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I have one neighbor that I get along with just fine. He is a little strange, but we somehow manage to get along just fine. He has hauled off some trashy items for me. I took care of his plants and also mowed his yard last year while he was on vacation. He gave me a really nice painting of a fox lying in autumn leaves that he, himself painted. I'd say we are really good neighbors.

I was blowing leaves today at the same time he was. We were both preparing to mow and both wanted to mulch up the last of the leaves. I stopped and walked over to him. We chatted for a few minutes and then I offered to do a full servicing of his push mower for nothing more than the cost of the air filter. I have plenty of oil and spark plugs on hand so the only thing I'd have to buy would be the air filter. I was standing there looking at the mower and I know it takes a $5.00 foam filter. I actually said that I'd like to do it so he could tell his fiends about my servicing. He looked me right in the eye and said, "No, I'm not interested in anything like that." So, either he doesn't believe I'm qualified to do the work, or he is a whole lot stranger than I thought. What really got me was when I then volunteered to sharpen the blade for him. He said, "No, I never have a blade sharpened. I just put a new one on every third year." WOW!

I know those type of people exist. I just didn't know I lived right next door to one. LOL!

Some guys just won't accept the fact that other guys know something they don't. They would rather pay for advice from a stranger than accept free advise from a friend, neighbor or relative. Don't let it bother you. You did a generous thing by making a polite offer. It could be a EGO thing or just embarrassment but it's not personal. Being helpful to neighbors can be tricky. I once was snow blowing my neighbors drive as he and his wife are very elderly and don't have a snow blower and we were having a major snow storm. I had seen the wife trying to walk to the mailbox and turn around because it was too slipery for her. I was concerned they may need to get out for an emergency, or for food or whatever or slip and fall walking out to the mailbox. As I was making the second pass, he came out and told me to stop and he would call a service. And he was very insistent. Same neighbor was battling cancer and very ill and couldn't mow his lawn for over a month. His yard needed a lot of attention and another neighbor knocked on my door and volunteered his time to help, but when we rang the door bell and asked the wife if we could help them out, she said her husband would not want us to mow his yard or do any cleanup and she called a service a couple days later. I know they just didn't want to burden us and they appreciated the offer but they jus thad a hard time accepting free neighborly assistance.

People are weird. I bet if you looked inside his house, you might have to call the authorities. Meth labs and grow houses all around here......

bkeller500 said:

Some guys just won't accept the fact that other guys know something they don't. They would rather pay for advice from a stranger than accept free advise from a friend, neighbor or relative.

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Now, see? There is a thought or idea that never crossed my mind. Yes, that is entirely possible. I never thought of that because I don't think that way. I can assure that if somebody that I know who is always tinkering with cars offered to change the oil in my car for free, I'd let him go right ahead. I'm certainly not the kind of guy who is afraid to admit he doesn't know something. I could have done all the work we have had done on this house myself. It probably wouldn't have turned out quite as nicely as what my contractor did, but I could have done it. There is nothing that the contractor did that I'm incapable of doing. It just would have taken me 4 or 5 times longer to do it and the end result wouldn't be quite as good. Same with having my mechanic do all the work that needs done on my car. Back in the 70s I built quite a few high performance engines and did a lot of repair type work for a other people. There is no comparison between that and the electronic monstrosities of today. Therefor, I leave it to my mechanic.

slomo said:

People are weird. I bet if you looked inside his house, you might have to call the authorities.

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Yes, a lot of people really are weird. LOL! I seem to attract them like flies to honey. Not sure my neighbor is involved with anything like meth or other drugs, but I do have to admit to being surprised by people that are arrested for such things. My wife's youngest brother was busted for selling meth a few years back. I fully suspected him of doing cocaine or speed, but even I was surprised when it turned out that he was a distributor and it was meth. We were even more shocked to learn that he happened to be one of the biggest meth distributors in the area. That one really caught me off guard. Now, at age 66, he lives with his oldest daughter and has nothing. All he has is a Social Security check. No house. No money. Nothing. But, you could be right, I guess. You never know. That's for sure.

life can be full of odd twists and turns. Be comfortable in your own skin and always be willing to lift someone up. Making their day makes your day! If they are not ready for help...be patient....be ready!

Yeah. I'm not at all upset with the guy. I was just kind of bewildered by his response. If he ever asks me for help, I won't even hesitate to help him, and I'll probably do whatever he needs for free or a lot less than I should get.

On a brighter note, I sold out of used mowers this afternoon. I had two ready to go and sold both of them between 1:30 and about 5:00. I've got 7 or 8 that need the whole refurbishing process, but I have none to offer at this time. I guess I'd best get busy tomorrow. LOL! And I didn't have to do a whole lot of negotiating on any I sold this spring so far. I did knock 25 bucks off one I had priced at $125, but I only had $42 to $43 in it, so taking an even $100 on it was good enough for me. The two I sold today sold for what my asking price was. One guy tried to get me from $100 to $80, but that was on a mower I knew I could probably get $125 or more for, so I told him it was a flat $100. Period. He shucked it right out.

