| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
Anybody ever tried to hire someone to clean up a lot of leaves . . .? I've had 3 people come and each off them says . . . . "that's a lot of work". The best offer I've had so far . . ."if you can get them in piles, right next to the drive, I'll come with a leaf vac and suck them up". Lazy bastards. I offered one kid a handsome sum of money . . . and the response . . . "that looks too hard". If in the days I was mowing lawns for $3 each . . . someone had offered me an handful of hundreds for a days work . . I'd have jumped on it. Oh well . . . . I am now in the leaf cleaning up business . . . at least I know it'll be done right. | ||
| Ducxl |
$5 for me.I was elated to be offered $25 and TOOK it. Damn if we're getting old to be lamenting the poor work ethics of the next generation.BUT it seems true. I listened to a collegue (sp) recently who did a study about this next generation being predicted NOT to live as long as their parents ...Also,i feel for you as we have been clearing the leaves from the forest for 3 years | ||
| Glitch |
I used to walk around the neighborhood with a lawn mower and a jug of gas, before I was 16. After 16, my area got larger as I had the Gremlin to haul my stuff and a friend to take on bigger jobs. Right after high school I went to work at Druid Hills Country Club for money while at Emory. While at Druid Hills I got my applicator's licence and left Emory (well, Emory got tired of your humble narrator). Druid Hills didn't want a rebel either, I was pretty wild back then. Went to work at East Lake Country Club, where I was able to go back to school, I took horticulture classes, and sports turf grass classes. At the end of my Turf Grass career, I was working at Augusta, working the Nationals. Wow that was a life time ago. If I had known then what I know now, I would have stuck with grass, instead of going with Micro$oft... | ||
| Etennuly |
Well, now you know how I feel, and many others. I have been trying for a year and a half to find an apprentice, helper,over paid professional, semi retired, alcoholic, Damn near anybody, to work for me to no avail. I spent 15 minutes at a McD's today. Girl at the window covering three positions. She said they are prescribed to have 60 employees. They cannot keep 25. •••• it I quit! Where are these leaves? | ||
| Etennuly |
When I was 10-11 I mowed a two acre yard with a 20 inch two stroke push mower for $1.25 and I had to supply the gas! Yeah, 1967- 68. Thanks be to my dad for the use of his mower and he supplied the oil for the two stroke. | ||
| Barraspalding |
Similar issue in Australia. So many people collecting the dole/unemployment benefits. So many jobs in the seasonal sector picking fruit, trimming grape vines, blah blah blah that they cant fill. The sector is looking at sourcing staff from overseas via Visa programs. hmmm... how about forcing these lazy halfwits to work! No want to work, no money. (work for the dole schemes have come and gone - PC culture doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings!) While your at it - recidivist juveniles > straight to the armed forces! that'll give you something to do instead of breaking into a house or plastering your stupid graffiti tag on a fence. | ||
| Court |
I abhor lazy . . . I am amazed by "not so bright". This young man . . . in a pickup that was a LOT nicer than my $70K work truck . . . seemed to not know much about business. From the moment he arrived he was "bidding against himself" giving me a litany or reasons it would be so difficult. But . . . he wasn't't giving them to me to support something like a $1,200 quote for a days' work . . he was giving me reasons he COULDN'T do it. Those of you who recall Woodstock will appreciate part of our dialogue . . . HIM: Part of the problem is all these twigs and branches embedded in the layer of leaves. There's really no way to get them out. COURT: You'll be glad to know I've found a way that works perfectly . . . I bend at the waist . . . take my leather gloved hand and pick it up. For fun, they are all (pointing) over there and when her plane lands at midnight Friday night . . . we'll sit out back and burn them and drink wine. It's a perfectly balanced system. He then went on to seek my confidence by telling me . . ."if you can rake them and put them in small piles we can suck them up". . . . "Just make sure they are near the drive". Yeah . . . part of me wanted to say . . . ."but when you are in the lawn clearing and cleaning business . . . isn't that pretty much what YOU do?". Anyway . . . I took about 15 bags off tonight before I pooped out. I figured I've got another 10-15 4-hour stints . . . but . . it's great exercise (I've already lost 60# thanks to Aflau's coaching and the move to the undisclosed location) and there's also no urgency . . . if I clear leaves for the next 4 months . . . that's fine. These are . . . I'll say again . . . funny times. | ||
| Glitch |
Then there's the other side of the coin. Dan is having a hard time finding a contractor for his cabin. If the job ain't big, or not a sub-division, they don't wanna mess with it. | ||
| Billg |
Court, Our church youth group used to tackle large leaf raking jobs as a fundraiser. I don't know if that's an option near you. billg | ||
| Barraspalding |
Do you have something like Service Seeking in the US? https://www.serviceseeking.com.au/ A site you upload your potential job to, be it mow the lawn, or demolish a shed etc. And people respond with quotes to do said job. | ||
| Court |
I'd thought of the local Boy Scouts or a church group. Going forward I may see if I can find something like that. But this year . . . well the gauntlet has been thrown and, at least for now, I'm going at it. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Borrow some stagehands. We know how to walk with purpose, and appreciate cash  | ||
| Pwnzor |
I have hired and fired 5 different landscaping "companies" in the last 8 years. None of them worth a bag of shit much less a paycheck. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I mowed grass for money in the early 80's. That's how I paid for my first truck. It was hard work and at the time I thought is sucked and couldn't wait to get a "REAL" job.... What a d#mb@$$ I was/am. Now I would like nothing better to mow grass for a living. But for now, this is how I am getting my outside the office fix. Turning this huge pile of logs into heat for the house.   | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Hory shet! look at the classy firewood piles! I just piled them up between two trees on top of a crappy shipping pallet and used the bark as a crappy "roof". It was crappy but the wood burned fine | ||
