Honest mistakes (that suck)

[stick9]

It seems that we have been plagued with stupid problems this year. Some semi serious, but some just idiotic.

We had a guy, using a stick edger, actually SWING the moving edger out into the road (while edging a curb) and strike a moving car. 500 bux. Then, that SAME DAY, AFTER BEING TAKEN UP AND SHOWN WHERE IT WAS, he edged through some ladies invisible dog fence. 100 bux.

At the beginning of the season, I was using a walk-behind in someones TIGHT backyard, hit a hole, my hand slipped, and I went shooting THROUGH their wooden fence. Easy to fix, but really stupid.

I was whipping in this guys backyard, caught a rock, and shot the thing through his back doorwall. He fixed it with no problem, but again ... STUPID.

My boss was cutting at a local Angela Hospice with the DC, caught a rock, shot it through their glass door. Accidental, as were the others, but just something stupid that happened.

There have been some other things, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has been afflicted with things of this nature.


STiCK-nine

[Guido]

I was in a rush this summer changing the tilt cylinder on an old Bobcat 843 Loader and I accidentallyswitched thehydraulic hoses when I put the new one on. It had a breaker (jackhammer) attatchment on it at the time and when I got in it and tried to curl the hammer up, I slammed it into our garage floor and put a pretty big hole in it.

Even more stupid than that, the dummies that built our hangar last year, knowing it was going to be for heavy equipment maintenance, etc, went ahead and layed asphalt instead of conrete for a floor. Everybody knows what happens when gasoline, diesel, oil, etc get on asphalt. Thats why a bobcat breaker would sink 7" into the garage floor!!

I had a new troop that roaded a John Deere rubber tired excavator to the fuel station and filled the hydraulic resevoir with diesel fuel by accident. He ran out of fuel on the way to the shop, which was a good thing because it started the investigation on how he ran out 3 minutes after fueling up, and where did he put the fuel? We figured it out and drained the hyd. system before it did any dmamage (we hope)


An incompetent foreman on my current road job had a new troop back a 20 ton dump truck full of sand up to a trench that ran accross the road. Inside was 8" PVC that connected and was helping support the two drains on either side of the road. Well instead of dumping the sand on the outside of the trench and oputting it in a little at a time with the backhoe or excavator or whatever, he had him dump the load into the hole, which flung my two drains in the air and broke the connections on both sides. He continues to blame it on the driver, but he was the boss so I let hin get some time to think (while shoveling 20 Ton of sand out of, then back into the trench after repairs!) about why he needs to take responsibility!

[Charles]

I have done alot of stupid thing in my lawn biz carreer. Seems that the lawn biz can be hypmotising sometimes. Or you get into a hurry. Or you are hot and tired and just want to get through. This is why i don't wear radio headphones. You always need to be alert and concentrating on what you are doing. When I am in a rocky area near home or cars. I try and slow the weedeater down. I see alot of lawn care people around here aim the mower shoot at traffic without the guard down. A BIG no-no. You can go 6 month without a problem and get cocky. And then one day that big mistake will come and cost you a fortune or someones life or an injury.

[parkwest]

Once sent a proposal out for a medical complex and had used the numbers for a dentist office down the street. Original bid $3500/yr actual bid was over $12,000/yr. Property manager said the new bid would put us in the ballpark with two other large companies bidding on property. Lucky for us they were going to go with a college student who was lower than our original bid.

[stick9]

Hey Chuck ..

Agreed. This job can become VERY routine, VERY quickly. You just start going through the motions and before you know it, you've done something .. bad.

I choose to use the FM headphones. It really helps throughout the day .. but I try my best not to let it take over. I'm fully conscience of of the work that I'm doing, but there's still the enjoyable music (or talk radio) being pumped into my brain.

When I mentioned the rock through the customers back doorwall (in the first post), I neglected to mention that I was, in fact, idleing down on the whip. Still grabbed the rock and shot it like a rocket through his glass door. Ugh.

later ..
stICK9

[stick9]

WOW!! Look at ALL those views!! Over 127 of them, and only 3 other people posted! Looks like we're in the minority here, guys. Everyone else is perfect! (or just REALLY lazy)


sTICk-9

[plymouthvaliant73]

"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."

I learned years ago that slower is FASTER because it saves you all the time and money spent fixing the mistakes from when you tried to go faster.

[cos]

I wouldn't pay attention sometimes and spray alot of grass on cars and such, but have done worse and seen worse. Can't think of what right now. And I don't think that all of us can respond to each and every post. If I did, i think that would mean i would be on the computer longer than I have too.

[stick9]

Maybe not each and every post, but when one thread is NOT moving along and you have something to contribute, I believe that it's your DUTY as a LAWNSITE.COM member to post and keep it alive.

I spray grass on cars all the time. I don't really consider *THAT* a mistake. I think of that as just being part of the job. People like to park in the exact wrong place! :)

Nice to here from you.

stick------------9

[Edited by stick9 on 10-15-2000 at 11:37 PM]

[Runner]

Especially the ones that see you working right there, whether it be mowing or blowing or whatever, and they HAVE to park there even though there is a whole parking lot available.

[Currier]

I took out my second sliding glass door in my illustrious 10 years as a lawn mowing guy. First one was eight years ago and really shook me up. The most recent happened in July this year. I heard that nasty thump and thought..."I've heard that before...Oh yea ...I remember that sound...Gee I don't think that that sliding glass door should have that frosted look...

