I started back to work yesterday. I'm trying to finish all my jobs in for the day. Working efficiently as possible and trying to make some moolah. I've got my earplugs in and my bone-conducting headphones with some podcasts rolling.

However, no matter how hard it looks like I'm working, no matter how busy I seem to be, there's always someone that wants me to stop working.

Yesterday, I'm fertilizing a lawn and an older lady walking a dog motions to me. I shut down the machine, pause my podcast, take out one earplug and say "hello, how can I help you?"

"You're really working hard. Ha, ha, ha."

"yes, ma'am."

"Ha ha ha.", she stares at me.

... "Ok, I'm going to get back to it. Have a great day." I replace the earplug (which is now dirty from handling it), start the podcast and try to get my machine running again.


Then today, I'm on another lawn, an old fellow pulls his car onto the fringe of the lawn, waves me over. I shut down the machine, pause my podcast, take out one earplug and say "hello, how can I help you?"

"Whatcha got there?"

"Fertilizer."

"Ooh, fertilizer. What's that? Like 10-10-10?"

"No, sir. Turf uses a different formula."

"Oh, the hot stuff."

...

...

"Sir, can I do anything for you?"

"Nope." and away he drives.

I replace the earplug (which is now dirty from handling it), start the podcast and try to get my machine running again.

When you see someone hard at work, do you get the itch to make them stop working and engage them in small talk? Boggling.

Fortunately, I'm not in a position where I need to be nice to potential customers.

Must be a giant pain in the derriere' to have to make nice with idiots just to preserve your business' reputation.

As a plumber, I get all kinds of customers trying to have a conversation with me, while working. At 64, my hearing isn't that great, and I don't wear my hearing aids at work.

I try to explain that I can't converse while I'm doing noisy stuff, but some insist to try, most are good to save it till after the job is done, some can't get the clue

This is pretty funny. "Hey there! What are you doing, working? All right then, bye bye!"

Maybe you need to move to a large urban area. Jersey City maybe. Do not ever move to the South,people here are friendly and like to talk. On the other hand you could get a Tshirt maybe that indicates you are Deaf and Dumb. Should help.

Just a blue sky idea, you could try open carrying an AR. If you get police responding to a MWAG call, just tell them one word, "gophers!"

Do you have a nice ass worthy of stopping and admiring?

I wouldn't stop you unless I was trying to hire you, for lawn care that is

I find the more I ignore people, the less they bother me. Avoid eye contact at all costs.

You could discourage most of that by dressing like uncle Fester.

When I was in my early teens I started doing lots of line changes (hand digging to replace the main line from the house to the cesspool/septic tank). The customers would often make pests of themselves (maybe because I was so young), coming out to check on the status and to ask questions. I learned early on how to deal with it. Any time they'd try to talk to me, I'd set the shovel down and have a seat on the edge of the trench and talk to them. After a few times, when they realized that every time they came out, I'd stop working, they'd stop coming out.

I've applied that strategy to many jobs over the years. I can work and I can talk, but won't do both at the same time. Which would you rather I do?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cas:
When I was in my early teens I started doing lots of line changes (hand digging to replace the main line from the house to the cesspool/septic tank). The customers would often make pests of themselves (maybe because I was so young), coming out to check on the status and to ask questions. I learned early on how to deal with it. Any time they'd try to talk to me, I'd set the shovel down and have a seat on the edge of the trench and talk to them. After a few times, when they realized that every time they came out, I'd stop working, they'd stop coming out.


^^^^^
Smarter man than me!!!

You just need a sign on the side of the wagon that says, "Unless your writing the check, do not interrupt me"

That depends.
If they're just working, I'm staying out of their way. I'll hold the door open, hay "hi", be cordial, but I'm not interrupting them unless it's important.

If they're working on my house/for me... Well, the roofers last summer got a case of cold Gatorade at lunch and somehow a case of beer "magically" appeared the their truck... The guys doing my bathroom got a damn good lunch from me almost every day. Outside of that, I'm not messin' with them either.

CPD, I've been one of the guys on the roof and I can say that kind of thoughtfulness is appreciated.

I learned from people like you and do the same sort of thing myself.

Mark, I feel your pain. You want to be polite in the interest of your business and possible future business but interruptions suck.

That’s pretty much SOP for the general public now. Never fails when I’m pushing a large, very heavy cart to the loading area for a customer, someone stands in the way and says, “Wow, that looks heavy.”

It sounds like old people who have been cooped up in quarantine and now want to socialize... with anybody.

A good friend of mine is an estate attorney. He always says his best clients are the talkative ones.

Honestly I think this is an old person thing. I could see my dad or father in law doing this. It wouldn’t even occur to me to talk to a worker on a job I wasn’t paying for.

Old people do the same thing in stores. Huge line and they take being friendly to the retarded level. There’s a line behind you. You want to talk? That’s what 900 numbers are for.

Not agism just an observation. Maybe I’m not too far from this myself if it’s catchy.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Old people do the same thing in stores. Huge line and they take being friendly to the retarded level. There’s a line behind you. You want to talk? That’s what 900 numbers are for.

Not agism just an observation. Maybe I’m not too far from this myself if it’s catchy.

That's inconvenient, but more forgivable in my book. There are a lot of old folks out there who are socially isolated. Live alone, few/no friends left, no kids or the kids only come to visit once every year or two, etc. As a result, that trip to the grocery store is often the only social interaction they get that week, and they may just be desperately trying to make a connection, no matter how small.

So I always try to be patient and indulge them, when I can. As you said, you or I may end up in the same boat someday.