Hall Of Shame: Tree Guy Asks For Drinks (And A Tip!)

Last Updated on July 2, 2015

Sometimes, even my wife and I get duped into hiring a contractor who turns out to be less than professional.  It happened to us just a few weeks ago.  There was a very large, dead, pine tree in our front yard that needed to be cut down.  Every tree service in town had either left a business card on the door or tracked me down in the yard with a spur-of-the-moment estimate.  For whatever reason I kept putting it off.

I guess my wife was tired of the procrastination.  She went ahead and just hired somebody one day while I was away doing my thing for somebody else.  I think she was mildly impressed by his hustle and persistence as he had been working the whole street all day.  By the third time he came around to bang on our door his price had dropped by a hundred bucks and she jumped at a deal.  The next thing I knew I was getting a text message: “the tree is coming down”.

They asked for “flavored” refreshments and then left the solo cups all over the yard.

The service was performed without major problems, but then the weirdness began.  First there was a somewhat intimidating request for refreshments from the owner.  What’s more, her offer of ice water wasn’t good enough for his crew.  They needed something with “flavor”.  Reluctantly, she whipped up some lemonade and brought it to them in the yard.  Mind you, she was home alone with two toddlers in the house who were going bonkers throughout.

Then, when they had finished up, the owner went to the door to ask not only for payment but also for a tip.  A TIP!  Servers should expect to be tipped.  Taxi drivers should expect to be tipped.  CONTRACTORS SHOULD NOT EXPECT TO BE TIPPED.  If you do a knock-out job on a project and the homeowner wants to throw you a few extra bones then wonderful.  But, it shouldn’t be expected.  And you certainly shouldn’t ask for one!  So unprofessional.  When I arrived that evening I found my front yard to be in disarray, and their red solo cups strewn all over the yard like trash.

All Hustle And No Class Will Make Tree Guy A Poor Boy

On some level I have to respect the hustle and the drive of this guy.  He wasn’t sitting and waiting for the phone to ring.  He was working my neighborhood like his life depended on it: banging on doors, running all over giving estimates, and just generally harassing the hell out of people until they agreed to hire him.  He had no fear, which can be a helpful instinct for service providers who want to be successful.

BUT…hustle and audacity have to be balanced by class and professionalism.  Just to break this lesson down:

1. Don’t ask for refreshments.  It’s not that hard to fill a cooler with ice and gatorade every morning before you leave home.
2. Don’t ask for a tip.  It makes you look like an amateurish tool and it’s just kind of rude and weird.  If somebody wants to offer you an unsolicited tip then great, but I think you’ll find that this is a rare occurrence.  It’s better to just price your jobs appropriately in the beginning.  Don’t low-ball and then hope to make up for it with a big tip at the end because this just isn’t going to happen.
3. Clean up after yourself.  When you are done and gone it should look like YOU WERE NEVER THERE.  The homeowner doesn’t want to see ant-covered solo cups all over the flipping yard after you’re gone.

At the end of the day, tree guy performed his service and he got some money out of my pocket.  But I will never hire him again.  It’s a shame…I have a few more trees that are starting to go and will need removal in the next year or two.  It’s thousands of dollars worth of work.  Had he been more of a pro I likely would have brought him back.  But, I don’t let people make a fool of me more than once.

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