avalancher
Arboristsite Raconteur
You know, I like to help my fellow man as much as anyone else, or at least I thought I did.
Yesterday I participated in a clean up for a local resident sponsored by our church's youth ministry, and namely the idea was for me to show up, knock some trees down, cut em up, and let the kids haul the debris to the road. I was told ahead of time that it was for an elderly lady who just didnt have the means to help herself, and I willingly took the day off to be there.
The day before I went to the home to look things over and decide what equipment to bring along, and had a chance to meet the "elderly lady" and was surprised to see that she wasnt much older than me(I am 44). Maybe my definition of "old" could use some work? Maybe I am now considered old?
At any rate, I decided that since i was committed to the project, I would show up, but I would later have a word with our youth ministry about who should be considered worthy of our time, although in reality it really isnt my business I guess.Showed up an hour early to get some brush on the ground and almost immediately was put into position to change my mind.
First it was the badgering.
"look out for those power lines going through all the trees."
"Be careful with that chainsaw, you are acting awful reckless"
"Are you sure you should be wearing short pants?" (I was wearing shorts with chaps on over them, it was 98 degrees out and 100 percent humidity.)
Finally the kids and other adults showed up, and we worked for a couple of hours and broke for dinner at 6 when the pastor showed up with pizza for the whole crew. And dang it all, the old gal came out of the air conditioned house, scooped up a pizza box, and went back in the house!
I thought WTF? We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you take our dinner? I was glad it was hot out at that point because I really dont feel like eating much when I am hot, but it would have been nice to have something more than the scrapings off the pizza box for some dinner.Its amazing how fast teenagers can wipe out a pizza pie.Take five seconds to get to the box and its gone.
An hour later I came around the front of the house, and there was our beneficiary scooping gatorades out of the cooler and filling her shirt, and as she carted as many drinks into the house as she could carry in her bulging shirt, she told me she just loves Gatorade.WTF? We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you take our drinks?
Finally as dark approached we called it good and loaded our tools up, and i took the chance to take a quick inventory to make sure everything had gotten back to my truck. Just as I figured it was time to locate my daughter and hit the road, our beneficiary came up to me and wanted to know if I could knock down two more trees, this time in the front of the house.It was dark, i was tired, and ready to head home, but after some pleading from our youth leader I quietly dragged the 372 out of the truck and knocked em both down, bucked em up, and prayed that I wouldnt cut my foot off in the dark. And I just couldnt help but think, "We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you arent satisfied?"
You would think that would be the end of it, but it wasnt. Then it was trim up a hydragea in the dark, prune back a dogwood, and i finally said I aint doing a dang thing more.Its 930 at night, I have been humping brush, vines, and trash for the past six hours with nothing to eat, and I am going home.
The more I thought about it, the more ticked I got, and as I joined the group yacking out by the roadside, I put my thoughts out there for a few of the other guys, and was surprised at their response.I figured that if the homeowner wasn't old, she ought to be out there helping, and they were appalled at my callousness. I figured that if we were doing the work, we should be fed and watered first, and if there was anything left someone else could walk off with it.Again, I was met with blank stares. I figured that if a pro showed up to help you out, you ought to let the man do his job and keep your yap shut unless it was plain to see that he had no idea what he was doing.Again, the blank stares.
Sorry for the long post, but I needed to get that off my chest. I wish in my heart I could be more like others and freely give of myself even if the recipient isn't so thankful or worthy.
Yesterday I participated in a clean up for a local resident sponsored by our church's youth ministry, and namely the idea was for me to show up, knock some trees down, cut em up, and let the kids haul the debris to the road. I was told ahead of time that it was for an elderly lady who just didnt have the means to help herself, and I willingly took the day off to be there.
The day before I went to the home to look things over and decide what equipment to bring along, and had a chance to meet the "elderly lady" and was surprised to see that she wasnt much older than me(I am 44). Maybe my definition of "old" could use some work? Maybe I am now considered old?
At any rate, I decided that since i was committed to the project, I would show up, but I would later have a word with our youth ministry about who should be considered worthy of our time, although in reality it really isnt my business I guess.Showed up an hour early to get some brush on the ground and almost immediately was put into position to change my mind.
First it was the badgering.
"look out for those power lines going through all the trees."
"Be careful with that chainsaw, you are acting awful reckless"
"Are you sure you should be wearing short pants?" (I was wearing shorts with chaps on over them, it was 98 degrees out and 100 percent humidity.)
Finally the kids and other adults showed up, and we worked for a couple of hours and broke for dinner at 6 when the pastor showed up with pizza for the whole crew. And dang it all, the old gal came out of the air conditioned house, scooped up a pizza box, and went back in the house!
I thought WTF? We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you take our dinner? I was glad it was hot out at that point because I really dont feel like eating much when I am hot, but it would have been nice to have something more than the scrapings off the pizza box for some dinner.Its amazing how fast teenagers can wipe out a pizza pie.Take five seconds to get to the box and its gone.
An hour later I came around the front of the house, and there was our beneficiary scooping gatorades out of the cooler and filling her shirt, and as she carted as many drinks into the house as she could carry in her bulging shirt, she told me she just loves Gatorade.WTF? We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you take our drinks?
Finally as dark approached we called it good and loaded our tools up, and i took the chance to take a quick inventory to make sure everything had gotten back to my truck. Just as I figured it was time to locate my daughter and hit the road, our beneficiary came up to me and wanted to know if I could knock down two more trees, this time in the front of the house.It was dark, i was tired, and ready to head home, but after some pleading from our youth leader I quietly dragged the 372 out of the truck and knocked em both down, bucked em up, and prayed that I wouldnt cut my foot off in the dark. And I just couldnt help but think, "We are busting our hump out here cleaning up your place, and you arent satisfied?"
You would think that would be the end of it, but it wasnt. Then it was trim up a hydragea in the dark, prune back a dogwood, and i finally said I aint doing a dang thing more.Its 930 at night, I have been humping brush, vines, and trash for the past six hours with nothing to eat, and I am going home.
The more I thought about it, the more ticked I got, and as I joined the group yacking out by the roadside, I put my thoughts out there for a few of the other guys, and was surprised at their response.I figured that if the homeowner wasn't old, she ought to be out there helping, and they were appalled at my callousness. I figured that if we were doing the work, we should be fed and watered first, and if there was anything left someone else could walk off with it.Again, I was met with blank stares. I figured that if a pro showed up to help you out, you ought to let the man do his job and keep your yap shut unless it was plain to see that he had no idea what he was doing.Again, the blank stares.
Sorry for the long post, but I needed to get that off my chest. I wish in my heart I could be more like others and freely give of myself even if the recipient isn't so thankful or worthy.