at Thanksgiving. I finally let him know that I considered the growing season over.

The current guy only comes when I need it and is very dependable.

Good luck on your search.

19

Maybe it’s just me, but the first thought that popped into my head after reading the OP was this Charles fellow might have some substance abuse issues. Better to keep this dude away from your home and your wife if he seems shifty and constantly hassling for money. Look in the phone book under lawn care and contract one of those places that sends a truck with a couple of guys instead.

20

Yeah, I’m in agreement w/ SSG Schwartz .
Take emotion out of it. It’s a business deal, and it’s turned shady before it even started.
Raising prices like this after you agreed upon a price is underhanded.

It’s not like gas prices jumped up over the course of a week. They’ve been steadily rising for how long? It’d be completely different if the mower man said to an established customer that gas prices are eating into the cost of doing business and that he has to raise prices; or if the prices jumped overnight and he said he quoted that price based on the lower gas price.

As far as advancing pay? Well that’s crap too. I would only consider that if the lawn man had already shown me good service, and I had faith in his quality of work.

As far as disdain over someone cutting your lawn? Well I was out of work for a long time (over two consecutive years if you count my layoff plus not working because of my decision to go back to school). I never got rid of my lawn service. Allergies, plus they do a much better job than I could do.