Some just have their own ways, might seem odd to many. But they may think I'm odd.. But in truth, I am..

I quess I don't get what's weird about it .
Maybe he had already recently serviced it and simply didn't need it done.
I wouldn't have needed it on my mowers. Already on top of the maintenance

DK35vince said:

I quess I don't get what's weird about it .
Maybe he had already recently serviced it and simply didn't need it done.
I wouldn't have needed it on my mowers. Already on top of the maintenance

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No, he hadn't already had it done. THAT is what is so weird. I'm talking about an individual that really NEEDS to have a mower serviced, but refused an offer to have it done for free. You might service your equipment regularly, but there is a LARGE percentage of people out there that NEVER service any piece of OPE the have - EVER.

My own contractor and I have had more than one talk about servicing equipment. He told me very plainly that he never changes oil, changes spark plugs, never changes the air filter, and never has a blade sharpened on any mower he has ever owned. He simply uses them until the won't start or until something just stops running, the parks it in the shed and goes and buys another new mower. He brought me 7 push mowers that he treated that way and just gave them to me. I managed to get two of them running with nothing more than a carb rebuild or new carb and a simple service job. One other had a really good engine sitting on a deck he ran over with a tractor and one that had a perfectly good deck, but I couldn't save the engine. He had run that one out of oil and seized it.

I now know at least a dozen people really well that refuse to perform ANY service or maintenance on any piece of OPE they own. They won't even check the oil in anything. If the piece of equipment locks up, they throw it away and buy a new once. I have had mowers brought to me because they won't run and discovered that the blade(s) were so dull it looked like a neatly rounded piece of steel.

So, that is what is so weird about guys like my neighbor refusing a free servicing.

Curb picked a new one that had a loose handle. Found bolt under cylinder head.

mcostello said:

Curb picked a new one that had a loose handle. Found bolt under cylinder head.

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Score !!

smhardesty said:

I have one neighbor that I get along with just fine. He is a little strange, but we somehow manage to get along just fine. He has hauled off some trashy items for me. I took care of his plants and also mowed his yard last year while he was on vacation. He gave me a really nice painting of a fox lying in autumn leaves that he, himself painted. I'd say we are really good neighbors.

I was blowing leaves today at the same time he was. We were both preparing to mow and both wanted to mulch up the last of the leaves. I stopped and walked over to him. We chatted for a few minutes and then I offered to do a full servicing of his push mower for nothing more than the cost of the air filter. I have plenty of oil and spark plugs on hand so the only thing I'd have to buy would be the air filter. I was standing there looking at the mower and I know it takes a $5.00 foam filter. I actually said that I'd like to do it so he could tell his fiends about my servicing. He looked me right in the eye and said, "No, I'm not interested in anything like that." So, either he doesn't believe I'm qualified to do the work, or he is a whole lot stranger than I thought. What really got me was when I then volunteered to sharpen the blade for him. He said, "No, I never have a blade sharpened. I just put a new one on every third year." WOW!

I know those type of people exist. I just didn't know I lived right next door to one. LOL!

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Sounds like he's a decent guy. Just doesn't want to get too friendly.

Nothing wrong with that.

smhardesty said:

I have one neighbor that I get along with just fine. He is a little strange, but we somehow manage to get along just fine. He has hauled off some trashy items for me. I took care of his plants and also mowed his yard last year while he was on vacation. He gave me a really nice painting of a fox lying in autumn leaves that he, himself painted. I'd say we are really good neighbors.

I was blowing leaves today at the same time he was. We were both preparing to mow and both wanted to mulch up the last of the leaves. I stopped and walked over to him. We chatted for a few minutes and then I offered to do a full servicing of his push mower for nothing more than the cost of the air filter. I have plenty of oil and spark plugs on hand so the only thing I'd have to buy would be the air filter. I was standing there looking at the mower and I know it takes a $5.00 foam filter. I actually said that I'd like to do it so he could tell his fiends about my servicing. He looked me right in the eye and said, "No, I'm not interested in anything like that." So, either he doesn't believe I'm qualified to do the work, or he is a whole lot stranger than I thought. What really got me was when I then volunteered to sharpen the blade for him. He said, "No, I never have a blade sharpened. I just put a new one on every third year." WOW!

I know those type of people exist. I just didn't know I lived right next door to one. LOL!

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You describe one of the running themes in the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". The main character rides an old BMW airhead with his friend who owns one too. Apparently they need regular valve adjustments and other things and the main character is perfectly capable of doing the work but his friend will only take his bike to a dealer. When people don't understand ANYTHING about these things it is just magic. The book goes on to explain how essential it is to break the systems down into smaller pieces and understand each system and how it interacts as a whole working unit (fuel, ignitions, timing, powerhead etc then break those into small systems choke, jets, fuel bowl......) if one wants to remove the "magic". The book has some other useful things between the main theme.

