8.30 every Monday I arrive at an old customer. Old to me as he was one of my first and old in the other sense as he is 96. His wife died earlier this year, his sons are in the US so he is pretty much alone for most of the time.
He likes a chat now more than ever and I get the feeling I am the first person he would have seen since before the weekend.
He is well educated, bright as a button and consequently very interesting to talk to. I don’t normally hang around too long and chat with customers, just not possible, but because I lost my mum this year and my Dad is on his own down in Cornwall. I guess I feel he could be my Dad so I end up chatting for way longer than I should,
Every time I say “must go now Arnold” he would say ”yes time is money, thank you for the chat”, and I would eventually get away.
This Monday however in conclusion of our chat he said “by the way do you charge me for the chat”. I suppose I was somewhat taken back and said "most certainly not", to which his immediate response was “then you must”, which took me back ever further.
I know he is a wealthy man but there is no way I would consider charging and felt so sad that he would think it ok if I did. Goes to show how desperately lonely people can be... I understand women cope best in this situation which is perhaps just as well as they out live men by a good number of years. (men working themselves harder in to an early grave and all that),
Only joking girls, honest
Anyway I am glad that he obviously appreciates our chat and I shall count it as my good deed for the day in future.
And no, the question was not prompted by how much I charge him each Monday as most of the time it’s just a fixed price lawn cut.
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What a great thread - my own view is that i would rather work an hour extra a day having had those chats than smashing through the work and on to the next customer. I love interaction with all people, especially interesting ones, and elderly people always teach me what is really important in life. You having that chat may be vital to his mental well being and none of us should overlook the fact that touch wood, we will also be old and perhaps lonely in our later life.
Well said Andy. We're a service industry, and part of the service should always be to look out for the clients when you might well be working for them for many years. I have lots of house keys and alarm codes so I can water houseplants, stop the mail piling up etc. when clients are away, some of them go off for the whole summer holidays with the kids!
Funnily enough I had the same thing with a very wealthy old gent, the father of one of our friends. He rarely saw people, so valued the time he had chatting to me about the garden. He was always insistent that I charged for my time whether it was spent gardening, chatting or helping out with odd jobs like changing a light bulb. He died this year, but I got a lot of income over about 15 years of working for him and would have done the extra bits willingly. To me it's no different from working a bit extra in an office without insisting on overtime, just what you do if you enjoy your work.
I was just thinking about this the other day, I have only been self employed doing my round for just short of six months, most of my customers are pensioners and I have two that are well into there 80's and a couple in there 90's. It just occurred to me the other day what a sad profession Gardening can be when these elderly people you build up bonds with pass away.
One elderly chap I work for (in his late 80's) is an incredible guy, out there with his makita strimmer and flying around his big garden like a man half his age. I love to have a chat with him and his wife always brings me out a cup of coffee at bang on 11(no instant stuff!!) and the biscuit tin!. Anyway, I always try to add on any time I feel I have spent talking to him at the end of my time there, Although he is out there allot and does love a chat, it may sound a bit weird but I do sometimes wonder if he see's my time there as Gardening time/chat time!!.
Anyway, without wanting to get all depressing on you all, I just think it's a little sad that because my new career is just starting out the chances are i'm going to see allot of old people come and go in this time. I'm sure there are many of you guys out there that this has happened to more than once.
Gordon, Very true, it takes me back when I think of them too.
It is very important to look out for the older generation and the people who may be alone on the dark and cold nights. I always try to makesure they are managing to keep warm and have enough food, and even offer to visit the shop for them if needed particularly if the weather gets bad.
As I would hate them to venture out in the cold and snow and slip or get stuck.
Wish sometimes we could all slow down and look out for each other a bit more, as everyone is in such a rush to earn the next pound. Some of us forget about the people who the speed of todays world seems to forget.
Hi Gordon
I used to maintain a wonderful elderly ladies garden, she wanted us there every week for an hour and would demand that we come in to the kitchen and have a cup of tea and some of the cakes that she had made, the garden only took around 20 minutes but she enjoyed having us there and someone to talk to, we told her on many occassions that we could do the work in half of the time but she was adamant that we should be there for the whole hour.
I think we did a lot more for that lady than just keep her garden tidy, also it was good through the winter to keep an eye on her and make sure that she was ok.
Dave