new climber hits fence

[superjunior]

So my guys informed me that an aluminum decorative fence surrounding the clients pool was hit today New customer, high end neighborhood and property.. The job was a big hanger ripped out of a tree and was hung up in 2 other trees near the fence. There was also 4 other trees with dead tops to be removed.

So I call my groundy and ask what happened, who was in the tree? He saise well Dave was in the tree and it just fell out..? I called his bulls##t right away. I said there's now way that just "fell out' NO WAY!! Then the story turned to well there was another piece in there that fell out... He said he didn't see it happen but I could hear Dave telling him what to say in the background.

My main climber was in a nearby tree removing a dead top. So I call him up and ask what the hell happened over there?! He said Dave was up in the tree peicing it out and a big limb he threw caught on another limb and came strait down on the fence.

So he lied.. I'm more pissed about him lying then the fence.. I had to the call the customer and let her know the fence got hit. They tried bending it back as best they could but you could still tell it's a little bent up. It's kinda hidden behind a pine tree so you can't see it from the house.. I told the customer to have a look (cause I haven't seen it yet) and to let me know if she wants us to repair it. Waiting for her to call me back.. How embarresing, I'm so f#####g pissed

My main guy ask that I please don't rat him out about him telling me what really happened and I told him I wouldn't. Haven't talked to Dave yet so I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this..

 

[superjunior]

That kind of fence is easy to repair, I've done it myself and saved some bucks. It's just fits together and has set screws. Take the bent pieces to the fence store to match up replacement parts.

yeah I figure the repair would be pretty easy and not too expensive. I'm just po'd that he couldn't man up and say look, here's what happened...

 

[jefflovstrom]

I would give him a few days off to think about it. Without pay of course.
Jeff

 

[treemandan]

use to be you could drop a big ass limb on a fence and it would be allright. Times shore have changed and so has the stuff they are making fences out of. I hate to be lied to as well.

 

[beastmaster]

I have a few of those fence rails to my credit my self. More then once Ive tried to swing or throw a limb and it get caught on some thing and go where I didn't want it to. Sh - t happens, but no good ever comes out of lying about it. Besides the fact the truth will problably come out, the lost of trust just isn't worth it. It shows a lack of moral compass.
You should ream his a _ _ and put him on the ground for a few days. Not for the accident, but for lying about it.

 

[Zale]

In D.C. when a politician gets caught, its usually not the crime its the coverup that gets him in trouble. Can you work with this guy knowing he lied to you? I would fix the fence even if the client says its "ok". Go above and beyond their expectations.

 

[superjunior]

use to be you could drop a big ass limb on a fence and it would be allright. Times shore have changed and so has the stuff they are making fences out of. I hate to be lied to as well.

caught him in a lie last week too.. Him and I were going to grind stumps and I threw our 3150 in the back of the truck to flush a big a 4ft tall stump. Got to the job and told him to grab the saw and cut the stump down and he just looks at me with this blank look... ERRR... UMM... Joe took it off the truck before we left.... WHAT THE F##K?!!! ARE YOU KIDDING??!!! So I call Joe to chew his ass out and he said he asked Dave if we needed it and Dave said no we're just grinding stumps...

 

[superjunior]

In D.C. when a politician gets caught, its usually not the crime its the coverup that gets him in trouble. Can you work with this guy knowing he lied to you? I would fix the fence even if the client says its "ok". Go above and beyond their expectations.

might just do that. maybe I'll buy the parts and have him go there and fix it on his time. would be nice if he offered but I doubt that's going to happen..

 

[jefflovstrom]

I threw our 3150 in the back of the truck to flush a big a 4ft tall stump.

3150? What brand? Not a 3120?
His second lie would be home for a week and subject to an evaluation and probably gone at that time. Gives me time to get his last pay check to him when I fire him.
Jeff

 

[superjunior]

3150? What brand? Not a 3120?
His second lie would be home for a week and subject to an evaluation and probably gone at that time. Gives me time to get his last pay check to him when I fire him.
Jeff

3120xp my bad.

I donno. He really is a good kid and a good worker. I know he knows in both these cases that he royally effed up and would have got his ass chewed out big time.. Which he did for the saw last week and will probably get a good earfull tomorrow. Gonna see if he sticks to his story or mans up..

