That customer who watched me prune his oak and told me I was doing it wrong

Had a guy in St. Louis last Tuesday stand right under my drop zone while I was taking out a 4 inch limb over his deck, shouting that I should cut everything from a ladder instead of climbing. He said his uncle was a tree man in the 70s and they never used ropes. How do you handle know-it-all homeowners without losing your cool?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah24826d ago

Step out of the way and let him finish his story first, then ask him if he'd rather have his deck smashed in or his tree cut proper. I get it, people want to feel important and tell you how their uncle did things back in the day, but standing under a drop zone is just asking for a trip to the ER. You gotta be firm but polite, say something like "I hear you, but climbing's safer for both of us and your property." If he keeps pushing, just stop work for a second and let him think about whether he wants to pay for a ladder repair or a head injury.

andrew64626d ago

Ask him straight up if hes ever actually had to pull a branch off a roof that his ladder fell into while he was standing under it. I bet most of these guys telling you how to do your job have never even trimmed a low branch, let alone dealt with a sketchy leaner that could crush them. The whole "my uncle did it this way" thing drives me nuts because uncle probably also drank a six pack before climbing and thought safety glasses were for wimps. But heres the thing, if you stop work and give him that choice calmly, a lot of them will back down cause they dont want to be responsible for you getting hurt on their property. Youre the professional and you gotta own that authority without being a jerk about it.