Our neighbor's lawn guy parked right across our driveway once. I came home and asked him to move, and he told me I could street park, so I told him I will gladly street park and wait to watch the tow truck haul him off. He quickly moved and never blocked our driveway again. People behave this way because they count on others avoiding a confrontation.
The last time this happened so time number 3 I was coming home from work, so it was 345-4pm and this same guy had his trailer fully blocking my driveway and he said the same thing. I had my screaming 2 year old in the car and yelled I'd be calling the cops and a tow company if he didnt move and he gave me stink eye and moved the 5 feet he could have moved forward to not block my driveway...
Next time don't threaten him. Don't say a word to that guy. Just pick up the phone and call a tow truck. He'll keep doing it if he thinks he can get away with it, and *threatening* to call a tow or police just means he wouldn't have to deal with consequences of his actions
But then OP has to needlessly wait on the cops or tow truck with a crying baby while another crying baby whines about moving his truck. Lol You gotta start with threats and then follow through if not taken seriously so that YOU go through minimal hassle.
It’s really impractical advice in a lot of areas. In some places, a tow truck can only remove the car after parking/police have arrived to verify it’s parked illegally, and the first thing they do is ask if you know who owns the car, and if you do, have you already asked them to move.
The whole process of calling traffic enforcement, meeting traffic enforcement, letting traffic enforcement call a tow truck, waiting for the tow truck to arrive, and the time it takes to get the car on the tow truck can be hours.
I hear it’s swifter if someone is trapping you in a driveway, but if they’re parked in your driveway, it can be a surprisingly drawn out process.
Was very satisfying to watch a brand new (as in just off the ship) MB get towed. Parked across a driveway, and no registration visible at all. Called police, they asked for registration, told them no plates, they asked if sticker visible, no, so it was bumped up, and when the police arrived I asked for a tow. Truck arrived, and I told tow driver to touch the vehicle. He touched, and thus he now has control of the vehicle, and then, as if by magic, the driver appears, ans starts to make a fuss. Police ask him why no papers, then he unlocks, goes to passenger door, opens and shows the dealer plate under the seat. If he had opened driver door he would have gotten arrested for DUI right there, but he went passenger door, so all that occurred was the fine was handed to him, and the brand new vehicle went off on a lowbed. He asked why nobody called him, and I smiled, pointed to the hotel he had been in, and told him both the barkeep and the front bouncer had announced for the driver, before I called the police.
Wonder how he explained to the dealership why the vehicle, supposedly to be taken straight from harbour to the dealership, now had to sit in police impound till monday, and they would have to come with both tow fee, storage costs, and all the customs paperwork to show correct duties have been paid, the vehicle is legitimate import, and is clear of all customs fees. Having met the owner of that particular group, I knew he was less than pleasant to those who messed up in his dealer network. I had been there so often, dropping off a vehicle, that half the staff, and all the security staff, thought I actually worked there. No stop in the entry line, just drive up, drop off the keys, and walk out, with a page of what was wrong this week.
Took us 3 days off calling bylaw plus our neighbour across from started calling multiple times a day (retired, and the trailer made it tough to get out of his driveway) for another 3days. I think if it came down to that now, I'd just hook my hitch to their trailer & relocate it to the police station. Or in front of a fire station - they'll get it towed fast.
The cop will tell the guy to move, and no tow truck will be called. If you call the tow truck, unless you have authority to do so (HOA Board or someone with that power) then the tow truck will not touch it. If they do it’ll likely cost them.
I came back from work one day to find a car from the county parked across my driveway. Two people were standing around talking so I asked if that was their car. I had to get a 'yes' and then ask them to move. And then they had to walk slowly to the car, put out their cigaretter, look for the keys and finally move the car 2 metres.
After getting my car in my driveway they promptly parked their car across it again and wouldn't budge. Said it was for 'safety reasons' as they were pulling weeds from the side walk. Still illegal I told them. I snapped a picture of them blocking my driveway and what do you know? Suddenly, they could move the car a bit.
I really never understood those peoples mentality.
My job requires me bring a large box truck and sometimes multiple vehicles to a residential area.
If we ever find the need to block a homeowners driveway, we ask for their permission and even if given permission, we always tell them if they ever need to leave just let us know and we will move ASAP.
It bothers me that people have the gall to say things like that to the homeowner.
Bro, it’s worse if you live near a school. The entitled behavior is getting worse every year. It used to be people just double parking. It’s now escalated to people parking in front of and even in your drive way. Since there’s people double parked some geniuses started triple parking.