[dhenegar]

Back in March I was hualing some mulch on my trailer and had a wheelbarrow in the bed of my truck. Well got all the mulch unloaded and took the wheelbarrow out of the bed, only thing I did wrong was forgot to close the tailgate. I have a 98 Tacoma and the jack on my trailer is right inline with the tailgate(about 4" from the end). This is fine if you could go straight all the time but when I turned that first curve I heard a crunching sound. I had no idea what it was so I kept on going and turned the other way, heard it again. When I went to drop the trailer I realized how stupid I really was. It put two big creases in each side of my tailgate. This is another example of how stupid we can be when we get in a hurry. Now I make sure its closed everytime.

[gene gls]

stick9: I don't think you want to hear my $.02 worth but seeing as you commented about few replys here it is.. Your honest mistakes sound more like very stupid mistakes. Take the radio out of your ears and pay attention to what you are doing,ALL the time.

[lawnMaster5000]

i got a call today from one of my former bosses asking me to make emergency phone calls for him. He was in the emergency room after having an accident with the aerator. OK its not as bad as i am sure many of you are thinking but i will explain.
When he was cleaning the chain on his lawn-air IV he accidently rolled the machine forward catching his fingers in between the chain and sprocket. In order to get his hand back out he had to run them all the way around the sprocket. (talk about bad mental image) Well now he is not going to be able to use his hand for a good few months after reconstructive surgery of his hand.

so let me just say again, take your time and make sure you are carefull in everything you do, the time you could save is not worth the 30 seconds it would have taken him to make sure the aerator was in a stable location.

happy mowing.

[fireball]

only two guys make stupid mistakes with my company, their names are "not me" and his brother "I don't know"

[Cutter1]

Lawnmaster....OUCH!!!!!!!!!! The picture in my head looks real nasty.

I have had some good ones over the years. I put a rock through a Beretta windshield and a house window. One rock!!

Just last week, one of my employees was lasering with my new ultra vac on. It sticks out about 18 inches more with it on, he wasn't paying attention and hit a lamp post!! Knocked it over, glass shattered. I was really pissed, but what are you going to do, these things happen. I was more mad that he was late and hung over. Typical employee problems.

[1stclasslawns]

Ok I'll have to admite to .....well not my mistakes but my emploies.

My brother was working for me this spring at a nursing home I have done for several years, I always mulch because of lots of sliding glass windows. The lawn is in good shape so not many rocks but he found one, I was weedeating, it went between my legs and found the window.
A dining room window, just befor serving lunch, out ran 3 or 4 nurses yelling and hollering telling me and him what we just did, to "point that damn thing the other direction". Well did I ever go off! I said you morons take care of your patients let me take care of this.
Like I said mulch plate ON mower actually pointed away from the side it hit. Out from under the mower deck!! Thats what I pay insurence for.
Well to make a long story short all the nurses had to appoligise to us. The management looked at the situation saw where the mower was which way it was pointing, the mulch plate was on. Just "one of those things that couldnt be avoided" Jim

[Charles]

"I ever go off! I said you _morons take care of your patients let me take care "
Thats funny naturalawn. Debri can shoot out from all areas of a mower deck.

[stick9]

Hey Gene glblahblah ..

Glad to read that you got the point. The point WAS sTuPId mistakes!! They are still 'honest' mistakes .. but ... if you would have read ALL the replies (including my beginning post), you would (I assume) have understood that this thread is dealing with STUPID mistakes. Wow. Glad you're on the same page with the rest of us.

(I pay FULL attention while I'm working. The radio keeps me from going mad due to the monotony of the work. I'm sorry if you can't do more then one thing at a time, but I think most other people can.)

Thanks for your two cents!

stick9

BTW- the aforementioned reply dealing with the 'no posting' was to GET people to post! Thanks again, for posting. My job is done.

[Edited by stick9 on 10-16-2000 at 10:59 PM]

[Lawnworks]

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[crew]

heres a good one - forgot to latch the trailer coupler before driving the mower up the ramp and i have the dent and foot long scratch in the new tailgate to prove it.
I also agreed today to pay for window broken by rock from mower. Real nice Anderson double pain crank out with argon filling. it's all aluminum and you cannot replace just the glass. The mulch kit was on and I cant figure where the rock came from or how it made it all the way to the window.

[stick9]

Oh yeah .. I forgot one.
We just had just gotten the enclosed trailer .. my boss put up the tail gate (but did not latch it or lock it) so he could pee. I came back with the backpack, he took it, and forgot to lock the back. We drove to the next job .. when we got there he said 'did you put the tailgate down?" .. oops. Nothing was lost! The little rubber stoppers we GONE, but that's about it. Pretty funny after all is said and done. We're very lucky the DCs didn't fall out and get destroyed OR hurt someone.

stICK-9

[landscaper3]

Hey stick im not trying too bash you in anyway but sounds like your boss and you have a lot of mistakes happening to you guys,take the time and make sure everthings ok before heading out to the next job. PS hows your insurance rates go through the roof yet?

[stick9]

QUIT BASHING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) j/k

no .. It really has been a weird year. Stuff happens.
It's not like we rush around or anything .. stuff just happens. :)

StiCK-nine

[landscaper3]

hey stick at least your not this bad http://www.darwinawards.com or http://www.darwinaward.com