women from venus, men mars

[citytransplant]

Site guy lays down up to 18” of stone for a 40’ x 24’ pole barn being built on my property. The builder shows up next morning with 2 clam-shell type post hole diggers and a couple of helpers that are the nicest guys in the world but need to spend a few more hours lifting weights at the gym. I guess he figured it was cheaper for him to pay these guys $8 an hour to dig the post holes than to rent something that could do the job in a fraction of the time.

I look out my bedroom window as I am getting dressed for work and see these guys going at the stone pad with their diggers and coming up with about as much material as could fit in a teacup. Once through the stone and into the dirt, they were grabbing even less. Just then my gal (who has been designated unofficial “project manager”) comes into the house to tell me that the builder mentioned that he has an old PTO driven PHD that has been sitting in his barn, not used for years (hint, hint). Of course she being much more generous than I, offered to allow him to use my brand new tractor, which sat 20 yards away from the site with the PTO spline having yet to see the light of day under its protective cover. Grrrrr.

The helpers must have jumped for joy as the builder jumped in his truck and headed off to his barn to retrieve his old PHD. I had to leave for work with the knowledge that another man was about to mount my tractor and ride her all day long. By the end of the day, 14 or so holes were dug and all poles were set in cement. The builder knowing that we have yards of fence posts to set, told us that we could keep the PHD for as long as we need it. The helper who ran the tractor for 4 hours said the Farmtrac “sure is nice, did everything we asked of it.”

You would think that I would be a happy guy. Somehow I ain't.

 

[RickS]

Wow, I would be upset, too! Hope the rest of the build goes smoother.

 

[Timber]

I would have just said no it wasn't gona happen. I just layed out 20 grand on my tractor and nobody is using it but me

 

[MX5000]

I think I would have felt a little violated. Your a better man than me. I would have left them to dig with their hands. He owes you big time.

Howard

 

[ovrszd]

yeah, I understand your frustration. Maybe it would help if you shopped online for a PHD??? After determining what that old PHD is worth, you might feel a little better about feeling violated. I'm sure you looked at the hour meter and know how much they ran the tractor. figure it up by the hour. I'm guessing we are talking hundreds of dollars per hour. I would rent out my tractor for hundreds of dollars per hour, would you???

 

[PineRidge]

It wouldn't have happened here, and I know my wife wouldn't have offered either. The guys should have rented a Bobcat, that's exactly how they dug mine. It was a piece of cake for the operator.

I would wonder about any work crew that wasn't properly equipped to do the job at hand.

Will they need your FEL next to set the truss? Be prepared if they ask.........

 

[Youare]

I will let anyone use my tractor but they have to understand one thing, it comes with me sitting in the drivers seat.

My wife fully understands that there are three things in this world that I don't let anyone borrow, my tractor, my chainsaw, and my wife. In that order.

It's one thing to let someone you know drive your tractor when you are present and quite another to know someone you don't know is using your tractor when you are not there.

Randy

 

[mikim]

My wife would've known a lot better than to make such an offer .... if not before .... than about 3 minutes later after I stopped a major rant. If he had a PHD ... he must've had something to run it with - at some point - and if he doesn't have it anymore ........why?.... no way he wouldv'e come within arms reach of mine.... at least til after the smoke cleared.

 

[Timber]

To be honest the guy should have said no thank you especially when it was offered by the person that didn’t own it, they should have asked you personally how you felt about that. Some times a spouse doesn’t know the difference between a hand saw and a chain saw; it’s just a tool to them

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Tony,
Well your a bigger man than I My new tractor is a 1986 MF-1040 and Im the operator plain and simple ! If something breaks, Im to blame, it works out quite well this way

Glad to hear you got your job done, sounded like they might be there forever