Know-it-alls

[Deere John]

Do you regularly run into people that, no matter what you tell them, they have their own opinions and believes that they will stick to, despite getting the real poop from a professional??

I ran into one of these know-it-alls this weekend. I tried to tell him what had been going on with his birch trees, and cedar hedge. He had his own opinions and wanted to take the next 15 minutes to explain his false reasoning to me. Finally, I said you must be right, only to save my breath and time.

Anyone else have a know-it-all story. Or a "I told'ya so" story??

 

[treeclimber165]

The worst know-it-alls I have ever dealt with are of 2 types. The first is the homeowner who refuses to pay a reasonable fee to deadwood the oaks in the yard, but wants all the 'BAD' limbs cut off from over the roof (read: EVERY limb over the roof). Then complains about all the dead limbs in the yard every time it rains.
The second type is the homeowner who insists on getting their trees 'topped' because "My uncle had his trees topped every 3 years forever".
Needless to say, I walked away from many jobs rather than butcher trees. I never did a job that I was embarrassed to admit I had done.

 

[Deere John]

I wish I could say Brian that I never did a cropping job that I wasn't embarrassed about. That was early in my business, when information was not so apparently available to me. Luckily, it was only two Manitoba maples, and they are weeds up here anyway.

I know what you mean about people wanting what others have. I too have turned down work because the prescription the landowner wanted was not the best, or even acceptable. Sometimes, they would take my advice, and other times they would just get someone with fewer principles to do the job.

That raises the question of when, out of our own self-interest in keeping food on the table and the overhead paid, we use our best guess on the owner's ultimate intentions and do the job anyway? Its good to be "right", but you can starve to death if you are "right" too often.

 

[Darin]

Know-it-alls are the main reason I stopped being a equipment dealer. I never looked up parts, I pretty much new part numbers for just about anything that was popular. I had people tell me I was wrong everyday. It got very old. Maybe they thought I was some $6 an hour yahoo. One memorable guy asked if I had these specific tires for a snapper lawnmower. He wanted a wheel with a spline type middle. I told him actually the rest of the tire must still be on the axle {the tire broke off and the spline part is laminated inside the tire). He asked me if I knew anybody that knew anything. I didnt want any customers like that so I told him we were all morons and I referred him to the worst shop in town. He came and bought the wheel from me the next day. I dont mind commercial guys, its the homeowners that ask for help, and throw it back in your face. In most cases I think the clerk is the one who starts the problems with his/her bad attitude, but in a repair business I think the customer is coming to see you because his machinery broke down. So he is in a bad mood already. And if he is a doctor or lawyer. He knows how to fix everything. I actually have pretty good comebacks. One lady would not leave me alone. Whinning and complaining that her hunk of junk $99 saw was not worth fixing. I new she wouldnt pick it up when the bill was over $70 so I asked for it down before the work was done. She refused and refused to leave me alone about it. This lady would not get the point. So you have to put it point blank. I told her that I could fix her chainsaw, but not her head. I sound like a guy with a short lived business with these lines but we actually had the biggest shop in Colorado. We treated people like they treated us. Mostly great. The bad ones are the ones you remember though.
Darin

 

[treeclimber165]

You sound just like my buddy over at my local shop, Darin.

 

[Deere John]

Oopps - I punched "reply" rather than "back", but since I'm in here now, ...

The birch I did last weekend was one of those jobs. I had my labourer there working the ropes, my DoD (Dear ole Dad) to scam the firewood, and the homeowner, who spotted us before I had the job done.

He came out when I was about 25' in the tree and brought his little Sears saw with him. He wanted to make sure that all the possible firewood came out of the branches, so as to leave him with as little brush to haul away, as per our deal.

Well, first, he gets in the way of Ralphy, my ground guy, then he starts trying to catch the butt ends of the branches that I'm whailing down. Then, despite me stopping and asking him to chill, he starts trying to start his saw. As you know, the last thing the guy in the tree needs to compete with is a ground saw. So I told him I would cut it all up in about 25 minutes when I come down. That wasn't good enuf for him and he tried to start the saw again. Then I hollered down that a) I'm running this removal and there will be no sawing, or b) I'm gone and he can figure out what to do with the unbalanced tree. He took a powder, finally. He made it clear to me though, that he had deer hunted with a set of borrowed Bell pole spurs, and knew a lot more than I did about getting high up into the trees and rigging a position.

That got me fired up, so I told Ralphy to pull all the ropes out of the tree - the plans have changed, and I whailed the rest of it (2/3) in about 8 minutes and was on the ground pulling on the cord of my 064 to finish it off. (It didn't start right away, but that was OK, because I was in the mood to deal with a gummed up saw.) Plunk. Did I mention that he didn't want any dents in is lawn?? Ooops.

He is the reason I started this thread.

 

[treeman82]

yeah, i have i think 2 guys like that who i work for. 1 guy is great. retired tree guy / cop. i climb for him now because he cant do it anymore. but always when i am helping him out i get the lecture. but ya know what? i get some jobs where i dont wanna yell all the time, or excavation work, he is there to help me out no problem. so i dont complain. plus he gets me other work and feeds me whenever i go there. the other guys who i work for, i got one kid who thinks he knows everything. i work for his father. but he will help me out every now and again. this kid scares me sometimes. he really does. but he is "slow"

 

[sonny]

Yep. all the time especialy, when customers come in to have there saw repaired. they start telling you how to fix it. The more they talk the more the repair price goes up.

 

[BIG D]

I totally agree with you sonny. I always tell them "Well, you should fix it, it would be cheaper." Its very agrivating.

 

[Deere John]

I saw a sign in a shop - well two signs in two shops.

Sign in parts-supply house:

"Please be patient with me,
I only have two speeds you know,
And if you don't like this one,
Well, I'm pretty sure you're not gonna like the other one."

Sign in Chainsaw Repair Shop:

Hourly Shop Rate $35/hour
If you diagnosed the problem already $45/hour
If you tell me how it should be fixed $55/hour
If you want to watch me fix it for you $65/hour
If you want to help me fix it $75/hour
If you've worked on it first $85/hour