Absolute Carelessness!

S

stilez

New member
So I come inside for a drink as I'm about to put my car in the garage. The stupidass landscaping crew is here mowing, wacking, and blowing. So they set Liz's stock alarm off (not an easy feat) with the blower, so I run out there about to give him a peace of my mind and not only is he blowing stuff around my car, he proceeds to blow all the debris AT MY CAR. Yes, blows it completely into the drivers side. I don't think this is part of his job description :nixweiss





I stop him immediately as I cringe to discover any new marrs, swirls, and/or chips. I ask him if he feels like paying for a new paint job today and I just get a blank stare. At the end of it all, I gave the company manager a firm peace of my mind. No longer will they be blowing around our apartment. I'd rather do it by myself than risk this happening again.



Is this just me or does anyone feel like the search for a honest day's work sans carelessness is becoming harder and harder to find as time goes on?





/rant
 
Sorry for your dammage. That wasas one of the biggest complaints I had living in an apartment. I would run out and move my car when I heard the mowers start up. I would have to park in the middle of the complex to avoid the blowers.
 
My God Sean, when is it ever going to end!? :wall



Speaking of the such, when it comes to carelessness, poor attention to detail, and sorry, but I must say, plain stupidity, it sure seems like an epidemic down here in FL. Very sad to say, my observations have been this simply is the norm in SO many home /property improvement services here. :(
 
Bill: I dk about FL as I don't have much knowledge of down there but my parents get their pool and lawn serviced by the "top" places in town. The lawn guys leave noticable size patches uncut around the "tougher to reach" areas and the pool guys don't even touch the walls. I almost feel like sometimes that us, as Autopians, are over analyzing the situation, but then again, if they think they're pros, pros don't overlook stuff like that. Do they?
 
I was doing the final wiping on a black 350Z that I had detailed when the owners gardener shows up. Not one of them spoke english(somebody had to as the guy "we" were working for doesn't speak spanish)and could understand that I was going to move the car. The guy with the blower just blows all kinds of dust and crap back onto the car. I had to practice some real self restraint that day.
 
GSRstilez said:
pros don't overlook stuff like that. Do they?
Click to expand...





Umm-- no comment. ;)



I do my own landscaping but there was a for-pay-landscaper in the neighborhood recently and I paid him a few bucks with the clear instruction to edge only the front curb and perimeter of the driveway. He he, guess what? He did the entire house and cut an outdoor light cord and the cable line while at it!! :eek: :angry:. I couldn't stop him from doing more than I asked because he insisted on going so quick.



I really hate to say it , but I've witnesses this time and time again :various carpenters, tech specialists, etc don't believe in keeping appointments, show up unaccounted and rarely complete the task they came to do in one shot. It takes three times for things that really should've been done the first, IMO, to be done and then I hope it was done correctly. :nervous:



I try not to be critical and pessimistic but I suppose that's twice as hard for an Autopian :sosad ;) ;)
 
We have a family run landscaping company (nothing huge, 30 lawns/wk) and between that and my autopian eye, I cannot stand leaving without every blade of grass in the yard being cut. <begin rant> It really bugs me to hear unfortunate stories such as Sean's and some of the outfits around my area... talk about hackers! Sean is spot on when he talks about taller grass in the "tougher to reach areas." It's utter laziness on their part, and the majority of the companies around here do the same thing. Just today I saw an outfit pack up and leave a house with a nice stonewall in the front yard, sure they mowed in front of it, but failed to trim along it... why even bother? It's people like this that give landscapers in general a bad wrap. When it comes time to blow off the driveway and walk ways, neither my father nor I blow anything anywhere near a car... for obvious reasons... If there is that much stuff under the car, we ask the owner to move it so as not to blast their car with debris. <end rant before I get too fired up> :furious: :angry :hairpull



However, I am thankful that there are others out there that notice these types of things, too. To those that do notice, don't be afraid to call the manager. 9 times out of 10 they are too busy to check up on all of their employees and these types of things go unnoticed but are almost always willing to do something to remedy the problems. I just wish some of us didn't have to suffer due to gross negligence.
 
I had one of those numbnuts blow out a passenger window on my Grand Am. They did not leave a note or tell the apartment manger anything. I found out when I saw one of them still hanging around and confronted him, then he told me he could have done it. Finally about 2 weeks later I got a check for the deductible, no sorry or anything.
 
