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Problem with a neighbor
JamesRK
Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
For the first time in my life I have a problem with a neighbor, and guess what, it's about money.
There is no solution to this so I'm not asking for help or suggestions; it's just that I don't have Wyonie to cry to anymore, so I'll cry to you guys.
Billy from across the road and up a ways is a hard working honest man. He is in his mid eighties. His grandson, I'll call him Sammy, came to live with him a few years ago. Sammy is in his early to mid twenties now.
Sammy was looking for ways to pick up an honest dollar and my grass needed cutting so I hired him to cut and trim it for forty dollars. The deal was he was to cut and trim my yard and dog lot three times or at least twice a month. After the first two cuttings he stopped doing the trim and dog lot.
Sometime in 2014 or 2015 I made a deal with Sammy to cut and remove some saplings and small trees from the back. We agreed on four hundred dollars for the job. A couple of weeks later he came around and told me he needed money and wanted me to pay him in advance. I knew that idea sucked, but I did it.
After I saw he was never going to cut a sapling, I started a spreadsheet with a balance of four hundred dollars on it and told Sammy I'd take off forty dollars every time he cut my grass. He agreed to that but I was lucky to get my grass cut once a month after that.
Two or three years ago I bought two new lawn mowers. Sammy wanted to buy the two mowers I was replacing. We were standing in the dog lot discussing whether I wanted to sell them or not and he motioned to his little cousin to haul them away.
I asked the little fellow where he was going with my lawn mower. He just looked at Sammy. Sammy looked puzzled and said that's my lawn mower. I just bought it. I told him I didn't recall deciding to sell it, much less recall seeing any money.
He admitted we hadn't come to an agreement and he hadn't paid me anything. He said he would give me two hundred dollars for the two lawn mowers. I agreed to the price. That's when he told me I would have to add the two hundred dollars to what he owed me because he was a little short right now. I didn't like that but I did it.
Sammy cut my grass six times in 2016 and paid me fifty dollars in cash. He has cut my grass four times in 2017. He got the total down to one hundred fifty dollars which was a lot better than I ever expected.
Today Sammy was cutting my grass for the first time since 3 July 2017. It was/is in pretty sad shape. There are areas including the whole dog lot that have to be weed eat before the lawn mower can cut it. I took him a cold Doctor Pepper and told him since it was such a job I intended to take sixty dollars off what he owes me.
Sammy said he thought he paid that off two years ago. I told him that ain't the way it is. He asked if I didn't remember when we got into a big argument and I threatened him that I was going to call the cops if he didn't pay me right then.
I told him I would admit to being a little stupid but I ain't ignorant. In the first place there ain't a cop in this hemisphere that gives a poop whether he pays me or not, and in the second place that ain't the way I do business. I've never had an argument or disagreement with the boy before today.
It's a little unnerving to have a guy look you in the eye and tell you something you both know is a lie and tell it with that kind of sincerity and conviction. If I had been watching from the sideline I would have thought the boy had paid me.
I gave him three twenty dollar bills and told him I'm done with him.
By the way, the way I do business isn't like he told me it is. A run-in with my boss at Prudential many years ago is more typical of how I handle things. He stopped me in the passageway and wanted to get in my face and holler. I told him if he had something he wanted to discuss we could sit down and discuss it. If he wanted to fight we could go to the parking lot and fight, but we weren't going to stand nose to nose in the passageway and discuss it. In the course of our conversation he let me know I could be replaced. I asked him if he knew what I was doing before I came to work for Prudential. He said no, and asked what I was doing. I said "looking for a job".
Saying I threatened to call the cops into an argument over money is outside everything I believe in and stand for, not to mention pointless. I wonder if he really believes what he accused me of. I'm starting to think the boy might be delusional.
I never expected to get my money back but I thought it would be an honest "I can't pay you" or "I ain't gonna pay you" type deal. I didn't expect dreams of "I paid you to keep the cops out of it".
There is no solution to this so I'm not asking for help or suggestions; it's just that I don't have Wyonie to cry to anymore, so I'll cry to you guys.
Billy from across the road and up a ways is a hard working honest man. He is in his mid eighties. His grandson, I'll call him Sammy, came to live with him a few years ago. Sammy is in his early to mid twenties now.
