One of the houses on our street has been hasn’t had the grass cut all spring. Anne and I had noticed weeks ago that it seemed like the prior family had moved out. But there had been no “For Sale” sign posted or any obvious activity outside the house. The house used to be owned by a near-retirement age couple who owned a flooring business. But the van advertising the business had been gone for some time and now it was clear no one was taking care of the house.
I had helped clear a tree from their driveway after hurricane Ike. I spent an hour or so clearing branches and cutting and moving the trunk of the tree with help from lots of other neighbors. The lady of the house had attempted to insist on paying me for my efforts, but I refused. I had been there to help out during a storm event, and was just being neighborly.
Monday, I decided to be neighborly again and cut their grass for them. I took the lawnmower over and knocked on the door. I could see through the side-lights that the house was vacant, but apparently some effort was being made to prepare it for sale, as evidenced by the vacuum cleaner and other supplies within view of the door. So I set to work cutting the near-forest of the front yard.
Within a couple of minutes a man with a lawnmower approached and in my naivete, I thought perhaps my altruism had inspired a neighbor to come help. He asked if I owned the house. Nope, just helping out by cutting their grass. Next he asked how much they were paying me. Nothing, just being neighborly. After a bit more chit-chat he asked if I wanted help. It had become clear to me that he was looking for a paying job, so I made it clear this wasn’t one of them. “Only if you’ll help for free” was my reply. “I won’t charge you that much.” I just about laughed in his face. With a “No Thanks” he left.
When I was about two-thirds of the way through the yard, the owner pulled into the driveway. For a moment I was nervous–I was intending to be helpful, but what if there was some other reason to let the grass grow crazy like this. Was she going to yell at me for being on her property? My nervousness disappeared when she got out of the van and beamed a great big “Thank You!” Again, I explained that I was there just to help out because something had clearly happened in their family that prevented her from taking care of the yard. She then ran through a long list of problems that had plagued her since her husband died just prior to hurricane Ike. This further convinced me that I had done the right thing. She needed the help. She then asked “What do I owe you?” Again, I tried to tell her that I wasn’t doing it for money. I was just being helpful. She pressed the issue, and I could tell I didn’t have the “natural disaster” excuse this time. So I came up with a number that would be pretty low, but not patronizing. I said “How about ten bucks?” She felt that was an incredible bargain, immediately grabbed her wallet, and fished out a pair of fives. She further explained that she would be getting in touch with her usual lawn care guy to get him to do it regularly until she could manage to sell the house.
So my good deed turned into a bit of cash. And had the guy who’d offered to help (for a price) stuck around, he would have gotten something too. But more importantly, her yard looks much better and the house doesn’t look obviously vacant.
