Lighter side

[southside]

Whats the wierdest or funniest thing to happen to you on the job?<br>Funniest thing happened to me was when I<br>demolished an outhouse with a tractor/slasher.Lucky for me it had only been<br>emptied the day before.:) Even some accidents<br>are funny in hindsight.

[HOMER]

LOL, Ha, Ha, Hind........sight!!! I get it!!!<p>Homer

[Charles]

I was cutting for this elderly retired couple. The man was henpecked and scared of his wife. He was standing in the drive close to a little bush his wife had planted. I came flying by lol and leveled that little bush. He turned white as a sheet. Next time I came back they had put up a stick at that bush and put a white flag on it.

[Bobby]

A little boy came outside once whenI was <br>mowing. I shut the blades off and waited <br>for him to go by. He walked towards me <br>so I throtled down. He knew what the <br>lawnmower was, but he was'nt sure of my <br>job discription. Finally he asked ( Are <br>you the mowlawner ?) Bobby

[cjcland]

when i was working for another company about 5 years ago my foreman was mowing right before christmas well the deck got caught on some chrismas light wrapped aroung a nativity scene and he ended up dragging a couple wise men about 10 feet lucky for him baby jesus was spared, lol<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida

[michael bucher]

we had just bought a used trailer and were returning home, when we heard a loud noise and looked over to see the left trailer tire had come off and was keeping pace with my truck, it just kept going! You should have seen the stares we got!

[HOMER]

Same thing happened to me and my father in law with one exception.............It was the trailer we were pulling that passed us. My father in law said&quot; Look at that, somebody lost their trailer!&quot; I looked back and ours was gone. Funniest thing I've ever seen, and it really does happen. I guess our balls weren't big enough!!<p>Homer

[NateinAtl]

I was working for this older lady doing an all day cleanup job. About every hour she would come outside and offer me something to eat or drink. About 8:30 she was offering biscuits and coffee. At 10:00 she was offering juice or water. At noon she was offering a ham sandwhich. and so on. It was a little annoying, but I just said no thankyou and continued working. So, when all was done, I went to her to collect payment. She asked once more if there is anything I may want. &quot;Would you at least like some cookies and a Coke?&quot; I thought that since I was done and would be leaving that it would be OK. She went back inside and came out with 2 big packages of Chips Ahoy cookies and a 2 liter Coke. She insisted that I take it all. I now wonder if I would have taken her up on that ham sandwhich, would she have gotten one of those big 6 foot party sandwhiches from Subway:)

[acutabove]

I had been mowing this lawn for this older lady,and we constantly complained about the dog land mines left on her lawn, she never seemed to pick them up until the day she asked one of my guys to help her move a chair in her house,my guy stepped in every pile(not known by me until later) he could find then went in and helped her move the chair,neadless to say after that every time we went there after that it was picked up.

[GroundKprs]

Ohhh southside, you just made me laff to think of it, so I gotta tell it. Might not seem too funny to others.<p>Was mowing with wife 15 yrs ago, just using 21-inchers, on the property of one of those customers whose -hit just doesn't stink. Wife had been there a couple of times, and was heavy spring growth. This yard had faucets set in ground out in yard. When I heard the sound, I knew exactly what Carol had done.<p>I looked up to see her standing shocked in the middle of a geyser. All I could do was fall to the ground laffing. Customer ran out in panic, and I laid there laffing for five min or more. (Think it was more funny because it was her house). We had to quit for the day, because neither Carol or I could keep from laffing.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

[Lazer]

My very 1st day working on a commercial crew:<p>My brother had a 13 employee 4 crew lawn business, he let me weed-wip on a crew. I was 9 years of age.<p>One of the regular employees put a Groundsmaster 72 in the pond at an office park we were doing. The castor wheels and the stering wheel were sticking out. <p>Not knowing any better I kept trimming along the pond. I thought perhaps we had to cut some cattails down there or something.<p>I should've known it was a prelude of things to come in the lawn care busniness.

[snow]

I have one customer that whenever she comes out to pay me, she always has a gown on. Never regular clothes, just a gown. Even in the winter when I clear her driveway, she walks out with a gown and a jacket on. I think she must sleep to close to the power lines or something.<p>Bryan<p>----------<br>The Snowplow Homepage<br>http://www.snowplow.web.com

[yardsmith]

hey bryan-<br> Either that or she has the hots for you! :)<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<p><br>

[southside]

Reminds me of a mate of mine in the same<br>industry as me who decided to take his old<br>Ford 3000 tractor/slasher for a swim in this<br>guys dam.Took 2 hours with a drott(trackloader) to pull it out.Amazingly it<br>still ran ok,even though it was completely<br>submerged.I sent him a dive mask and snorkel<br>in the mail,just to piss him off.:)

[SLSNursery]

