So, I have a grievance to air. What is the deal with people in the service industry?? More specifically, people who deal with anything home related. Construction, electricians, plumbers, painters, etc.... most anyone who make their living doing something related to providing some type of service to your home. Of course this is a generalization, and I'm sure there are reliable people out there, but overall in my experience these people are complete flakes. Landscapers are the worst. Holy crap! I don't know if it's just this region of the country or what the deal is, but landscapers are the worst. I've never owned a house other than in Arizona so I have no frame of reference; but I wonder if it's like this all over the country. I swear to baby Jesus landscapers must be the most flaky people out there. 13 year old retarded kids look at landscapers and are like 'damn, you guys need to get your shit together'. Sometimes I wonder if being a complete flake is a prerequisite in order to mow lawns and operating a leaf-blower for a living. Once upon a time I owned all my own equipment and I took pride in taking care of my own yard including the lawn, trees, drip system, everything. This was when I bought my first home back in the late 90's. I thought it was actually kind of cool having my own yard to take care of. But after some time the novelty wore off and pulling weeds and mowing/edging became less sexy in 113 degree heat. Not to mention burning the better part of every Saturday doing the outdoor chores.

So I made a conscious decision after a couple of houses that I would let someone else do it. Sure, I have to pay them. Totally worth it. Then I figured out how flaky landscapers are. It's like pulling teeth just to get someone to regularly show up at your house. Never in my wildest dreams would I consider not showing up and also not calling with some kind of explanation. But that is the regular practice of landscapers. Unbelievable. I have gone through so many I can't even remember. Is my business really that unimportant to them?? Must be. Could you imagine just not showing up for work on a regular basis without any explanation or justification? It's sad when just showing up when your supposed to is a big deal. I recently placed a phone call to find someone new (cuz my current landscaper hasn't shown up in a month or so). His flyer looked promising. He actually takes credit cards (almost nobody does). And he makes a point to mention how RELIABLE he is. Guess what, not a return phone call. Imagine that! I think I'm going to open up my own landscaping business. Hell, all I would have to do is show up for every appointment and I'd already be the best company in town

-Jim

I was on my way to work this morning, and I ran into some construction. It was kind of a mess but it wasn't anything worth getting upset about. It was mainly contained to one intersection. Everyone had to merge into one lane (all four directions) and there were no left turns allowed because of the one lane deal. Of course there was one lady in her SUV who was trying to turn left. Of course, the rest of us behind her were stuck in no mans land because there is only one lane and she's waiting to make her illegal left turn. There were huge signs all over the place indicating 'No Left Turn'. Which tells me that she is either a complete idiot and can't read, or is fully aware of the situation but just doesn't care that she's not only breaking the law but screwing the rest of us behind her. We were all dead in the water until she made some kind of move. Fortunately for the rest of us there was a traffic cop on site managing the intersection. He noticed that she was attempting to execute a left turn. So he stepped in and wave her forward. Of course she wouldn't go forward; she is special and wanted to turn left. Then the cop physically stepped in front of her car so she couldn't turn left and viamently motioned for her to move forward. At that point she was threw her hands up in the air as if to signal - 'how rude. I need to go left and you are in my way'. That got me to thinking. This type of attitude really pisses me off. Ok, you have to get somewhere that requires you to go left. Well you know what, we all have to get somewhere. You are jacking up this whole system just so you are not inconvenienced. What gives this lady this sense of entitlement? It makes me wonder what goes through peoples minds sometimes. Now all of us behind her have to wait another one or two light cycles because of this biaatch. Ya, traffic sucks for all of us. But we're all in this together people. Sometimes following the rules is inconvenient. But it's inconvenient for all of us. And you wonder why you see 'road rage' incidents on the news all the time...

-Jim