Several weeks ago I received a letter from our utility provider that landscaping crews would soon be in our area to trim trees near power lines. Neither we nor the neighbor with whom we share a driveway have trees anywhere close to power lines so I threw the letter away and didn’t think about it again.
Until this morning when the dog started going crazy and I looked outside to see several contractors tromping through my backyard. They were trimming the trees on the property that adjoins ours to the rear. And apparently it was faster for them to park their wood chipper in our driveway and drag the trimmed branches through our yard than it was to drag the branches on the property from whence they came and to park the wood chipper on the street.
They cut off several branches of our lilac tree and broke off a couple more when they were pulling branches from the adjoining property through the middle of the lilac. The only reason to cut branches off of the lilac was so they could climb our fence easier.
They picked up our patio furniture – which was in their way – and threw it across the yard where they left it when they left. Now, I will grant you, our patio furniture is really only barely on the spectrum to be allowed the name of “patio furniture.” It’s plastic and we bought it at Wal-Mart. But it wasn’t the cheapest they sold! It was the second cheapest. Because we are cheap and poor. Still! It’s the principle of the thing.
They stomped all over my perennial beds so we’ll see if the peonies end up coming back. I am hoping that they were protected by the many pairs of boots by my failure to rake any of the leaves in the flower bed for several years now; they do have some padding.
I’ll have to go through and redo the edging around the perennial bed, as it has now been stomped down. Or maybe it was the snow. But probably both.
They left a large branch stuck in the tree directly behind our garage which will likely end up getting blown across the garage roof and taking out some shingles with it. I guess it wasn’t important enough to get with that super long hook thing they had.
After the wood chipper had been parked in our driveway for an hour, and we needed to leave our house for half of that time, Ryan went out to ask them if they could move. They begrudgingly did so (I’m assuming because they were practically finished anyhow), but made sure to drive over a large portion of my front flowerbed in the process. I’d say probably about 20% of it is now significantly lower than the rest of the bed because a wood chipper went over it.
Now there are sawdust piles and large shards of wood all over our backyard as well as all over our driveway. I didn’t want to walk back there barefoot anyhow (stupid walnut tree) but now I’d get stabbed by walnut shells and get splinters.
SO. I am mad. It really upsets me when people are bad at their jobs. In this case, these contractors were from a reputable landscaping company that has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. And I get that they probably weren’t getting paid as much as they would have if they were working for an individual property owner. But is that an excuse to treat someone’s property with disrespect?
I was fuming the whole time taking Ryan to work. And he said, “I think you should just let this one go instead of letting it ruin your whole day.” I replied, “But they were terrible! And my plants!” To which he responded, “Well, you don’t know that the plants aren’t going to come up. They’re probably fine. You can contact the company and complain if you want to. But you really can’t change anything about what happened now. The only thing you can change is whether or not you let this turn today terrible.”
And I was all, “Well… um… er…” He had a point. I am notorious for letting little things under my skin. People who drive slowly on highway entrance ramps. People who wave me to go ahead at a stop sign when I GOT THERE FIRST TO BEGIN WITH. The dog licking himself at an unbelievably loud volume. The baby using his hair as a napkin. Not being able to finish a book from the library before it’s due. Our mailman somehow being able to close the mailbox lid when it is sunny but being entirely unable to do it when it is raining or snowing. People who drive gray cars at dusk without their headlights on. The way the cheese grater tears up the sponge when I wash it. Visitors to our neighbors’ house parking smack dab in the middle of our shared driveway instead of parking on the street or pulling all the way in. The camera’s batteries running out. The people in the Jeep in front of me having a dangling rear windshield wiper (there are a lot of tiny things that irk me while driving). And now sawdust on my driveway and broken limbs on my lilac.
What Ryan said makes total sense. And I think my inability to let small things go is all part of my need to control all aspects of everything. I know it’s something I need to work on. I’m glad to have my love to remind me in a nice way about it. In the meantime, I’ve come to a compromise with myself – I had a great day today and I’m going to drop a note to the company. Worst case scenario I hear nothing; best case the landscapers will ask if there’s anything they can do and I’ll say, “Why, yes, my giant walnut tree does need a free trimming – thank you for asking!”
And then I’ll have two good days.