Sammy was looking for ways to pick up an honest dollar and my grass needed cutting so I hired him to cut and trim it for forty dollars. The deal was he was to cut and trim my yard and dog lot three times or at least twice a month. After the first two cuttings he stopped doing the trim and dog lot.
Sometime in 2014 or 2015 I made a deal with Sammy to cut and remove some saplings and small trees from the back. We agreed on four hundred dollars for the job. A couple of weeks later he came around and told me he needed money and wanted me to pay him in advance. I knew that idea sucked, but I did it.
After I saw he was never going to cut a sapling, I started a spreadsheet with a balance of four hundred dollars on it and told Sammy I'd take off forty dollars every time he cut my grass. He agreed to that but I was lucky to get my grass cut once a month after that.
Two or three years ago I bought two new lawn mowers. Sammy wanted to buy the two mowers I was replacing. We were standing in the dog lot discussing whether I wanted to sell them or not and he motioned to his little cousin to haul them away.
I asked the little fellow where he was going with my lawn mower. He just looked at Sammy. Sammy looked puzzled and said that's my lawn mower. I just bought it. I told him I didn't recall deciding to sell it, much less recall seeing any money.
He admitted we hadn't come to an agreement and he hadn't paid me anything. He said he would give me two hundred dollars for the two lawn mowers. I agreed to the price. That's when he told me I would have to add the two hundred dollars to what he owed me because he was a little short right now. I didn't like that but I did it.
Sammy cut my grass six times in 2016 and paid me fifty dollars in cash. He has cut my grass four times in 2017. He got the total down to one hundred fifty dollars which was a lot better than I ever expected.
Today Sammy was cutting my grass for the first time since 3 July 2017. It was/is in pretty sad shape. There are areas including the whole dog lot that have to be weed eat before the lawn mower can cut it. I took him a cold Doctor Pepper and told him since it was such a job I intended to take sixty dollars off what he owes me.
Sammy said he thought he paid that off two years ago. I told him that ain't the way it is. He asked if I didn't remember when we got into a big argument and I threatened him that I was going to call the cops if he didn't pay me right then.
I told him I would admit to being a little stupid but I ain't ignorant. In the first place there ain't a cop in this hemisphere that gives a poop whether he pays me or not, and in the second place that ain't the way I do business. I've never had an argument or disagreement with the boy before today.
It's a little unnerving to have a guy look you in the eye and tell you something you both know is a lie and tell it with that kind of sincerity and conviction. If I had been watching from the sideline I would have thought the boy had paid me.
I gave him three twenty dollar bills and told him I'm done with him.
By the way, the way I do business isn't like he told me it is. A run-in with my boss at Prudential many years ago is more typical of how I handle things. He stopped me in the passageway and wanted to get in my face and holler. I told him if he had something he wanted to discuss we could sit down and discuss it. If he wanted to fight we could go to the parking lot and fight, but we weren't going to stand nose to nose in the passageway and discuss it. In the course of our conversation he let me know I could be replaced. I asked him if he knew what I was doing before I came to work for Prudential. He said no, and asked what I was doing. I said "looking for a job".
Saying I threatened to call the cops into an argument over money is outside everything I believe in and stand for, not to mention pointless. I wonder if he really believes what he accused me of. I'm starting to think the boy might be delusional.
I never expected to get my money back but I thought it would be an honest "I can't pay you" or "I ain't gonna pay you" type deal. I didn't expect dreams of "I paid you to keep the cops out of it".
The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
Comments
Sad there are people like this. I call them "scumbags" because that is what I think of them, and that is what they truly are. Other people are nicer, but I call a spade a spade.
Merc
I have done a few things similar to this for pretty much the same reasons with similar results.
The real problem is both of us are to nice.
Money well spent.
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Make sure your doors are locked at night, stupid people tend to do stupid things and never let him in your home while alone or see a wad of money [;)]. Get him out of your life.
Very good points and never call out "Who's there"? It just gives away your position in the dark.
Second mistake was of course paying him in advance for work not done.
Third mistake was allowing him to work off the debt without something fully agreed to and understood.
Well you get the point, you are a super nice guy and you were taken advantage of I am sorry to hear that.
You paid for a valuable lesson.
Money well spent.
So long as you refrain from any further involvement with him. He sounds pathological and will likely be back next time he is broke. Watch and see, someday he'll show up and cut your grass with out your consent and act like nothing has changed.
