Is it Just Me? (Weed Whackers)

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Setec Astronomy

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Is it just me or do the landscaping people find new and better ways to fling stones at our cars and other precious objects? A few years ago they all seemed to get the idea to edge walks and beds and curbs by turning the weed whacker sideways so that they can fling the rocks right out of the ground. They actually put a divot in a plate glass window where I work doing this.

I stopped by my friend's house last week (she rents) and as I was going in the door the landscapers showed up and by the time I got in and told her I was moving my car (which was in the street) and that she should move hers (which was behind the house) I already had a rock chip in my door and I just noticed today she got one too (not to mention the part where I got hit (me, not my car) by something as I was coming out the door.

My cars have gotten winged several times just DRIVING BY these lunatics...they are everywhere, and they seem to be getting better at rock flinging as time goes by. It's bad enough getting stone chips driving on the highway, but you seemingly can't escape the landscapers, whether it's home, work, a friend's house, or just driving down the darned road.
 
yeah I hear ya... all winter I'm the first one in the work parking lot right next to the cross walk, probably the widest parking spot there is... the moment they start cutting grass I change spots... last week the guy that parked in my "winter spot", was looking at his bmw bumper all scratched up, with orange plastic fibers in the scratch, sees me coming, and says, "now I know why you don't park there in the summer..."

the weed wacker guy did a nice job on his bumper, so I gave him a business card!
 
Yeah, I hear you. I was driving to work the other day. It has been raining here for 18 days now, so these guys are just looking for a chance to get out and hack down the lawns. This guy was on his machine doing the area next to the road spraying all the clippings and everything else in the road, not to mention with no regard to anyone driving by, spraying their vehicles as they went by. Good thing I saw him in time and was able to get over in the other lane. One car had the lower half of the car covered in grass clippings and dirt, WTF. I am sure if they did damage your vehicle, they will not pay to have it repaired.
 
My favorite incident with groundskeeping 'professionals' was when I had a near brand new, black, RX8 - the company i worked for decided to do some street-side landscaping improvments which included several trees being planted, sodding, cutting trimming mowing hedgetrimming, etc...

So, where to the 'professionals' decide to park their pickups filled with topsoil? Right next to me. both sides. Near the area where they are planting trees? nope. Raising shovels in the air and waving like they just don't care? yep.


Yeah. good times - my boss gave me a coupon to the local chain car wash. way to go upper management. :)
 
The worse is the guy at my local pay n spray car wash. He walks around and cuts all the grass there with a weed wacker.

Then he puts on one one of those Ghost Buster style backpack blowers and just randomly blows dirt, rocks, and grass in no specific direction. Its like he is trying to outdo the dirt cloud that followed Pig Pen around.

But, I can't say nothing because he is the owner and lets me detail in his bays for free.
 
Becciasm said:
So, where to the 'professionals' decide to park their pickups filled with topsoil? Right next to me. both sides. Near the area where they are planting trees? nope. Raising shovels in the air and waving like they just don't care? yep.
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That reminds me of the snowstorm where it was just me and a couple of other people left at work and they came to plow what was maybe 8" of snow, and I go out to start cleaning my car and the shovelers are "helping" us by cleaning the snow off the roofs of our cars...with their SHOVELS...fortunately I stopped them before they got too far.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
That reminds me of the snowstorm where it was just me and a couple of other people left at work and they came to plow what was maybe 8" of snow, and I go out to start cleaning my car and the shovelers are "helping" us by cleaning the snow off the roofs of our cars...with their SHOVELS...fortunately I stopped them before they got too far.
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I would have lost my sh**..
 
swanicyouth said:
The worse is the guy at my local pay n spray car wash. He walks around and cuts all the grass there with a weed wacker.

Then he puts on one one of those Ghost Buster style backpack blowers and just randomly blows dirt, rocks, and grass in no specific direction. Its like he is trying to outdo the dirt cloud that followed Pig Pen around.

But, I can't say nothing because he is the owner and lets me detail in his bays for free.
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Sounds like a pretty smart guy... people pay him to clean their vehicle and he so kindly gets it dirty again on the way out! "See you sooooon"
 
just remember, those people that pay the landscapers for the perfect manicured lawn are the same people who will pay for a good looking car sitting in the driveway next to the freshly detailed yard.
 
Here in the desert southwest, you would think there wouldn't be a need for these things, but this town I have nicknamed "The Landscaping Specialist Capital of The World".

Everybody and their fly by night brother here is a landscaper, trucks, and trailers abound, there's more lawn mowers and weed whackers than people, and you'd swear everyone here has Kentucky Bluegrass in their yards Not! LOL
 
Coming from a person who has worked for two lawn care businesses I know that there are a lot of lawn care "professionals" out there that do hack jobs. I was fortunate enough to work with people who taught me the right way to do things. My biggest pet peeve are people who blow grass on the road, sure sometimes you can't help it, but if you build your own cover to go over the chute you can control how you blow the grass. You can even closeit for a short period of time and not blow any grass. Then there's edging like was mentioned. You can edge two ways, one throwing the grass away from you or two throwing it towards yourself. It can be very painful and dangerous throwing it towards yourself, but if there are rocks they should be careful or avoid it altogether.
 
The worst by me is the home owner using the leaf blower to "sweep" his dirty driveway (a lot of dirt roads around me) so hes blowing grass, dirt, sand and rocks as the driveways get really dirty . When you drive by they never even try to stop or point it away. They just keep on pointing it to the road.
 
D~ralliart said:
Then there's edging like was mentioned. You can edge two ways, one throwing the grass away from you or two throwing it towards yourself. It can be very painful and dangerous throwing it towards yourself, but if there are rocks they should be careful or avoid it altogether.
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I just don't understand the edging along a side walk or curb...why do I want a 1" wide dirt area between the sidewalk and the grass? Of course I never understood the shovel edging they do to the beds in the spring, where they cut away 1" of your lawn...and after 10 years the bed is a foot wider and you have a foot less of lawn.

I always imagined there was an article in "Landscaper Monthly" that said "Edging--Your Ticket to Reduced Mowing Time and More Mulch Sales!", kind of like when I used to read the car repair shop magazines where they would have articles on how to milk more money from your customers.
 
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