Not in my House

[cleancut]

JUst a quick survey..I can't believe how many of my customers have teenage kids that could mow their lawn but they hire me..I'm not complaining, but when my boy gets old enough, he's going to be mowing the yard...How many of you guys have customers that fit this mold???What's your thoughts???Just another example of dwindling work ethic....Thanks..Clean-Cut

[mowin at the lake]

we got one like that... she has a 26 year old son that lives at home (he will not get a job) and will not cut the grass.

However he cut the neighbors lawn and uses his mom lawn mower....

[cleancut]

That guy sounds like a real catch for some lucky lady..lol...Clean-Cut

[tpirobert]

Been in biz for 12 years now and still have a few original customers. I've seen their kids grow up, go to college and move out.....never mowing a blade of grass. Kids are too busy with soccer,school projects, comp. games and stuffing their faces to mow lawn. Hey, it's not the kids "fault". Parents need to parent. When my son is old enough he will mow the lawn and get some $ for doing so. I'm sure he'll do all the other stuff too.

[Vandora Lawn & Landscape]

I've got a couple customers like that, but most of those accounts are really big and the homeowners don't have the equipment necessary to do a good job.

[jeffyr]

I have had a couple like this as well.
What I find even more strange is that when I was a kid, the competition from other kids I knew in the neighborhood was fierce for grass cutting and handyman work. We were all pulling our mowers around behind our bicycles. Now, I don't see any kids anywhere doing anything for work......even the paperboy is now paperman with a car instead of a bike.

jeffyr

[geogunn]

when I moved into my house 14 years ago, there was a guy in the house diagonal from mine across the street. he was disabled but worked a full time government job. and he never cut his grass.

when saturday came around he'd throw down his walking canes, pull his trailer out from behind the house, by hand, load his crapsman and go cut the church yard grass.

couple hours later, he's back home, crapsman unloaded, trailer manhandled behind the house, and he's back limber legging around the driveway with his two canes.

THE PROBLEM: HE WOULDN'T EVEN CUT HIS OWN GRASS! and, being slightly judgemental, I wonderd about the sevierity of his disability.

I suppose it does take all kinds.

GEO

[Strawbridge Lawn]

Just a sign of the times folks. I see it alot around the middle-higher income urban areas. Not in my house.

[65hoss]

I have a few that are like that. One even has his son wake up when I get there around 10 am to give me the money. My dad started me cutting the yard just as soon as I was big enough to push. No pay, but I did get a small allowance. By 10 or 11 we had a small lawn biz going. That's where I got my first taste, and years later, I've returned. Son and even a daughter will cut the lawn. I believe that everyone should have the experience. You can never appreciate hard work until you do it yourself.

[awm]

The most important job of a parent is
to have this young person prepared as
well as possible for real life.If we
dont do the teaching and set good examples
we just make it harder for them Thanks TM

[landscaper3]

We had a reversal situation, a neighborhood kid, around 14 years old. Came to our house and asked if he could mow our yard? He really through me for a loop here we had 2 Trucks with Ideal Landscaping lettered on them in the yard along with 1 with a 16' trailer with Walker mowers and trimmers and the other one with a 12' trailer with 2 w/behind mowers and trimmers, I had to go outside to see if our equipment was still there. I politly said we are all set with our lawn but if you want you can wash our trucks and equipment (so he ended up with a new job with washing our equipment and help him out whenever we can)

[moonarrow]

a new resident moved in across the street from one of my customers early last spring I approached them to ask about doing their lawn maintainance. They told me there wasn't any need that they had a 16 yr. old son that would do it to earn his keep. but to this day I have never seen him do it. A couple of week ago I seen the dad come home from work and start mowing then I began to notice the teenage boy continouslly drove around the block in his jeep until dad got thru. I wonder who rules that roost

[Chuck Sinclair]

:D
I will go you one better i got a call from a lady 2 weeks ago to give her an estimate on full service front and back yard i went to talk to her and ask have you had a service before (Yard looked like crap!) she said yes i just fired my son and told him to move out.

[ronslawncare]

thats nothing guys i just did a four hour cleanup today and the lady son comes home today i guess from hanging out with his friend and says to me yo man is my mom home i said no figuring he wants to pay me...do want to smoke a joint together ....lol i said no thanks i have to finish up.he stumble back inside his house.....