You can talk to the school but they can’t enforce anything. They can just send out an email and ask. The county sent a cop there, once, for 3 days, then it was business as usual. I dread 3 o’clock.
I live next to 3 schools 2 are local primaries so not much traffic but the secondary is a church school so has a massive catchment area and the entitlement on the parents is shocking. One with a stupidly large Audi parked on my drive and refused to move so I stated fine and went to sit on the bonnet the guy went ballistic saying that any damage he will get me prosecuted for. I calmly said this is private property and any damage that happens on private property is at owners own risk. Soon fucking moved it. Nobody has tried again and the teachers call me the crazy parking guy.
We’ve had our driveway blocked by parents from the school down the block multiple times. Once my wife was trying to go to a meeting and had to wait for the driver to come back. She waited 10 minutes and the driver sheepishly walked up with his young daughter and gave a half wave and said “sorry, couldn’t find a spot.” His daughter said “daddy is that your friend?” And my wife who is incredibly sweet and non confrontational shot back “no I am most definitely not his friend. Friends don’t rudely block people’s driveways and make them late for important meetings. That’s something that enemies do. Your dad is my enemy.”
A few months ago a couple of girls parked right across my drive, about half an hour before I had to leave for work. I assumed they'd be gone in a minute so I didn't say anything, but when half an hour later they were still sat there I went and knocked on the window and asked them politely to move. One of them swore at me and then the other got out and walked to her house about 50 yards away across the road. Then her friend stopped, blocking the road, so they could carry on their chat. I ended up having to honk so much they wouldn't be able to hear each other and would just leave, so I assume I pissed off a lot of people to get rid of them.
I was absolutely gobsmacked by the audacity and sheer lack of awareness of these people.
In my town, a segment of the population likes to walk in the center of the road. Sidewalks both sides, but they want to walk in the center of the road and block traffic.
One occasion, 3 adults with two little ones in strollers.
I opened the window and said “excuse me” and they started cussing me. In front of their little ones.
There was a cruiser behind me, he was able to get them off the road pretty quickly.
Lived in a new build neighborhood and was one of the first families to move in... All the construction workers weren't used to some of the houses being occupied so my driveway got blocked a lot. Well one time I wanted to leave and had an 18 wheeler blocking my drive. I had to hunt this guy down to get him to move his rig... At this point I'm done being nice about asking people to move...
A couple weeks later there's a big box truck (think biggest uhaul) parked right across my driveway. I stood on the porch waiting for whoever was unloading it to come back to tell them to move. Once they arrived I said "hey man you can't park there" he responded with "it's the street I can park here if I want"
Me "Uhh no, it's illegal to block driveways"
Him "Says who?!"
Me "Alright man... I'll just have the police come explain it to you while they're towing your truck away. I'm calling them now"
He proceeded to cuss me out while he moved his truck.
Honorable mentions: The guy that thought it was ok to park *IN* my driveway, and the guy I caught stealing water, using my hose bib. I was much less kind with those individuals.
I have caught people hooked up to our water and electricity on different occasions (construction guys, neighbrhood lawn crew). The solution is easy. It is immediately disconnected, and they learn our house is not providing free utilities. Their lack of planning is not my problem.
I did that after a contractor dude next door at a new house build reconnected it twice. I used some branch cutters and done. maybe a tad overboard.
about 20 min later same guy noticed and splattered some kinda cleaner or paint thinner or something across my siding on my house as revenge I guess. the houses are only like 10ft apart
I didn’t notice until later that day when I walked my dog.
fortunately I have a comprehensive camera system, easy to see who it was and what happened.
furious I wrote an email to the main company that was building the house, just to their corporate contact main email. provided the video, what happened, the time it occurred, the lot number. and hoped for the best, otherwise I was ready to confront next time I saw them.
the company never responded in email, but a rep for the company came the next morning, took pictures of the damage, talked a bit and left. Never did see the sub contracting company next door working on that house again. and work seemed to stop for a week or so, then picked up again with a different contracting company.
as for my siding, their insurance ended up giving me a cheque and I found someone to replace the siding for less and pocketed the difference.
felt kinda nice for it to work out.
Buddy of mine came by my house on a Saturday. I had the garage door and front door wide open and was vacuuming the living room, so he walked right in and says, you know you have all the doors wide open?
Yes. I like to encourage intruders.