 

[ATH]

One thought:
Take him to the client's house when you go (to help you fix the fence). With him standing nearby, tell the client. "I appologize that we damaged your fence. We take full responsibility for that and are here to repair that damage. This is a rare circumstance, and I hope that you judge us less by a mistake and more by our willingness to make it right. Has everything else on the job been done fully to your sastifaction?"

The 'hope' would be that he sees owning up and correcting is much less painful than hiding, covering-up and lying.

Given the record so far, I am not sure I'd send him out by himself to do the repair. (1) He may not get it done right and tell you it is (2) If he is ticked at you that may come out when he is talking to the client which will do you no favors in the long-run.
I might tell him the cost of the parts is coming out of his pay...not because he damaged the fence, but because he didn't own up to a simple mistake... he needs to know that stuff happens, lets just get it fixed and move on, don't waste time acting like it doesn't.

 

[MackenzieTree]

Sj

yea first impressions are key but #### does happen like this one time i forgot to make an undercut on a pretty good size limb and just top cut it, it fell on the tips and the but end sprung up and NAILED and plastic fence railing im mean absolutly killed it into pieces, finished the job all botherted by it next day and 36 dollars later all was forgotten about, she had me back a bunch of times after. #### happens but its how its handled thats more important, as for your guys lyin to ya well time to roll some heads:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Gologit]

So I call my groundy and ask what happened, who was in the tree? He saise well Dave was in the tree and it just fell out..? I called his bulls##t right away. I said there's now way that just "fell out' NO WAY!! Then the story turned to well there was another piece in there that fell out... He said he didn't see it happen but I could hear Dave telling him what to say in the background.

Not only is Dave lying to you, he's involving your groundie in his lying. That guy needs to go.

 

[Toddppm]

Some people just default to lying when #### happens and they know they screwed up. It's a weird thing, not that it should be tolerated. Seen my kids do the same thing.

 

[jefflovstrom]

I would let him go. It is a good life lesson and you dont ned a liar!
Jeff
we Swede's have no emotion.

 

[treemandan]

caught him in a lie last week too.. Him and I were going to grind stumps and I threw our 3150 in the back of the truck to flush a big a 4ft tall stump. Got to the job and told him to grab the saw and cut the stump down and he just looks at me with this blank look... ERRR... UMM... Joe took it off the truck before we left.... WHAT THE F##K?!!! ARE YOU KIDDING??!!! So I call Joe to chew his ass out and he said he asked Dave if we needed it and Dave said no we're just grinding stumps...

Love the merry-go-round.

 

[treemandan]

yea first impressions are key but #### does happen like this one time i forgot to make an undercut on a pretty good size limb and just top cut it, it fell on the tips and the but end sprung up and NAILED and plastic fence railing im mean absolutly killed it into pieces, finished the job all botherted by it next day and 36 dollars later all was forgotten about, she had me back a bunch of times after. #### happens but its how its handled thats more important, as for your guys lyin to ya well time to roll some heads:hmm3grin2orange:

Dem plastic fences do exploded when ya hit em. You got to get all the slivers cleaned up, Man, if a kid or dog got cut on a peice you missed...

 

[Bigus Termitius]

If he'll fess up, then keep him and work with him, if not, say bye.

 

[treeclimber101]

I don't even see the need to lie , if you've done tree work for any length of time you know fences are sometimes casualties of war , I mean they can be fixed quickly and usually pretty cheap , just seems his character maybe a bit flawed , Fire Him yea prolly I guess he just started something now that can never be fixed ...

 

[superjunior]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I didn't bring it up this morning and he sure didn't offer up anything.. Had a lot going on including going back over there to asess the situation. Homeowner was there and was very nice and understanding. I apologized again and asked if everything else was done to her satisfaction. She said she really appreciated my honesty and will be calling us back in the future for more work.

She wasn't really concerned with the horizontal piece, we got it pretty strait. Just unscrewed the 3 bent pickets and put them in the truck. A buddy of mine is a fence guy and has the replacements sitting in his garage. Giving them to me for free.

Now if only Dave was as honest I would have respected him a lot more, now I've got some thinking to do.. Having a company meeting fri morning to discuss this situation and some other issues that need to be addressed