| Orman1649 |
I have hired people to do odd jobs around the yard although I generally use these folks. https://www.millionairclub.org/ | ||
| Airbozo |
I just called someone to cleanup the redwood droppings in my 1/2 acre yard (leaves, debris, branches the thickness of your arm and some 15 feet long, piles everywhere). It will take 2 guys 2 days and at least 6 trips to the dump. The guy called me right back, came over to give me an estimate in less than 2 hours and showed excitement at doing the work. He looked me right in the eye, shook my hand firmly and called me by my name. He also gave me a good price (not the cheapest). I hired him on the spot and he starts Monday. Good help is still out there. Next time I won't wait so long, but it's been a tough couple of years here. | ||
| Greg_e |
But the good help is all over 40 years old, the younger generation won't lift a finger for stuff like this. (or generally won't lift a finger at all for anything). I have some recent stories, but I'll refrain. We have found that the easiest way to deal with leaves is get a mower with a bag attachment. We are now dumping these leaf chewings on the low areas of the yard to try and produce soil. It's a slow process but only sent about 2 bags to the curb for pickup. The sticks used to get burned, but that hasn't been happening much lately so large piles wen away last fall after cutting some limbs down. Must have tool: Chainsaw on a pole! Mine is a little Ryobi 18volt electric, I have a bunch of those tools so a bunch of the big 4amp batteries. | ||
| Hootowl |
I blow them onto the lawn and mow them up. My JD has dual bags on the back. | ||
| Tootal |
Mulching mower!! Boy, it so true about people not wanting to pay their dues! We hired a young Buck as a machinist. He was already a Journeyman but was new to our plant. They put him with a guy that rebuilds some technical parts as he was a few years from retirement. He had a coveted job working in a nice shop and getting all the overtime he wanted. He tells the young Buck to clean some parts for him and told him how he wanted them cleaned. Well the young Buck throws the parts on his bench and screams, I'm not your N****R! Had he learned this job, FROM THE BOTTOM UP, he'd have been set for life with a clean well paying job. Nobody want's to start from the bottom, they thing they are all CEO's waiting to happen! | ||
| 86129squids |
Dang! Really? A "journeyman" new to a shop says/does that?! SOFA KING WE TODD ED | ||
| Ratbuell |
It's called "entitlement", and unfortunately we're teaching that at an early age with "participation trophies" and all that crap. You do, you get. You don't, you don't get. Simple. | ||
| Gearheadgrrrl |
A lot of it is just demographics- More seniors who can't do the work themselves and thanks to declining birth rates, less young folks to do the work. Used to be we had plenty of immigrants to do those jobs, but the opportunities are better in their home countries now and they've been scared away from the U.S.. | ||
| H0gwash |
In CA when the seasonal workers don't come for whatever reason, there is literally no one to pick the fruit and it rots on the trees. Farmers will post desperate ads on Craigslist and few people show up. I think most US parents don't think of gardening as a *real job* and will steer their kids towards something more prestigious. I'm guessing the kids are following the values of their parents because hey, $100 bills for a day's work, that's way better than minimum wage which they're probably getting elsewhere. | ||
| Barraspalding |
back when i was 16 I pruned grape vines (as a 2nd job) for a week, it earned me enough to pay the excess after a car accident. Never have my hands hurt so much after that first day. But i worked hard and got the cash i needed... and never went back cuz holy crap that was hard hard work. But in saying that - its still badly paid for the physical effort involved, but its unskilled physical labour so i guess it is what it is. Around here is directed towards backpackers, but our government has started to tax them more which is less inventive to chase that work whilst they travel. | ||
| H0gwash |
I confess when I was on unemployment after being laid off in 2008 I did not respond to the fruit picking ad I saw on Craigslist. I was trying to get a desk job. I finally took a job at a wood factory where I worked with mostly Mexicans. | ||
| Barraspalding |
did they share their home cooked treats? | ||
| Pwnzor |
Before I was in transportation, I worked minimum wage jobs... fast food, movie theaters, etc. 2-3 jobs at a time. Then I discovered temp agencies. They were GREAT! I did all their tests, qualified for every job they offered, and TOOK every job they gave me. Every place they sent me would buy out my temp contract within a week. From age 17 to 19 I was a proofreader for GTE Directories in Los Alamitos, California. My accuracy level was so high that they bought my contract by the end of the first week and by the end of the first month, I was a department supervisor. They laid me off after 19 months, and I was back with the same temp agency in less than a day. I did a few quick 1-2 day temp jobs for about 10 days, working every day until they paged me (yes, a pager) while I was packing boxes at Yamaha (musical instruments, not motorcycles) and asked me if I was willing to work nights. Not just "yes", but "hell yes" was the answer. I went home, took a nap for about 3 hours, ate dinner and went to work where I met a new friend named Steve Kaye and learned all about courier companies. The rest is history. Point being, I tried digging ditches for a plumber and I wasn't cut out for it. I wasn't strong enough to keep up with the Mexican guys who were used to doing continuous labor. They laughed at me, and I laughed with them because I was way out of my depth. It didn't discourage me, I just pursued other avenues. I work my ass off to this day, grateful to be employed. | ||
| Pwnzor |
...and I do all my own yard work now. My yard definitely isn't the nicest one in the neighborhood, but I keep it neat and I am not paying some lazy schmuck $250 a month to mow my lawn and leave the grass clippings in the street. | ||
| Ebutch |
Court:I'll clean-up your lot for FREE!!!!!!! if you let me carry out as much of Your Buell Stash as I can in 15 minutes.I;ll come down in my camper stay at Your house in the drive-way OK. + I,ll bring my crew too   |