I had a customer earlier this week that had me to install a couple new front tires. 15-6.5x8 ones. A size I haven't seen before. Well I had to get some new valve stems as the ones I had were old age wise and both broke on install. So the mower had to sit overnight at my shop. Well the next morning there was a large oil spot under the transaxle of the X360.

So when the customer showed I explained he had a major problem with transaxle leaking oil. First he tried to blame it on me saying JD fixed last year for an oil leak and changed the drive belt. Well the drive belt look like it had never been changed. I offered to repair the problem but want to try to get JD to rework the mower under warranty. Well it was repaired last July so I very doubtful they will. He seems to think only JD can work on a JD mower. IT his money so he is welcome to part with more of it at JD then at my shop. Looks to be around $250 for the repairs in my shop and at least $400 at the JD dealer.

StarTech said:

I had a customer earlier this week that had me to install a couple new front tires. 15-6.5x8 ones. A size I haven't seen before. Well I had to get some new valve stems as the ones I had were old age wise and both broke on install. So the mower had to sit overnight at my shop. Well the next morning there was a large oil spot under the transaxle of the X360.

So when the customer showed I explained he had a major problem with transaxle leaking oil. First he tried to blame it on me saying JD fixed last year for an oil leak and changed the drive belt. Well the drive belt look like it had never been changed. I offered to repair the problem but want to try to get JD to rework the mower under warranty. Well it was repaired last July so I very doubtful they will. He seems to think only JD can work on a JD mower. IT his money so he is welcome to part with more of it at JD then at my shop. Looks to be around $250 for the repairs in my shop and at least $400 at the JD dealer.

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I know a few guys just like that. One of them is constantly criticizing my choice of auto mechanics. I have a guy that has been in the automotive repair business for just about 40 years. He has handled every problem I have had with my vehicles and he does my maintenance for me with me buying all the parts and materials elsewhere and taking it to him. My friend just goes on and on about how he'd never trust his vehicle to some "shade tree mechanic". I'd hate to think about how many times I have tried to explain to him what a shade tree mechanic really is. It just never sticks in his head. I guess he somehow feels more comfortable paying a dealership nearly twice as much for service on his vehicles. What really gets me is that the dealership where he takes his vehicles has a reputation for having nothing but really young guys working there. The dealership saves money by employing only young guys just getting started in their repair careers. I'm not saying the kids don't know what they are doing, but I will say I'd stack my mechanic up against the whole lot of those kids.

smhardesty said:

I'm not saying the kids don't know what they are doing, but I will say I'd stack my mechanic up against the whole lot of those kids.

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"The kids" are learning on the customers dime. Same as Harley Davidson. Shop wants $100 per hour to let a $6. rookie screw things up more..

Nice when they come to me from those bad experiences.

7394 said:

"The kids" are learning on the customers dime. Same as Harley Davidson. Shop wants $100 per hour to let a $6. rookie screw things up more..

Nice when they come to me from those bad experiences.

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You hit the nail on the head. Yes, those young guys are learning at the expense of the customer. It's just not something I prefer for my car. I trust my independent mechanic with 40 years of experience.

I like doing my own stuff..

7394 said:

I like doing my own stuff..

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I used to do all my own maintenance and even quite a lot of my own repairs. A combination of my disability and incredible complex electronics on modern cars now prevents me from even attempting to change my own plugs. I figure it's best for someone that has the proper equipment to take car of the car. I'll stick to small engines.

smhardesty said:

. I figure it's best for someone that has the proper equipment to take car of the car.

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I get that. Partly why I only do older Harleys. No computers..

My truck I do the most of it, but the computer's deep stuff I would hand off..

smhardesty said:

I have one neighbor that I get along with just fine. He is a little strange, but we somehow manage to get along just fine. He has hauled off some trashy items for me. I took care of his plants and also mowed his yard last year while he was on vacation. He gave me a really nice painting of a fox lying in autumn leaves that he, himself painted. I'd say we are really good neighbors.

I was blowing leaves today at the same time he was. We were both preparing to mow and both wanted to mulch up the last of the leaves. I stopped and walked over to him. We chatted for a few minutes and then I offered to do a full servicing of his push mower for nothing more than the cost of the air filter. I have plenty of oil and spark plugs on hand so the only thing I'd have to buy would be the air filter. I was standing there looking at the mower and I know it takes a $5.00 foam filter. I actually said that I'd like to do it so he could tell his fiends about my servicing. He looked me right in the eye and said, "No, I'm not interested in anything like that." So, either he doesn't believe I'm qualified to do the work, or he is a whole lot stranger than I thought. What really got me was when I then volunteered to sharpen the blade for him. He said, "No, I never have a blade sharpened. I just put a new one on every third year." WOW!

I know those type of people exist. I just didn't know I lived right next door to one. LOL!

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My old neighbor, rest is soul, I watched him purchase a new mower about every 3 or 4 years for over 20 years while I ran the same old cub cadet. Many time I offered to help him repair instead of replace, he never let me turn a wrench on his machine but we share many long drinks of our favorite bourbon together. Friend to each their own. Sure you had the best intentions...r