"Can borrow your tractor?"

[ultrarunner]

20 years use is not borrowing, it stealing.. I would not even to expect it back after that long.

About 15 years ago a friend borrowed my $250 belt sander... he was building his house and knew I had one.

A couple of years went by and I needed the sander and he couldn't find it... so I kind of let it go.

Last year I saw it in his garage and mentioned it... he said he had it for years... yes... 14 to be exact I'm thinking.

To be fair... he gave me a few tools when he closed his business... so I consider it a wash.

He's been fighting cancer and is with Hospice now... the chemo has done a number on him... I don't believe for a minute he was trying to pull anything...

Since then I simply don't let things go without a firm return date and write it down...

 

[cat fever]

Several years ago my BIL ask to borrow my pickup. It was an older truck (77 chev) but in perfect working order. Said he needed to haul some stuff to the dumps. This happened several times. I was thinking "how much junk could he have". But didn't question it. Well one day it just did not feel right so I got under it and found both springs where broken. This was a 3/4 ton camper special. My wife ask her brother what he was doing. Turns out he had a little concrete business. Breaking up driveways and pouring new ones. Using my truck to haul the concrete to the dumps. Once I found out that little detail the free truck gig was over. I paid for and replaced the broken springs my self. I would help him anyway I can but I go with any equipment.

 

[KubotaToy]

Wow... just wow and I'm speechless... really an example of no good deed goes unpunished.

I was hoping for a good ending... I guess you are still neighbors?

No longer neighbors , moved a few years later, I worked a job back then that moved me every 5-7 years. It did have somewhat a good ending, I learned something more about people...

Sad part of any "borrowing" deals gone bad like this is the unintended consequences. Her daughter was good people but was caught in the middle, her mother did not need money, also there were two older brothers who lived off mom and never helped any (kind of why I helped in the first place). She argued with her mom about giving the money back and offered to pay me back weekly out of her paycheck but she barely made ends meet which is why I hired her in the first place.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm still learning about people and being blindsided has a ripple effect...

Recommended new hires because they had the aptitude to learn and willingness to learn... one of the last ones did just that and excelled over the last two years... her department head said she wished they could clone her... generally they do not like to hire fresh grads... the time to train and being unproven.

Anyway... she left for a competitor which is OK... what was not OK was never a single word to me then or since and it was awkward when her Department Head called to say she was leaving and I was clueless.

I'm a good judge of character... at least I have a very good track record when it comes to hiring amongst the Department Managers...

Your situation with the injectors would really throw me and I would have handled it the same and chalked the expense as tuition to the school of hard knocks...

 

[Citydude]

"Can borrow your tractor?"

I think anyone who is or has been in the position to hire has gone through the "ones that left without a word". I hired 2 young men because I knew them when they were young kids and their parents. That was a mistake. Both left after 2 years of technical training. Not a thanks from them or their parents. Live and learn.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^I guess I am still learning... it did get me thinking why even bother since most of the hiring is not in my department... yet the other Department heads do seriously consider recommendations from each other... we all have to work together and a good fit is good for the company.

To add a little... she was so good... her supervisor asked if she knew anyone from school to recommend and she did... they were also hired and the consensus across the board was extremely positive at every performance review...

Now with one leaving... I just heard one of the two remaining will be following.

The first one normally would have to put in time to move up through the Hospital... she was fast tracked to the OR in part because she was capable and they had a rare opening... so right time and right place.

Going from $12 working in retail to $49 on your first anniversary as a OR Nurse with only glowing reviews does not happen very often... typically it can take 4 to 5 years for those with the aptitude to get into surgery.

Her parents were extremely grateful and wanted to take me out to dinner when she was hired... I declined... simply said her doing a good job would be my thanks because it sets the stage for others getting in the door.... she had been applying for almost a year everywhere and not having experience was her demise as it is for most new grad nurses today...

 

[Dead Horse]

years ago, i lent a tractor and chipper to a neighbor. $$ experience, and an arguement about who pays......

learned my lesson. never again. Someone needs help, mebbe I will and mebbe i won't, but the operator will only be me in any case.

 

[ultrarunner]

You can always say they rent them in town and they deliver work ready.

 

[paulfun9]

Reading some of the posts reminds me of a lesson I learned on borrowing from others.

I had an elderly neighbor whose husband farmed for a living who was widowed several years prior to knowing her. She had several older JD 4440s that had not been ran for over 10 years and wanted to get them running to sell. Her daughter worked part time for me as a secretary and she overheard me telling a friend I needed to disc up 15 acres to plant some yellow clover for my bees but did not have a tractor big enough. She offered her fathers tractors if I could get one running and would that would help them out also. Well, I spent a week off work swapping parts on three of them to get one to run but still could not use it because all the fuel return line rubber boots were rotten and leaked fuel all over the place. I was traveling the next week and told my neighbor to pick up some boots and o-rings at the JD dealer and I would replace them when I get back. While I was gone, my wife uses her little Kubota with her 4' disc and plows up the field during a pretty good job (took her quite a few hours). After I get home I stop by the neighbors to tell her I did not need to borrow her tractor anymore but I would still put the parts on it and get it running for her to sell. She told me not to bother that local JD mechanic came out and fixed the tractor and handed me a $1100 bill for 6 injector fuel line replacements. I looked at her and asked why they replaced the lines, all they needed was return boots and maybe o-rings, she said the mechanic told her I damaged all the lines and needed to replace them and she expected me to pay the bill since I worked on the tractor. Just for the record I never touched the fuel lines. I ended up paying the bill to keep the peace, but I learned my lesson the hard way on that one.

I would have never paid the bill! I simply would have explained that they were ripped off by the dealership/mechanic and that they should be arguing with them on why they replaced parts that were actually in fine working order. Peace or no piece a court order wont get me to cover the mess created by a dealership mechanic looking to rip people off in the process of trying to make people believe that they are the only ones you should trust to work on your equipment.

I have seen the practice of repairing things that didn't need fixed and blaming it on the last person to work on the machine many times. I have even had a shop manager who I suspected of unscrupulous business practices. Got a friend to take his car into the shop and play dumb somewhat backyard mechanic that couldn't find the problem. My relatively new shop manager tried blaming many things on his lack of skill and understanding and gave him an estimate for much more than was really needed. Funny reaction when I walked in and started talking to my friend and all of a sudden the shop manager realized he wasn't a backyard mechanic at all but a Top Fuel Engine builder with a borrowed car. Needless to say that was his last day of work at any of my shops.

 

[KubotaToy]

I have seen the practice of repairing things that didn't need fixed and blaming it on the last person to work on the machine many times. I have even had a shop manager who I suspected of unscrupulous business practices.

This is a topic for a new thread, happens more than people think. I paint mark bolts and parts nowadays...

My family owned several part stores in the past, had local shops swap out good parts just to bill labor hours.