[bob]

Last year I gave the job of cutting our lawn to my 12 year old son. He gets to use the Grasshopper. I have no complaints, the job gets done. Sometimes I'll tease him and tell him that he has to use the 21" mower. Come to think of it, he doesn't even know how to use a 21" mower!

[Likestomow]

We all should be happy to see these kids who won't cut the grass. They grow up to be homeowners who hire us!<G>

[Paradise Yard Service]

Wow it was hot today (about 85 degrees). But I had to reply. I had one account that the son was too busy drilling holes in the side of house to be bothered with cutting grass! He is a paralegal now drilling peoples money out of um.
Aloha, PYS


BE KIND TO THE PEOPLE YOU MEET ON THE WAY UP, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SAME ONES YOU MEET ON THE WAY DOWN.

[65hoss]

Reminds me of one from this past spring. Poor woman that moved into this rental duplex. Her husband died with nothing left, so she lost her house and had to move into this rental in pretty bad part of town. Wants me to clean up the lawn, so that it looks something like a home. P.S. she is an older woman, who can't get around to well.

There is trash all over the back yard. Junk thrown all over. Come to find out, she has a 13 yr old son that lives with her, and he's the one throwing the garbage in the yard. He's too lazy to use a garbage can. Once I saw this, I left the job with them.

[1stclasslawns]

I actually have to admit to the other side of the experience.
I have done a dentist office and home for several years, I now only do the office because his cheerleader daughter mows the house, once this summer when I was behind he had her mow the office. She works in the office when she isn't in school and they were slow, he said she was going to earn her money one way or the other. He knew I was behind because we had a week of rain.
Jim

[mowerguy]

Not in my house either. I'm 19 and my dad had me mowing our home yard with a 21" mower when i was 12. My son will do the same. over half of my lawns have kids old enough to mow the lawn. buy if they want to pay me around $30 dollars an hour then I'm fine with that. Acctually mowed some of my friends yards through highschool. My brother has helped me for 2 years now. He is 14. I would say over half of our yards have kids who are 14 or older living their. My brother doesn't mind at all. He loves to work and loves to make the money that lawn care produces. Most of the kids in the houses i mow don't know what work is. i guess that is life. but sometimes i think it is unfair.

[SMB]

A lot of the laziness comes from things like PS2 and Nintendo! I'm 13 and do about 10 yards and help Dad A LOT with his. We have a system worked out on payments on our ZTR to where I pay the winter payments and he pays the summer payments. We borrowed the money from 401K so Dad's paying himself for it anyway! I do quality work, stripe, and TRIM ALLWAYS.

[cleancut]

Glad to hear from some young guys..Keep up the good work Stephen and Jason...Sounds like you all have good work ethic and great parents..All of the stories are good..Thanks..I know it's good for our business when people won't do their own work, but letting kids lay around on their A$$ is just one of my pet peeves..Clean-Cut

[jaclawn]

Had a friend of a friend call ans ask for a price quote. Can't remember the numbers, but do know that he wanted to give me $5 less than my qoute. This guy is a relativly large general contractor in the area, owns a few office buildings, summer home, 40' motorhome, airplane... He has two sons at home, one in high school, the other recently graduated, and now working for daddy.

The general consensus was that since the dad didn't want to kick in that last $5, that the two sons should have each kicked in $2.50, and hired us.

[Cutter1]

My nephews help me cut my yard sometimes with my laser. One is 7 the other is 4. I figure they will make good future employees, so I will start them young and mold them into employees I can put up with!!

[larrv45390]

Be thankful for people like that they put food on your table

[John DiMartino]

My 5 yr old daughter is already mowing my back yard with the dixie chopper.She does about 5 strips then she's had enough-Im building her up slowly.I even put a seat belt on it for her and reconnect the seat saftey.I hope by the time she's 10 she'll be able to do at least 1/2 of it.

[Scag48]

I'm 14 and I love to mow. Most of the kids in my town would rather play video games instead of being out working and trying to pay for a college education. I think anyone that is 16 and hasn't had a job yet needs to get a real life. If you don't start somewhere, there could be nowhere in your future. I have a friend that is almost 14 and we are talking about a joint-venture to get more jobs done and be successful before we have graduated from high school. The more the merrier, except when you hire some gang banger down the street.:)

[Edited by Scag48 on 12-10-2000 at 05:33 AM]

[snake1040]

I hate to say it but I live at home and own my own lawn maintance and my dad still mows the yard. I did it for a while when I was younger but not anymore. My dad made me work my ass off when I was younger seemed like it was the only thing I did from the age of 10 was work. I have two younger brothers one is 14 and the other is 11. They don't do crap all they do is take out the trash once a week and they take turns doing that. Must be that times are changing and the hard working ethics aren't needed to much anymore with the high tech age that is going on now. That is fine with me because when the old guys in the lawn industry start to die off I will still be young and take over with very little competition.

