Editorial
Front Page - Friday, May 21, 2010
View from the Cheap Seats
Lawn clippings
Bill James
I came to work this morning thinking I was going to write a column complaining about the younger generation and what appears to be their reluctance to work hard. The problem that I have with that tired old story is that complaining about it makes me sound old. Plus, it is a complaint that has been going on for generations. That doesn’t mean that it is not true. It just means I am not going to spend any more time whining about it at this time.
What I really want to whine about is my inability to find a lawn service that can take care of my needs. How hard can it be? I admit that, up to this point, I have left the search to a former employee in the belief that a buffer between me and the service provider might make things go a little smoother. That way, my rantings can be filtered in such a way as to prevent immediately offending the lawn care company.
My relationship with my current provider has already been poisoned by my offering more money if they will just seek to improve my yard each week. Every time I have made that offer in the past, it has been turned down. I don’t understand. In a down economy with everybody and their brother wanting to start their own lawn company, there has got to be someone out their that can do the quality work I am seeking and wants to make more money doing it.
What I think I am going to do is hire a grounds keeper. Think about it. For what I pay to have both of my yards done, I can almost pay someone to work full time. I could have a full time grounds keeper. If you consider the fact that I really don’t need anyone from November through March, except to clean up leaves, I only have to pay a full time person six or seven months a year. It seems like a no brainer.
An even better idea might be to start my own lawn service. I don’t really have to make money. If I could just break even and get my yard needs taken care of, I come out ahead. I could make the first employee William James III. He needs something to do over the summer and I can definitely afford the salary he requires. After all, one of the tricks to a successful business is keeping your overhead low. I think I will name the new company JAMES LAWN FIRM.
The problem with this idea is that inevitably I will be sucked into the day to day work of “JLF” and will find myself mowing lawns in the late evening. In truth, it is not the mowing that I dislike, it is the trimming and such that is better left to someone else to do. Of course, I really don’t want to do any mowing either. I get no satisfaction out of working in the yard. I did enough of that when I was younger. I just want to enjoy my yards.
In the spirit of put up or shut up, I will begin my business plan for “JLF” today. We will be an elite lawn care service that treats and cares for your yard in the same manner we want ours treated. My only real concern is how long it will be until I fire my own company for not properly caring for my yards. Even worse, what if “JLF” gets to the point that I/they refuse to continue to do my yards. It could happen.
If there is any silver lining to what is going on with my yards, it is the fact that we are currently painting the office and the workmen and the lift they are driving around the house is destroying the lawn. That gives me another four or five weeks until we have to start worrying about fixing the lawn. “JLF” should be up and running by then. At least we can hope. In the CHEAP SEATS that is sometimes all you have.
• On a much more serious note, the Annual Meeting for the PCBA was Wednesday night. Patti James, now Past President, must be commended on a great job as President and a very successful year. She and her Board worked hard and did a great job. While I was good about not trying to stick my nose into the day to day running of the PCBA, she did have to put up with my “Past President” quips and criticisms. She handled those very well. She just told me to shut up.
Congratulations Patti on a great year.
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