I was doing a leaf job at one of my customers homes and was loading up my trailer when the homeowner, his wife and daughter came out to pay me and give me some candies to take home to the kids. We stood around for about 10 minutes and talked then I got in the truck to drive away with them standing on the sidewalk watching and waving. As I pulled away I heard this loud grinding noise and turned beat red. You got it ... I left the gate down. I felt like just keeping on driving down the street instead of stopping and putting the gate up with the customer still watching. I got out, put my head down and shook it. Customer got a good laugh and I left a little embarrassed. It finally happened and I am glad to have it over with. Hope no one had a camera. Wish you a happy Christmas ...
OUCH!!! Totally understand. Atleast my occurence didn't happen in front of a customer. We had just finished in one development and heading to the next. I had been driving down a busy highway for about 5 min when we noticed that one of the laborers forgot to lock the trimmer rack and my edger and two trimmers were dragging down the street. I pulled into the nearest gas station and felt that everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of idiot. The craziest thing is that this happened twice this season. So far I have not forgotten to put the gate up(Atleast as far as I can remember lol). Hope you have a happy and safe Christmas as well.
Haven't left the gate down but I did forget to lock up the blower. I drove for several miles with just the straps holding it on-went over a RR track as saw it fall off Pulled over and got it and nothing was broke- thank god
Recently while mowing the next door neighbor to my sister's home, she gets in my truck to back it up. Just before she goes I see it and stop her; the trailer gate was down. Tell me I wouldn't have gone a fool on my own sister had she done that damage!
We all do things like this. I run a milk route (wholesale), and I get to doing things almost without thinking. If someone comes up and talks to me, or I have to change the normal routine of things for some reason, I'm apt to forget my two-wheeler, leave a door open, forget the load bar, etc. I try to always double check. As far as the mowing business goes, I failed to lock my trimmer on after a job. My rack is a knock-off of the Trimmer Traps, I think, and the arm comes up from the bottom, then you slip the padlock through the top. Theoretically, the trimmer shouldn't even stay on at all if you forget to secure the lock, but they will, until you drive a bit and jar it. Anyhow, I finished a job (convenience store), jumped in the Jeep and headed the two blocks to the next job. Unloaded the mower, mowed the property, loaded the mower, walked around to grab the trimmer. Yikes! NO TRIMMER! This was some 20-25 minutes later, you understand. I jumped in the Jeep and raced back to the C-store. I park on the lot adjacent to the business, and you can understand my relief when I saw my almost new Echo was still laying there, unharmed. I still can't believe someone didn't make off with it. Now, I ALWAYS double check in my mirrors as I start to pull out.
On a different note here's a practical solution that works for me. Being an irrigator I only pull a 25' trailer when we're working on something big. I place an orange cone at the back end of the trailer on the driver's side where I can see it in my rear view mirror. Forces me to pull the cone before leaving and I get a good look at the ramp.
