If your toilet breaks...........

[1MajorTom]

Matt calls me from the cell phone today and says, "you aren't going to believe this lady." I said, "okkkkk what." Come to find out that one of our customers has a fenced in "play area" that her grandson plays in. Matt had asked her numerous times if she wanted him to do anything with it cause it looks bad, but she always says no. So today he is at the site and all outside that play area, she has thrown out very large clumps of crabgrass with soil all through it, and mulch embedded in it, along with some sticks, twigs, etc. It's a huge mess, thrown sporadically here and there. No way was he going to have a mower run over all that, so he makes a large loop and goes around it.

As he was finishing up loading, she comes out and says, "why didn't you mow over all that and clean it up?" He says, "if your toilet was broke, would you crap all over the floor and expect the plumber to clean it up?" (Yes, he really said that.) She just looks at him dumbfounded. He says, "why would throw that everywhere, when you could have just got a garbage can and thrown it in there, I'm not going to ruin my sharp blades on running that stuff over. She says, "ok I'll clean it up now, and then you can cut the grass there?" He says, "have it cleaned up for next week, and i'll mow it.

Would you have unloaded and went back to mow it? Or would you have mowed over it in the first place?
Just throwing out a conversation.

[lawnwizards]

sounds like a bobby gedd thread.. i would do just as matt did. come back next week and if its cleaned up then i cut.

[1MajorTom]

Originally Posted by lawnwizards

i would do just as matt did. come back next week and if its cleaned up then i cut.

Nothing fires Matt up more when a customer tries to make more work for him for no reason.

[MarkintheGarden]

I allow for 5 minutes. If we can get it out of our way in five minutes to mow, no additional charge. Otherwise I either just do it and charge them or mow what I can and talk to them.

Sounds like Matt could have been a little more customer freindly, your customer pays Matt's paycheck. My guy might have done the same, depends on his mood, sometimes he goes out of his way to please the customers sometimes he rude and vulgar like Matt.

[metro36]

I would of done the same thing. If I find dog crap in a yard I will not my the yard. I dont like for crap in my face or on my equipment.

[1MajorTom]

It's a fine line to walk when dealing with customers. Yep, Matt can be blunt and to the point. If you deal with a lot of elderly folks, you'll know that every one of them can want a little extra here, a little extra there, and it all adds up. They think that "sonny" has all day to do this and that for them. And some days he will give an inch, but that lady tried to take a mile, he just put it to her in plain language she would understand.

[lawnmaniac883]

I would have and have done the same thing Matt did today. I cant stand customers sometimes with their twisted view that they are your only stop for the whole day and that you should go soo far out of your way for them. If it was as big a mess as it sounds he did the right thing IMO. Cant be nice to customers when they do those kinds of things because then they think it is OK to keep tossing crap around on the grass and such. Good call Matt.

[sheshovel]

I thought your toilet broke.

[1MajorTom]

Originally Posted by sheshovel

I thought your toilet broke.

Nah, we don't have indoor plumbing, still using an outhouse. Maybe one day we can git there one of those shiny porcelain commodes.

[jpp]

I would have done the same thing Matt did. By the time she would have cleaned it up I would have been on the next yard. As you know time is money, you cannot waste it on someone cleaning something up that should not have been there in the first place.

JP

PS I thought you were going to say Matt was calling you from the bathroom to tell you the toilet broke. lol