Dealing with awkward jobs

[Jack.P]

Today been reducing the side of a hedge by 50% to give more space for clients driveway .(not the top or neighbors side)

The whole of the hedge is on the clients land but had a problem dealing with the next door neighbors who were very rude about the work being undertaken and I was surprised really such  people like that live in that affluent area . I didn’t pay much attention to what they were saying  but informed client about what had happend who then politely implied to the pleasant troublemakers f***k off and it doesn’t concern you 

the mad woman  then decided to stare out the upstairs window for about ten minutes 

the whole experience put me off working there again 

How to deal with people like this in a professional manner ??? I know it’s easy to just say the obvious and slag them off but that just normally will just escalate the situation 

 

 

 

[nepia]

Keep your cool - it can sometimes deflate people like that - and remain polite.  Enter into as little discussion of the matter as possible, get on with your work and ignore them.

 

Losing your rag or responding in like terms just drags you down to their level; you're better than them!

[simont]

Be polite, or put on your best foreign accent, shrug shoulders and say "no english" and crack on.

 

Always give a cheery wave when stared at.

[Gary Prentice]

1 hour ago, Jack.P said:

How to deal with people like this in a professional manner ??? 

Simply by remaining professional yourself, difficult as it may sometime be.

 

One thing that may help to keep in mind, while being abused, is that while you are on site you're acting as a representative of the client. Anything that you say or do may be published on social media, told to the client or even reported to the police (I kid you not) 

 

You'll always have the upper hand if you remain calm and polite, even if in your mind you're considering GBH. 

[Jack.P]

Thanks for the tips,

I’ve only had disagreements before about payment for jobs so this was a new one and wasn’t sure what to say if anything to the neighbor 

also it only became apparent afterwards as well that the woman doesn’t even own the house and is just renting .some people got some cheek to come up to me like that 

 

 

[jfc]

I've had similar, just make sure you do not enter their property or cross the boundary without permission, even if only to tidy up/blow. If neighbours come complaining I pass them onto the client and say that they need to talk to them, as I am taking instruction from the client. I will discuss the legal situation with the client but tend to avoid getting into discussion/arguments with neighbours.

 

Worst abuse I got was in a posh area, neighbour was F'ing and Jeffing about the work and me (cutting back to the boundary), in the end my client called the cops on him. He got a visit by the cops.

 

I tend to avoid jobs now where I find out the neighbours are at war, can't be doing with the hassle. If the job is on the boundary and may involve crossing it I ask how the situation is with next door.

 

jan.

[Gary Prentice]

1 minute ago, jfc said:

Worst abuse I got was in a posh area, neighbour was F'ing and Jeffing about the work and me (cutting back to the boundary), in the end my client called the cops on him. He got a visit by the cops.

You're not a real climber until you've had an irate member of the public actually swinging off the end of your climbing rope . 

 

Only took two groundsman to hold me back on that occasion, not by finest moment I must admit 

[Gary Prentice]

10 minutes ago, Jack.P said:

wasn’t sure what to say if anything to the neighbor 

Inform the client as soon as you can, phone them if necessary. At least then they don't get 'ambushed' by the person complaining and they're conversant with the situation.

[jfc]

5 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

You're not a real climber until you've had an irate member of the public actually swinging off the end of your climbing rope . 

 

Only took two groundsman to hold me back on that occasion, not by finest moment I must admit 

If you see the size of Phil my groundy I doubt anyone will swing on my rope. If they are bigger than Phil I will probably want to stay in the tree anyway!

[Gary Prentice]

17 minutes ago, Jack.P said:

also it only became apparent afterwards as well that the woman doesn’t even own the house and is just renting .some people got some cheek to come up to me like that 

Unfortunately nowadays everyone feels obliged to express their opinion (I blame social media). Don't let it get you down. It's relatively simple on a domestic job to deal with it but be really cautious if you're a subcontractor for a developer or working for an authority or housing association.

 

I had to deal with the aftermath of an incident on a HA site where a tenant was quite abusive/offensive (surprisingly a 'professional person'. Things with the lads got very heated on everybody's part and I ended up having to interview everyone that was on site, take statements etc to pretty much defend ourselves to the Housing Association. 

 

If all of our lads had been professional and not reacted it wouldn't have been an issue. Unfortunately some people just can't help themselves, adding fuel to the fire and playing into the complainers hands and making everything worse. If you're in that position, get those lads out of the way and uninvolved in what's going on, they're not helping the situation by adding their two pence worth.