Make sure your doors are locked at night, stupid people tend to do stupid things and never let him in your home while alone or see a wad of money [;)]. Get him out of your life.
Bingo
May come in useful in the future.
If it wasn't so far, we'd hire don to come up and kick his Aztec.
Partly 'cause he wasn't family.
I have a family member that needed cash to make a few payments immediately or lose it.
Against my better judgement, I gave him the cash with the understanding, he would pay me back in half payment installments.
That way, he could make his normal payment and 1/2 to me.
Well I got the first 1/2 payment as agreed.
And then I got the second payment as agreed. EXCEPT...
When I deposited it into my bank account, I had two payments of mine own that had to be covered by the bank with over drawn fees.
The payment I had deposited... BOUNCED!
I confronted the family member and was assured I'd get repaid.
That was over twenty years ago. Every so often I get a phone call and told I'll get paid back.
My response... I forgot about that long ago... Don't worry about it.
But I still get called and told the same delusional thing every year or so.
I would bet most on here have tried to help someone out only to have it bite us in the *
I have been on the short end of the stick many times being the nice guy and I am sure it will happen again . I think the ones who do make good and are thankful make up for the dead beats and scammers I have tried to help along the way
I would agree watch your back he is looking for a free lunch
my "first time" I was 18 had a now rare 69 mercury cyclone 428 ( maybe 429 ) been too long my cousin constantly drove me crazy wanting to buy it , so I gave in after all he truly loved the car and had to have it
so with a heavy heart I sold it to him
one week later he stopped by could not stop bragging about the amount money he made on the car [:(!]
I explained ( just to make my self feel a little better ) I could have sold the car many times over and for a lot more money than what he gave and I truly thought he wanted the car
my 1st lesson in being hosed [:(][:(][:(]
Thieves when caught, always resort to violence.[;)]
At least, now, I hope you are rid of him.
He sees you as an easy touch. Keep that 1911 locked and loaded because this criminal little punk is a dangerous person, he may come back some night and try to get some more stuff from you.
Best of luck, you don't need this drama in your life.
Ros
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
I'm sorry someone took advantage of your kind nature James.
So I will offer neither.
It sucks to be taken advantage of.
I think sometimes people change history in their minds just so they can live with themselves.
There are honest, decent folks in this world and there are dirtbags. The first time I get a whiff of dirtbag, I'm done with a person forever.
I would cut ties with Sammy and tell him to never set foot on your property again. He's going to, because he now sees you as a mark. I'd wear your pistol, and when he comes around again call the police and have them tell Sammy to go away.
I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough go of it.
There are honest, decent folks in this world and there are dirtbags. The first time I get a whiff of dirtbag, I'm done with a person forever.
I would cut ties with Sammy and tell him to never set foot on your property again. He's going to, because he now sees you as a mark. I'd wear your pistol, and when he comes around again call the police and have them tell Sammy to go away.
When I told him I was done with him, what I meant was I was done with him. I think he understands that. Toting a shooting iron isn't even an adjustment for me. I do that already.
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough go of it.
There are honest, decent folks in this world and there are dirtbags. The first time I get a whiff of dirtbag, I'm done with a person forever.
I would cut ties with Sammy and tell him to never set foot on your property again. He's going to, because he now sees you as a mark. I'd wear your pistol, and when he comes around again call the police and have them tell Sammy to go away.
When I told him I was done with him, what I meant was I was done with him. I think he understands that. Toting a shooting iron isn't even an adjustment for me. I do that already.
I hate to think he doesn't realize that.
You may end up needing to show him... CLOSE and personal like.
When I told him I was done with him, what I meant was I was done with him. I think he understands that. Toting a shooting iron isn't even an adjustment for me. I do that already.I'm glad you stay prepared, James, but I sure hope you don't need it!!!!!!!!
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
You said you didn't want help or suggestions.
So I will offer neither.
It sucks to be taken advantage of.
I think sometimes people change history in their minds just so they can live with themselves.
True words!.....communists do it all the time!
That is the very damn reason I have no friends, well that and my attitude! Don
And the odor. Don't forget the odor. [;)]
quote:Originally posted by dcon12
That is the very damn reason I have no friends, well that and my attitude! Don
And the odor. Don't forget the odor. [;)]
Yep, friends stink! Don
Neal