A couple of first today

On the fun side, first rattler call today. My dad sure makes them look easy. Just a hook and picked it up.

On the bad side. I had a call from a landlord for moles, easy. I went to the tenants house. Older man, mid fifties had to put on his bath robe. Asks me what traps I use, then if I catch raccoons. Ask me how long I been doing it. I said a year. He responded with "that's it?". I said I had been in business a year but trapped longer. Once I said that he held up his hand for me to stop talking, turned around, burped, started to walk away and called me an a$ hole.

I had no idea what happened. Didn't know what else to do so I loaded my bucket and left. Landlord said he has been a tenant for less than two months and this is the second complaint.

Throwback, ALWAYS tell them you've been trapping all your life. The customer only needs to hear what makes him happy. When I first started up years ago I used to tell all the customers that I'd been trapping since I could walk. It makes everything a whole lot easier...

I just say long enough to know what to do and when to do it!!!!! how bout you? that shuts most folks up.

See, there is an advantage to being over the age of retirement. Nobody asks me that question but if they did, I would tell them I

taught Davy and Daniel everything they knew.

I thought you got into animal control after you built the arc

I actually think that would have been worse. The landlord called me, he probably thought I was pest c9ntrol. He seemed to be questioning me about trapping and When I told him directly I was a trapper is when he stopped me.

I think it was an anti trapping deal.

Kermit, you're confused. After I built the ark, I invented the manure spreader. ( Boy, that was the stinkiest boat on the ocean )

Well, we were all off on that one. I talked to the land lord today, the reason he said that to me was because I told him " You dont have a family and probably never will."

It turns out he has some mental health problems and thats what he heard. Im glad I was polite and left nicely. He called and apologized to me. I am going back out to start the job.

There was a wonderful lesson for all of us in Throw Back's encounter. Leaving on a friendly note, when you actually want to wring the

person's neck, usually has a good payback. Getting it off your chest to family or on the Internet is more beneficial. I get along

fabulously with some of my customers and my technicians don't. I think it's because some of my customers are crazy and they prefer to

deal with their own kind. ( Me )

To be honest I wish the guy was just an anti trapping jerk.

The situation sounds funny on paper, but it really kills me that the voices in his head are that cruel. Its really sad.

Today I went to do a mole job that I looked at yesterday and give the guy a price, when I went back today he had change his mind. I wrote on the agreement that the price was good for 15 days, give him my card and thanked him. He said thank you for being so understanding. It does not good to get upset. He may call back. If not is was not because of the way he was treated.

One of the worst happened when I first started ADC. It was a mole job and was an hours drive more or less. These days thats way too far for me, but back then I was hungry for it.I'm always one for being punctual and I was on time and , literally 3 minutes from this guys house when he rings me up and tells me he's too ill to get out of bed and that he'll ring to re-arrange a visit. After a discussion it was plain to see that he was not going to answer the door and so I'd wasted two hours out of my day for a jerk.......you live and learn.

As long as this post is about firsts, I had one today. I've stopped my car to let a lot of different things cross the road but I was

a little shocked to see a pair of sandhill cranes daring me to hit them. I could have practically touched one by reaching out the

window. Always something interesting.