Would you rule out someone because of their name?

[shovelracer]

This may sound dumb, but has anyone ever had poor results from everyone you've met with a certain name. For me I'm 5 for 5 on getting the shaft with guys that have a certain name. Different towns, different services, different years, different reasons. In the end they can't be pleased and never pay properly. I rarely have issues with customers, but this name has caused me enough problems to consider never working for someone with that name again. I have a few crazy paranoid theories about different people with similarities and what they are drawn to, but am I crazy here.

[White Gardens]

Originally Posted by shovelracer

This may sound dumb, but has anyone ever had poor results from everyone you've met with a certain name. For me I'm 5 for 5 on getting the shaft with guys that have a certain name. Different towns, different services, different years, different reasons. In the end they can't be pleased and never pay properly. I rarely have issues with customers, but this name has caused me enough problems to consider never working for someone with that name again. I have a few crazy paranoid theories about different people with similarities and what they are drawn to, but am I crazy here.

Ya, a little crazy.

Seriously though, I agree to some extent. I've never met a Jennifer that didn't act like a Jennifer, or whatever name you want to associate.

[Hawkshot99]

If I had employees I would prefer to not have any with the same name as me. They know the owner is named Matt, and talking to a employee named Matt, they may think it is the owner.

[shovelracer]

While you guys dwell on that one I'll share my housing theory with you. It is not 100% proven, but I have seen it enough times to strongly believe it. I believe that certain kinds of people are drawn to certain homes.

For example I used to live next to a nice Irish family. They were very friendly but sort of anal. They painted much of their house green. Not too many people like green houses. They tried to sell the house for 2 years and no one would buy it even at a low price. One day an Irish family saw it and put in a contract right away for the asking price. I got to know them and found out they were nice, anal, and bought the house because they loved the color.

My parents had a crazy wacko next door. He would mow into our yard several feet even though the yards were clearly separated with landscaping. At times he would dump his debris on our property even though he had 300 feet of woods. When I was very young I ran into his yard to get our baseball and he freaked out. Well several years ago a new family moved in. This guy also mows over the line, and has parked his boat trailer and garbage behind my parents shed. One day his daughter was stomping all the flowers in my parents front bed and my dad asked the young girl to please not trample the garden. The father came out wanting to fight because my father had spoken to his child.

We service 8 out of 10 houses in a development, always have. 1 of the houses had a couple that was cheap, like so cheap it made you mad, but drove nice cars, also liked to talk smack about people. They moved out, house was vacant for a while and a new family moved in. Yep they drove BMW's, were just as cheap, and always wanted to talk about the neighbors.

Another was too nice, the new owners are the same way.

Another tried to screw me on a bill, the new owners did the same.

Across town bimonthly mow moves, new ones also want bimonthly.

House on the corner was pre foreclosure 3 times with 3 owners.

Another was a real jerk, new ones are the same.

I could go on for a while.

[QualityLawnCare4u]

Yep, there is a certain last name, it ends in a P and they all have a heavy fo'rn accent... They have screwed, been rude, cheap, argue over price with me 100% of the time until I refuse to even deal with them now. They are known to own stores and hotels. Need any more hints?

[iluvscag]

Originally Posted by shovelracer

While you guys dwell on that one I'll share my housing theory with you. It is not 100% proven, but I have seen it enough times to strongly believe it. I believe that certain kinds of people are drawn to certain homes.

For example I used to live next to a nice Irish family. They were very friendly but sort of anal. They painted much of their house green. Not too many people like green houses. They tried to sell the house for 2 years and no one would buy it even at a low price. One day an Irish family saw it and put in a contract right away for the asking price. I got to know them and found out they were nice, anal, and bought the house because they loved the color.

My parents had a crazy wacko next door. He would mow into our yard several feet even though the yards were clearly separated with landscaping. At times he would dump his debris on our property even though he had 300 feet of woods. When I was very young I ran into his yard to get our baseball and he freaked out. Well several years ago a new family moved in. This guy also mows over the line, and has parked his boat trailer and garbage behind my parents shed. One day his daughter was stomping all the flowers in my parents front bed and my dad asked the young girl to please not trample the garden. The father came out wanting to fight because my father had spoken to his child.

We service 8 out of 10 houses in a development, always have. 1 of the houses had a couple that was cheap, like so cheap it made you mad, but drove nice cars, also liked to talk smack about people. They moved out, house was vacant for a while and a new family moved in. Yep they drove BMW's, were just as cheap, and always wanted to talk about the neighbors.

Another was too nice, the new owners are the same way.

Another tried to screw me on a bill, the new owners did the same.

Across town bimonthly mow moves, new ones also want bimonthly.

House on the corner was pre foreclosure 3 times with 3 owners.

Another was a real jerk, new ones are the same.

I could go on for a while.

Bobby?

[Furness & Sons L&L]

I agree with all of you. I have had the same experiences here in my neck of the woods. homeowners with certain intials give me alot of trouble. I never wanted to share my thoughts simply because i thought i was the weird one. Now i know. Still very weird.

[MJS]

I do notice that weird stuff does run in families: Had a mother as a client - always complained about the cut quality and a few clippings on the mulch, and when her daughter hired me she was exactly the same way. Had a guy complain about clover in his lawn - he was obsessed with killing clover; when his sister hired me, she had the same bizarre concern about a few clover plants taking over the lawn.

Makes sense though, if you think about it. . . As far as initials and names go. . . not sure about all that.

[Stillwater]

Originally Posted by shovelracer

This may sound dumb, but has anyone ever had poor results from everyone you've met with a certain name. For me I'm 5 for 5 on getting the shaft with guys that have a certain name. Different towns, different services, different years, different reasons. In the end they can't be pleased and never pay properly. I rarely have issues with customers, but this name has caused me enough problems to consider never working for someone with that name again. I have a few crazy paranoid theories about different people with similarities and what they are drawn to, but am I crazy here.

Yes.............

[mdlwn1]

Going into the neighborhood...you already know the odds absed on market history...then you can usually reduce further based on cars to some extent...In my case any chrysler product except Jeep or minivan was usually a no go.