Some People are Crazy Weird

[Hannah]

God help us, some people are more than a sandwich short of a picnic.

You may not think someone you hire to do a job coming to do it without being given the job confirmation with the time and day is not a strange thing. However that is totally weird to us. That is what has happened this morning an univited maintenance man turned up. When we asked him why he came without confirming it with us they avoided answering a clear and simple question.

It wasn't enough he turned up without being asked to come he then began to have the most strangest conversation with us. Weirdo or Psycho?? He had done the job (which was mowing our back lawn (we have no front lawn and sleep at the front of the house so a distant lawn mowing sound we heard while still in bed we thought was our neighbour). A bit of a shock to have a knock at our door and this guy asking for payment. After his strange behaviour rather than argue we just paid him in the hope he would go away quickly.

Fortunately we had this guy sent to us through a Mower Franchise company and we rang them and cancelled all future services with them. He is their employee, we just let them know we were not happy about not being contacted and he hadn't had our permission to come. We didn't tell them about the strange agro conversation. This is about the 4th or 5th time he has come and we thought him a bit strange but today was .

We do not have a regular day and time for our lawns to be mowed but an arragement where we phone when we need it done and the Mower Franchise sends out the person they have assigned to your area (they are supposed to call and arrange a time & day that suits you not just turn up).

This guy came without being called, then had the weird converstation with us and didn't want to leave despite having his money in his hand. Fortunately after a while he decided he had to go elsewhere. We really didn't want to give him a reason to get upset with us so we let him carry on and were relieved when he went. Not sure what is wrong with him but I don't need him to come back.

Scarey weird and totally stressed out by the whole episode! Glad he left without any violence just the weird ranting conversation.

I had a recommendation for a local fellow who does lawns a while back but I thought the Mower Service we had were fine and have always been good and not too expensive. I have rung the local fellow straight away and had him do a quote before cancelling with the Franchise. He is a man in his sixties (sem-retired) and has a good reputation in the area.

I doubt the Mower Franchise does any kind of checking up on the people they hire. I think the only qualification they need is to have their own mower.

Still at the behaviour of this guy this morning. He wasn't on something I know enough alcoholics and drug users to know if a person is under the influence. The guy was stone cold sober and he wasn't sluring his speech or swaying or trembling and his eyes were not glazed over in anyway. That is what was so scarey this guy seemed totally in control of his body physcially but his behaviour and conversation was just like being in an epsiode of the Twighlight Zone!

[readyforhome]

What this makes me think of are the people I've run into when I used the laundry mat. The folks who would try to take a person's clothes, and when busted they woud claim they were holding them for said people. Well then, why not leave them in the dryer then? That is weird. I've had plenty of people come up to the door offering to cut our grass, but nothing like what happened in the original post.

[Hannah]

What this makes me think of are the people I've run into when I used the laundry mat. The folks who would try to take a person's clothes, and when busted they woud claim they were holding them for said people. Well then, why not leave them in the dryer then? That is weird. I've had plenty of people come up to the door offering to cut our grass, but nothing like what happened in the original post.

The mower guy was assigned by his company in the past to come when we rang up. This time he came without being assigned our place out of the blue. I guess he felt we were in his area and he had to right to cut our grass without asking?

Anyway he works for a Mower Company (not independant) and we have discontinued our service with them this monring and told them to inform the mower guy who came this morning to take us off his list.

Needless to say if he turns up again I will call the police and not pay him.

The turning up and mowing without permission wasn't the scarey thing but his raving conversation afterwards that had us worried about his sanity! Forget bad manners that you can deal with but crazy behaviour and rantings it's time to say Bye-Bye.

[readyforhome]

Forget bad manners that you can deal with but crazy behaviour and rantings it's time to say Bye-Bye. Oh no doubt about that. I am glad that things turned out as well as they did. No one was hurt; physically anyway, and you should be able to avoid this in the future since you discontinued the service.