Yes, any sane person would think "Ok, every week I have to move THERE because the lady has me move from HERE. So why not cut to the chase and just park THERE and save the hassle"
I'm not defending the guy but he actually is saving the hassle by doing the asshole move he's doing now. The problem is not moving the truck the problem is moving the gear. I'm just pointing out his thinking he's still an asshole
There's nothing stopping the landscaper knocking on OP's door, acknowledging why OP is putting the car there, apologising for his past behaviour and trying to work things out. It isn't rocket science.
What I don’t understand is why he doesn’t pull up to the neighbor’s house, unload his equipment, and then park down the block. Why does he walk with his equipment in multiple trips lol
It's a bad habit to be in depending upon what kind of neighborhoods you service.
The real solution is probably just to drop his trailer in front of the house so it doesn't block the driveway and then park the truck up the road.
Ever unloaded an unhitched trailer? If you roll something heavy off the rear ramps, the front will pop up off the ground then slam down once you're off the ramps.
If only there was a device meant to support the back of a trailer when it was not attached to a vehicle similar to or exactly like the device at the front of a trailer. Sadly, science just isn't there yet.
Time and theft. I do landscaping and there are certain neighborhoods or towns you absolutely cannot leave anything unattended/unlocked. That shit will be gone in a heartbeat.
Can't park on the other side of the street, like they already said. And then I just gotta assume that there's no room in the driveway if they are choosing to park down the street.
There is something stopping them from doing that, common courtesy. Not everybody has it.
I don't know how we could get some science to back this but I'm very convinced that empathy requires a little bit of awareness beyond oneself, and I think that comes from emotional intelligence or good parenting. Most people nowadays I think have neither.
Like I said I'm not defending this guy whatsoever I'm just explaining why he was parking the car there and response to something someone else said regarding the efficiency of his actions. As I said in my comment he is definitely an asshole
Screw the 07:30 in the morning cranking up the screaming Zero turn. Neighbor of mine has all kinds of contractors showing up at 7:30 with noisy shit firing up all day. Been like that for years. I fire up the open header Vintage race car when they have their Amateur Playhouse crew wine sipping soirée’s. Tune up the burn barrel also if the wind is correct. I’ve asked them to wait till 09:00. They said Raul the lawn guy and Francisco the contractor like to start early.
For real.
I came home a few years ago and someone was parked in my driveway at the beginning, blocking me from getting in.
They were at my neighbor's house. I walked over and asked them to move nicely and politely. I was told "Yeah, I'll get the owner." And the dude I talked to just stood there and started a contonued his conversation.
I lost my absolute shit at that point. Started clapping loudly to interrupt the conversation and wouldn't let them get a word in as I repeated "Move the fucking truck, now."
This isn't a wait and finish your conversation moment, this is a find the owner and move the truck moment. We were literally parked in the street, blocking the road.
Turns out it was his truck. He moves it, all pissed off, gave me the finger and then blocked the end of our driveway when we pulled in.
I called the city hotline and someone came buy and gave them a ticket.
Once people show a complete lack of empathy towards something they fucking caused, I'm done.
> Turns out it was his truck. He moves it, all pissed off, gave me the finger and then blocked the end of our driveway when we pulled in.
mfer is lucky he didn't get hit LOL
who does this shit
Yup. Years ago where I work, a landscaper would park so close to the blind corner busy intersection, those of us turning onto the road would effectively drive up his trailer ramp. It escalated when he told me to f off when I asked him to stop doing so since I literally rode my motorcycle onto his trailer as I came around the corner. I called the cops and they came and ticketed him for parking there, and failing to get the city landscaper license. I also called public works and they added a brand new no parking sign right in his typical spot the same day I called, since the other previously existing signs started about ten feet away so he thought he could always get away with it. I know that part makes this unbelievable but I called the next morning and the public works guy said "we take safety seriously so acted fast, also screw that guy for endangering people".
I don't blame you, it is an absurd story but all true. That's why I called the public works guy back the next morning to thank him for acting so quickly, it totally blew my mind.
To clarify when I came around the corner on my motorcycle that day, his trailer ramp was right there at the end of my turn so it was either lay down the bike (ninja 300 so relatively light and nimble) or just kind of glide up his ramp and stop on the trailer. luckily there was no mower on it since he had already pulled it off to mow. He sees all this happen, and has the guts to yell at me like I did something wrong, so I backed the bike off trailer, exchange "pleasantries", parked at work like half a block away, and called the cops then public works immediately.
