US postal service?

[hl_tree]

I had looked at a DEAD white birch early this spring for the friend of a good customer. Surrounded by shrubs, flagstone, and some other stuff. Everything could stay, but I told them $450. Honestly I wouldn't have climbed the thing... too dead for my liking. Could have done most of it with a couple of pole saws, 2 ropes, and my power pruner. The thing was probably a good 12" DBH.. not a little guy by any means.

Well I spoke with my customer yesterday and what he told me bothers me a great deal.

Apparently his friend's family got together and did the job. The friend and a few of his brothers bought this piece of property together. One of the brothers works for the postal service. One of his co-workers does tree work on the side, or used to do tree work on the side. So the co-worker came over, showed them what to do, and gave them the gear to do it with.

Now this bothers me... but also, which would you rather have in the hands of a US postal employee? an AK-47, or a chainsaw?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

What does the USPS have to do with it? What if it was a car mechanic, minister or school teacher?

Have you ever changed your own oil or sparkplugs?

Change the chairs around, does your arguement hold water?

For a long time I fretted about loosing work. then, to find peace, I decided that I needed a new scale to measure the quality of a job. Here are my criteria for allowing myself to be frustrated:

*Was anyone hurt?
*Was there property damage?
*Was the pruning done according to accepted standards?
*How far off from accepted standards was the work completed. If the tree was gutted-out but all of the cuts were at the collar I'm less frustrated. Rips and stubs burn me up.

I don't even think about business issues like insurance, paying taxes, licenses or anything else.

Loosing jobs is part of business. Saving $450 is part of life.

 

[Stumper]

I think Matt was trying to be funny with an oblique reference to the idiomatic expression "going postal" which has a basis in sad events of the past few decades.
Matt's inimitable style of whining and moping through life doomed him to failure yet again.

 

[hl_tree]

Justin, I do not consider myself to be whining or moping. Granted, I've whined and moped about other jobs lost in the past to unqualified people... I didn't care that I lost this job. In fact I had even referred them to somebody else who would do the job for less than what I would have done it for.

What I was trying to say here is I find it irresponsible for a supposedly qualified climber to just hand their gear to a co-worker in another field, a quick crash course on what to do.. and then walk away. How often do others post on here about how they did a good deed by helping somebody who was going to get themselves into trouble? They are applauded more often than not. In this case it was the opposite situation. I personally find it very irresponsible.

Now at the end of my previous posting I DID try to crack a joke, probably in poor taste... but it was an attempt at humor.

 

[tophopper]

There is enough work for everyone.

Even under-skilled, under-qualified hacks.

 

[Stumper]

Fair enough Matt. I didn't pick up on the lending of gear thing. You said it was doable with a pole saw so I didn't consider how the gear guy might have set the workers up to hurt themselves( but when I think about it inexperienced guys and a pole saw could spell disaster.)

 

[hl_tree]

It was only doable with a power pole saw because on one side of the tree there was a rock wall / parking area where it put you up a SOLID 10'+ above the stump. Even then it may have required a ladder... or better yet a bucket truck to get the tops out. It flat out wasn't climbable though. It was at the stage where it was falling apart on its own.