One funny and wet, one wierd and one in a million story:<p>One time while working on a peninsula in a lake behind a customer's house I noticed that one of my brothers who was mowing in the back, while I was trimming out front had disappeared for too long. My other brother who was way out at the tip was still mowing, so I thought, he must of ran out of gas. 5 minutes later, intuition kicked in to both of us, who arrived to find Jeff knee deep in the lake with a 54&quot; bobcat slowly sinking into the mud. We jumped in an got the mower out as quickly as possible. Then figured that since it didn't lose any oil, we probably wouldn't kill any fish, but windows were starting to open around the lake, so we got it started and finished cutting with it, like nothing ever happened. Boy I wish I had a camera. This happened a long time ago.<p><br>Number 2:<br>Last November, while home recovering from knee surgery, I received a phone call from the shop that started with &quot;no one is dead or hurt, but you need to go to Bixon's immediately&quot;. Bixon's is a local scrap yard where one would trade scrap metal in. I arrive and see one of the vacuum trucks and trailer sitting in the yard with a cop, and a bunch of guys around. The truck had a tear in the hood from the nose to the center, the front of the leaf box had a 2'x2' hole in it, and the driver's door handle was smashed flush with the door. Turns out that the scrap yard was evidently shearing an oxygen tank in half when it exploded and launched into the street, and subsequently into the truck like a torpedo. My crew was so shaken, that they couldn't even speak, so the cop and the scrapyard wanted to make sure an owner of the company witnessed this firsthand. Obviously I asked if the valve was off of the supposedly empty tank, and they said yes. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but they could have been, and worse, what if it hadn't hit a truck, maybe some mom or kid would be on the receiving end. Could have been an insurance nightmare, or a nightmare period. :o<p><br>----------<br>Phil Grande - Soundview Landscape Supply - http://members.aol.com/slsnursery<br>Ivy League Landscaping - http://members.aol.com/scagrider<br>

[geogunn]

this story isn't so humorus but might be worth a shot....<p>when I was getting started about four years ago I got a call on the answering machine. &quot;hello...this is (her name) and need you to come to (her address) and cut my grass. I expect it to be done by thursday and I pay $35.00&quot;. she said she had the check made out and already waiting and said where I could find it. there was no discussion, she was very insistant and real demanding. she sounded terse, almost angry. <p>Well, I went to the house, the money was about right for the job, and I cut the grass, trimmed, and blew just like always. Picked up the check and I was outta there.<p>here's the kicker. got another call on the machine the next week. &quot;hello...this is ...again and I need you to be at my hotels in pigeon forge and gatlinburg tomorrow because I fired my grounds crew and I need you to take over my hotels. I pay....&quot; same tone of voice as before.<p>three lucerative commercials and a weekly residential in the bag just because of the everyday professional job I did at her residence. in this buisness you never know how a deal is going to work! I wish I coulda cut HOWARD HUGHES grass!<p>GEO

[bob]

A friend of mine, Jackie, ask me to cut her lawn. She lives on #9 Bunker Hill Rd. She gave me directions. I found the street sign that said Valley Forge Rd and Bunker Hill Rd. I went down to #9 and cut it. When I was just getting ready to trim I looked at a neighbors mailbox that said Valley Forge Rd. I quickly blew off the sidewalk(didn't trim)and left. I had just given someone a free lawn cut. The street sign was turned the wrong way!

[HOMER]

I did the same thing for a real estate company. Cut this big yard, took half the day. Got a call a few days later and was asked why i had'nt cut the yard. I said that I had cut it! Come to find out the yard I was supposed to cut was across the street, a little one. There was a real estate sign in both yards, but one said for sale, the other, for rent. I should have cut the for rent!<p>Homer

[GroundKprs]

C'mon, Homer. That isn't funny, it's painful. :)<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

[HOMER]

It was painful, but I had to laugh about it. The real estate lady I was dealing with was a b-----tc anyway! Every thing she wanted had to look like yard of the month when you got done and all she wanted to pay was scub money.............you do what you have to when you are starting out, and I was starting out!!!<p>Ouch, but no ouch, <p>Homer@www.wronghome.com<br>

[Charles]

I remember cutting the wrong front yard one time. The road name was the same except for the ending. And both roads were very close together. The ending on one was DRive the other was lane I think, because it has been awhile. Luckily I didn't cut the back yard because I double checked my location. The lady who owned the home called the other home I was suppose to cut and thanked her for the free grass cutting. No one was at home when I cut. Seems that this happens alot to them. One time a company even came and cut her pine trees down. She came home and stopped the company in the middle of the job. She gets pizza delivery there too. All this was suppose to be for the neighbor.

[jnjnlc]

This is not super funny like some of yours but it was a little aggravating.<p>Just recently bought a Toro ZTR. First time on it mowing was on hilly common areas of a sub-division. I was on top of the hill heading around a bed down the hill. It was a little wet and being new to a ZTR I was not able to get it to hold on the hills. As I made my turn to go across the hill it started slipping and headed down the hill. I thought I could slip by the telephone pole but I did not quite make it. The corner of the deck caught the pole. There I was, I could not go down the hill, could back up the hill. I new for sure I was not going to be able to push this 1000lb machine by hand. I had to go get my 4X4 truck and pull it out. This was along a main road. I got some strange looks. <p>Got it out with no damage done. Finished my mowing.<p><p>----------<br>Jeff<br>

[HOMER]

It sure was funny when I did the same thing on a tree at an apt. complex!<p>Homer

[trimmasters]

I know the feeling, only my exmark went sliding down a wet hill and the frount got stuck under a chain link fence that had a retaining wall after it. so we had to cut out the fence push the front back over the wall and some guy with a minyvan pulled us out because we didint have a chain

[Lazer]

One of the big players in town got their 580D Groundsmasters stuck in a ditch on a major road. They had a HUGE production getting a 18 wheel wrecker winching it out.<p>What an embarrassment.<p>The use 455's now instead of that 580.