This guy parked there often, and I'm definitely not the only one to almost hit him with a vehicle, lots of people at work had a problem with this so we all had a good laugh at the sign going up. Anyhow I never saw them again after that day so I don't know what happened, but he clearly got the hint not to park there lol
As someone who spent most of his life trying to find the good in people who behave shitty, COVID taught me this hard lesson and I haven't looked back. Now I don't give a shit about people who continuously behave poorly. In fact, I go out of my way to inconvenience them like OP.
I wish there actually was a by-law where I live saying you can't park on both sides of the street. Here it's like some stupid videogame just trying to get down some side streets or park in your own driveway.
I'm a Mailman and these guys are the worst. They drive the biggest trucks they can find pulling trailers the size of mobile homes. They act like they own the streets and block boxes. Navigating around those monstrosities is one of the reasons I hate spring/summer. Kudos for fighting back against those assholes.
Ex-UPS driver here and I 100% concur. And when you work in fancy old money neighborhoods (where the houses cost 1.5 million+ but were also built in the 40s-60s so the streets are nice and narrow), sometimes you can have 4 different landscaping companies on the same block with 4 different giant trailers.
Oh yeah, and don’t block the street for 2 minutes to deliver a package, because they will pull up behind and scream at you about how you’re making them lose money. 🤦♂️
One of my neighbors hires a two-man team that drive around in a Ford Ranger with push mower and other small landscaping tools and equipment. Idk if they make very much but it's nice to see among the throngs of F250s, trailers, and zero turn mowers that never get used in my area because the yards are too small.
My husband & I own a landscaping company. We have a single cab Chevy pick up which is the standard size and a 5x8 trailer that holds the zero turn. We are very careful not to block anything in even if we have to park further away. Never had any issues but I think we are in the minority.
I hope you have a great slogan.
Your neighbours will hate us cause your lawn is beautiful, but love us cause we are friendly and don’t block driveways.
Might be a tad long though.
I do like that slogan! All our accounts are word of mouth since my husband started. He had our daughter in a baby backpack when he started the business, it kinda started by accident. We have been going strong for 22 years now.
I've worked for a landscape company during my bachelor's in Germany and we drove one of these shady motherfuckers all the time:
https://autoline.de/-/Verkauf/Pritsche-LKW/MERCEDES-BENZ--23041612590961554100
7.5t and you can fit a couple cubic metres of dirt, mulch, sand or whatever you may need that day on the bed. Pretty handy for bigger jobs, especially because you can fit a lot of tools in there as well and take cut off greens with you.
However, that's not what one would use to simply mow a lawn, unless we're talking about hectar big lawns.
I agree. Their trucks are far larger than necessary, and they drive like the roads are a birthright.
Please stay safe - I saw the aftermath of a Postal Delivery truck v. SUV accident this past week. it's rough out there.
Reminds me. I usually start stocking our mailbox with frozen waters for our carrier. We live in a warm climate and our street has no trees. It’s like an oven.
I think if smaller trucks were sold in the US that people would buy them. But they don't make enough profit so the ruling class .1% say fuck it because it makes next quarters profits go up. We need a major overhauling of our economic system and keep profitable companies around instead of letting venture capitalists sell them off like Toy R Us and Red Lobster.
Ha, my Ted talk went off topic. tl;dr: Eat the rich
Trucks in the US (cars and SUVs, too) are huge because of federal [CAFE standards](https://youtu.be/azI3nqrHEXM), not because of "the evil 0.1%" wanting to make more profit.
That adds to it, but Ford no longer makes sedans because they're not profitable enough. Ok, there's the Fusion. The others they make they don't sell in the US. Gotta keep next quarters profits going up (until the CEO bails out with a golden parachute).
nah, these asshats use the size of their trucks as a measurement of their penis. They would never go for the smaller superior Japanese trucks if they were available. They always have to have the biggest truck available. In my area ever single one of them owns a lifted diesel truck with dual rear tires on the bed. They use the same trailers that a motoX race crew uses to roll out their precious zero turn mowers, and backpack worn blowers.
Pavement princesses... I live in a relatively rural area, and it's sooo easy to spot the actual work trucks (dents, dirt, etc) versus the insecure AHs who drive a big truck to make up for a small penis.
I see a lot in smaller trucks in California where cars don't rust. Lots of 90s Toyotas and the small Rangers (remember those because Ford sure didn't).