[Hannah]

Forget bad manners that you can deal with but crazy behaviour and rantings it's time to say Bye-Bye. Oh no doubt about that. I am glad that things turned out as well as they did. No one was hurt; physically anyway, and you should be able to avoid this in the future since you discontinued the service.

[daygo]

Sorry, but you have been done by a cowboy as its called in the uk, nothing but a deliberate attempt to get money out of you and it worked, you need to be very careful who you give money to if unsure phone the company up or the police.

[Meg]

You really should discuss this person with a manager of the company that hired him, they deserve to know they have a weirdo on their hands. These people can act very normal in front of their boss, only to be quite different if they think they can get away with it.

[Hannah]

You really should discuss this person with a manager of the company that hired him, they deserve to know they have a weirdo on their hands. These people can act very normal in front of their boss, only to be quite different if they think they can get away with it.

It was only one incident and I am no psychologist. It was distrubing to us. Maybe he forgot to take his medication? I know there are people out there with mental illness that struggle with keeping jobs. I don't know more than my experience.

We have told management the reason for us not wanting him back is that he turned up without being assigned the job and he didn't give us a good explaination for doing that. We also said he didn't behave professionally that he lacked good customer relation skills. So management have a valid reason to keep an eye on him now.

The few times we have had his services when we called the company he had phoned us up to arrange a time to come. He came on time and did a really good job. You can't fault his mowing, he is the best one we have had and does all the edges, sweeps up afterwards. Just this one time that he turned up without being called and did the strange ranting and didn't want to answer our questions as to why he did come or didn't knock on our door to ask for permission to mow first.

Personally I have a mentally ill father & I don't need a maintenance guy turning up with similar behavioural pattern. The mentally ill shouldn't be denied a job because you think they may turn violent. My father has never turned violent on the job. He rants and rages and has fits of anger but never turned violent on the job. This guy could be the same.

How many people who look completely together and sane have walked back into work one day and just shot their co-workers?

I can't cope with weird ranting behaviour because of my father. Even my hubby thought it was too strange to have him back (plus he turned up without being called that was the other thing). The Mower company have a valid complaint from us. It is up to them what they do.

[Meg]

It was only one incident and I am no psychologist. It was distrubing to us. Maybe he forgot to take his medication? I know there are people out there with mental illness that struggle with keeping jobs. I don't know more than my experience.

We have told management the reason for us not wanting him back is that he turned up without being assigned the job and he didn't give us a good explaination for doing that. We also said he didn't behave professionally that he lacked good customer relation skills. So management have a valid reason to keep an eye on him now.

The few times we have had his services when we called the company he had phoned us up to arrange a time to come. He came on time and did a really good job. You can't fault his mowing, he is the best one we have had and does all the edges, sweeps up afterwards. Just this one time that he turned up without being called and did the strange ranting and didn't want to answer our questions as to why he did come or didn't knock on our door to ask for permission to mow first.

Personally I have a mentally ill father & I don't need a maintenance guy turning up with similar behavioural pattern. The mentally ill shouldn't be denied a job because you think they may turn violent. My father has never turned violent on the job. He rants and rages and has fits of anger but never turned violent on the job. This guy could be the same.

How many people who look completely together and sane have walked back into work one day and just shot their co-workers?

I can't cope with weird ranting behaviour because of my father. Even my hubby thought it was too strange to have him back (plus he turned up without being called that was the other thing). The Mower company have a valid complaint from us. It is up to them what they do.

You are making good points, Hannah, and I respect how you handled all this. I also see you have a very different attitude towards the mentally ill in Australia than we do in America. I guess I still have a lot to learn about tolerance and compassion. I hope I do learn too...

[Lindabear]

It is rather strange reading this because I have tried all week to find someone to come do our lawn and I can't find anyone!
(We live in a very rural area, with lots of retirees and not many young guys or men looking for yard work)
I was rather upset at not being able to find anyone, as both my parents are now in nursing home due to injuries
and I have enough on my plate right now, with my home and theirs...
but after reading this maybe it was a blessing!
I don't know what I would have done, but you seem to have handled it very well and praise God all ended well.