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.