[Samurai WeedWacker]

Here in Wyoming it's illegal to hire anyone under the age of 18 to operate power equiment. I'm sure the same is true in most places. I don't know if this law has ever been enforced, but a homeowner would be in a serious predicament if an underage mowist was injured while illegally employed. A typically slimy insurance company might deny a claim on the basis of such illegality, and then the homeowner would be in really serious trouble.
I once saw a young teen pushing a lawnmower across a street with a gas can sitting on the mower behind the engine. The gas can was leaking and a fire erupted. Fortunately it went out before it did any damage. Then the little moron continued on his way with the gas can still riding on the mower.
Please, don't get the flamethrowers. I know most kids aren't that stupid. I think I have made a point or two though.

[osc]

I fail to see the problem with any if this. I mean if everyone's kid cut their own lawn then all you residential guys would never get any business. And Geo, yes you are judgemental, because if your neighbor worked a full time job then he must not recieve s.s. compensation and therefore he doesn't have to answer to you about what he does in his spare time. I know plenty of people who are partially and completely disabled. Some of them can be active one minute and have pain sitting still the next. You should walk a mile in his crutches or walker before you judge.

[Jerrys Lawn Service]

Hi guys,we have a client who has a son who is about 18 years old,mom knows he is old enough to cut the lawn but he
dose'nt want to so she makes him foot the bill!
Good Luck!
jerryslawnservice@home.com

[yardsmith]

Had this exact scenario this summer.
Lady calls me for landscaping/cleanup job.
Son is 24-25 with part time job, & doesn't lift a finger to help out mom at home (no dad here). This kid was a real deadbeat.
She hired me to do all the work he was supposed to do but left go for 4 months. I happily did the work he was supposed to do (for free), & got paid for it. Life is great!
Just like scag 48's motto (I think it was him); cashin' in on others' laziness.

[lawn and stump]

I had a lady call at the begining of the summer and tell me not to cut before noon so he son could sleep we had to rearrange our route or back track to do that lawn all summer. Beat that

[cleancut]

Hey everybody, Great Stories....Just goes to show you why the Lawn Care industry has experienced so much growth...National epidemic of laziness and lack of time...My little boy started helping me mow when he was just a baby...He's 5 now and can't wait until he can go out and help me...When he gets older, I'm definitely going to get him started in the business so that he can help pay for college..I guess since I was raised to work, I just can't beleive how parents let their kids just scoot through life without any responsibility..Don't they realize that this just hurts the kids in the long run..Well I'll get off my soapbox and stop preaching..Thanks..Clean-Cut..Oh about forgot, I've got a customer that has a daughter that lives with her rent free..The daughter has a boyfriend and a teenage boy...Two of the customer's sons live next door..The customer is in her late 80's and is on a very fixed income..The son's mow their yards but leaves their mothers yard..It probably would take them another 30 min. to mow...She has to pay me to mow her yard and her other kids don't chip in to help and they're all living on her land or in her house...This just irritates the he!! out of me....Clean-Cut

[jeffyr]

I have heard stories of more and more kids moving back in with their parents after graduating college. Some have gotten married, and their spouse then moves in as well. How can people mooch like that without feeling dependent on others to survive ?
One couple that I know got married and lived with one of the sets of parents for 5 years....they traveled on vacation every year.....bought what they wanted and lived near rent and expense free. The parents are not wealthy by any means. When they moved out the parents got a thank you for years of support !

[Greenkeepers]

I think that this all relates back to how the kids were raised. So you can't always blame them, the parents are at fault also.

My brother and I started our lawn care business when we were 10 years old. We depended on dad/mom to take us out every weekend to cut but they didn't mind. We never once had an allowance and have been keeping this business going for 14 years and now are each on our own living out of state from our parents.

Parents these days need to become more strict and not put up with the whole "can't slap my kids but theory." I could go on forever with this one but I will end it here.

"Someone elses laziness is anothers opportunity"