Rustywreck
Silver Member
when you give him the money, keep $50.00 and tell him that's what you charge for a collection fee
Hi all,
Ok, I'm a little steamed right now, so this is my vent.
We don't usually get a lot of snow in Southern Maryland. As you know we've been slammed. It's a really heavy snow, and my little tractor would have taken forever to move it. So we really appreciated it when our neighboor (Mr X) came though with his big 640 John Deere and a hydraulic 8 ft blade and cleared Doe Lane for us. Gee that's swell. In the past I've usually slipped him a $20 for diesel money, and in talking to the other 4 neighbors found that they did not. Hummmm.
So it was great having him come up yesterday and clear our lane. And this morning he was back. I was already on my Kubota when he came through. Wow that sure save's me a lot of time.
So he drives up to my place, hops out and says, "So you're taking up the collection for me?" I said, "Well, we were just going to get a card for you." (I had already talked to one of the neighbors about getting him a card and taking up a voluntary collection) and he comes back, "$50 a person, or I can always put the snow back. This is a $60K piece of equipment here and I need to pay for it, and people are calling me to clear their drive ways for $75, so I'm only charging you all $50."
So I went in, got his $50 and talked it over with my wife. He's a neighbor and good friend, but really, to render the service and then ask for payment, and to ask me to collect it I think is a little much.
So I gave him his payment and then said, "Here you go, but I'm going to tell you, I don't like collecting from the other neighbors for you. I'll do it, but next year, you don't come back here until you get a call from us." And he said OK and then left.
What would you do?
when you give him the money, keep $50.00 and tell him that's what you charge for a collection fee
Well, it certainly qualified as an awkward moment
I see three points:
1) The neighbors had not been neighborly enough to offer to pay in the past.
2) Mr X may be shy about knocking on the door of every house on the lane, thinking, don't these people know this costs money?
3) When he asked if you would collect, and you answered, 'we were thinking of getting you a card'. May have prompted the response about putting the snow back.
It could just be crossed wires, you thought he was doing it to be neighborly, in his own mind, he was being neighborly but began to think the privilege was getting abused.
I have helped neighbors with snow and never asked, wanted or took anything for it, it was always offered however - which I would consider polite. That he is your neighbor and has a big tractor, doesn't obligate him to clear your lane to be good neighbor IMO.
Decent neighbors are rare enough. If you like him well enough in other ways, don't make a big issue out of it. Just explain, like others have suggested, how it seemed to you and how it has to be in the future.
How do you and your neighbors go about shared lane maintenance the rest of the year?
Dave.
Hi Dave,
We agree ahead of time on costs and share the burden. On one instance, a neighbor asked for forgiveness of their portion of a shared debt. I polled all the neighbors and we collectively agree to forgive the unpaid debt. The neighbor that couldn't pay was going through a divorce at the time and was close to insolvent.
when you give him the money, keep $50.00 and tell him that's what you charge for a collection fee
There was one fella today that was clearing out his drive with a shovel and as I started up a drive across the road he started yelling "don't you even think about pushing that snow onto my property". Didn't even give me a chance to offer to help clear his out when I was done with this one. Not sure what his problem was but would have gladly helped him and saved him hours of work.