This thread points to a larger situation in society as Sean hinted at. It is harder and harder to find people that take pride in what they do in any sector of employment. I like these forums because you can tell that the guys on here that do this for money love what they do, are great at it, and take pride in it. Just go to the click and brag section, wow! Your story is disappointing, but not at all surprising.
 
Cuda444- I hope enough people appreciate guys like you. You deserve every success and the careless/irresponsible/etc. people deserve to fail.



I, for one, always remember the people who do good work for me, and they get repeat business and referrals. The others I remember too...
 
I find myself condemning and tipping people who do work to *my* standards. I thank and praise them time and time again.





Cuda: Wish you guys were closer :(.
 
As a current occupant in an apartment complex, I share your worries. In fact, just about 30 mins they just blew all the crap onto my mom's car which was recently detailed.



It happens every Tuesday and I can't do a darn thing about it.
 
Kind of along the same yard mowing theme. I see so many people mowing, trimming, blowing along the streets with no regards to the cars going by (got a nice dent in my driver door to prove it). I live on a busy street and whenever I'm trimming or blowing in an area that is close enough to throw rocks or debris at passing cars, I watch for cars and lift the trimmer or blower so nothing hits the cars as they drive by. I always lift the tool so people can see that it's safe for them to pass. The interesting thing is that those driving nicer cars acknowledge this with a 'thank you' wave-those in a POS don't care. Probably adds all of one minute to my yardwork. Why can't everyone do this?
 
I just checked and all four of the tires with NXT Insane shine is covered, COVERED in dust. I am fuming right now.
 
ok coming from the other side... alot of customers treat lawn care pro's like pee-ons who do slave labor for them. most of the time these people know when i'm coming to do the job, they better have all the dog **** cleaned up, all the toys out of the yard, and the vehicles garaged or moved out of the way from the curbs, edges, etc, if they dont want them dusty.



when edging and mowing etc. we usually need at least 3 ft from the edge cleared if you dont want grass all over everything. and if the edge is like a little 2' wide deal that has to be cut with an edger, at least like 5' from the curb is going to get full of crap. no matter how careful you are, you need alot of clearance to do lawn care. do you honestly expect them to contact everyone in the building and ask them to move their car when mowing?
 
LouisanaJeeper said:
ok coming from the other side... alot of customers treat lawn care pro's like pee-ons who do slave labor for them. most of the time these people know when i'm coming to do the job, they better have all the dog **** cleaned up, all the toys out of the yard, and the vehicles garaged or moved out of the way from the cubs, edges, etc, if they dont want them dusty.



when edging and mowing etc. we usually need at least 3 ft from the edge cleared if you dont want grass all over everything. and if the edge is like a little 2' wide deal that has to be cut with an edger, at least like 5' from the curb is going to get full of crap. no matter how careful you are, you need alot of clearance to do lawn care. do you honestly expect them to contact everyone in the building and ask them to move their car when mowing?
Click to expand...





I would have to agree with both sdes here. Having done lawn care for a couple summers, I honestly never thought of getting cars and such dusty or grassy, but I was always careful of not hitting anything with flying dangerous debris, even now doing just my own lawn, cars driving by get the right of way.



I am careful around my cars and try to garage my truck when possible. But I also think there are idiots who don't care about anything and just run over rocks, limbs, blow grass in wrong directions, etc. Shame on those people.
 
Yeah, I hear both sides too. I too, when doing my own lawn, will pause with the blower if people come walking or driving by. Some people don't give that courtesy and some do. I think Sean's point was that there was no reason the guy had to blow stuff straight into the side of his car. Running an edger that can't be helped. If you are the lawn guy you have a job to do and you can't repark every car for safety purposes. One of the drawbacks of apartment living...
 
This can happen working at a large corporate office as well, I have to look to see how high the grass is on where to park.
 
I hate people with blowers (except autopians that use them to dry the car :)) I was driving down a busy street the other day and heard several loud bangs, it was some asshat using a blower to blow all the rocks/pebbles off the side walk. He was blowing the rocks towards the street and hitting all the cars that drove by :angry , more surprising was that no one stopped. :nixweiss I was lucky and had a van blocking all the debris from hitting my car.
 
How the hell did this job get created anyways? I remember seeing it in the mid 80's in CA. It is totally useless.
 
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