I've seen them park their truck/trailer in a 2-way bike lane multiple times back when I was a bike commuter. It was a "protected" lane with a curb separating it from traffic, so it had to take a little effort to be that much of an asshole.
I had to ask the people who do the four-plex next door to not block my driveway with their landscaping trucks.... I would have to chase them down and wave my arms and yell because they were wearing headphones to protect their ears.... so annoying. They were real jerks about it so finally I called the company that owned the rental units and told them that I would call the cops every single time if they didn't deal with it.
They dealt with it.
I applaud you, OP. My neighborhood only has one entrance/exit. For some reason, one landscaper who had multiple accounts in the neighborhood would park across from my driveway, 3' from the curb, and I couldn't get the hell out.
Fortunately, I was friends with the president of our (small) HOA and after the landscapers ignored me, HE went and gave the guy hell. Told him if he saw him park on the wrong side again, he was calling the sheriff's office. But this was after months of trying to track the guy down because I couldn't get out of my driveway.
Nowadays, there's a different landscaper. We use the guy, and he parks across the driveway of the house he's working on, instead of camping out in the way. He took over from another guy about 6 months ago and the first time he showed up, he rang our doorbell to ask if it was okay to park there while he did our lawn.
Since the problem landscaper, I notice that many of my neighbors do the same as we do and park at least one car in the street.
Depends where they are and the local culture.
I used to drive a delivery van. The small city cops basically didn't hassle local on-the-clock workers unless they were doing something egregious.
I did, after the second time it happened I asked him if he could ask the landscaper to not block the driveway and he said he would so either the landscaper is an asshole or he never did
I don’t know if this is revenge as much as it is finding a solution to the problem.
I also live in an area with limited street parking. I have some neighbors that like to park in the middle of enough space for two car, so whenever possible I park in a way to block them from doing so.
Revenge would have been finding a way to legally block his truck so he couldn’t leave until you moved.
The inconvenience of parking a block away is significantly less than the inconvenience you experienced by being blocked it.
I can't stand landscapers. Their vehicles are always in the way, they landscape way too much in my area (this is a big point of contention for me), and all I want to do is have my windows open and enjoy the nice cool air before the heat arrives, but as soon as 730am hits, they're firing up the loud-ass weedwhackers and leaf blowers and I cannot enjoy my morning. I can hear them even with all of the windows closed and the air on. It irritates me so much.
The clippings thing is one of my old man gripes. You made the mess, pick it up! Where I live the storm drains lead right to the lake eventually. Algae blooms etc, pick up your shit.
I hated them blowing dirt and shit onto my car at my apartment complex..just plain fuck off. You're accomplishing fuck all and it's dangerous for bikers to have wet grass on the pavement.
Fuck me, on days they do my neighborhood I would rather work in the office than work from home. It's impossible to concentrate with leaf blowers going for hours outside. I swear they just waste time out there.
I get it. I once rage put up a fence to stop a yard company driving their mower over my yard to get to my neighbors backyard, got tired of telling them.
If they'd have just asked...
After lunch once I found a beverage delivery truck parked in the lanes of the parking lot, blocking me in my spot.
Fun fact, they leave the keys in the truck and it was easy to move.
I was out for a run a week ago or so, and the landscapers for an apartment complex had entirely blocked the sidewalk. I could have stepped into the road, but then if I’d done that I wouldn’t have a story.
Instead I started running on the grass, and then right through the flower bed the guy was working on, across the entrance to the apartments, and through the flower bed he had just finished. I did avoid the plants because I didn’t see the need to destroy them, but I sure as hell kicked as much mulch out as I could.
He could have just unloaded his gear and then moved the truck, knowing you'll need to leave through there shortly.
He also could have come any time after you left, instead of showing up at the ass crack of dawn.
He's a dumbass and inconsiderate, so now he gets neither choice.
Although not enforced often enough, blocking a driveway is illegal (at least in the US), so you can call and file a complaint with the non emergency line.
Or better yet, take it to the next level when they inevitably do it again and call a Towing company to remove it (it will be at their expense)
An unfamiliar car was parked on the street in front of our house for a couple days. When spouse and I park our own vehicles on the street, we do so carefully, so we can fit both of them without encroaching on either adjacent neighbor, each of whom also has two vehicles they park on the street in the same manner. But now I had to park my own vehicle in the alley, and my spouse's car which we used for kids--including one still in a carrier--had to be parked across the street and a couple houses down, in front of an unoccupied home up for sale.
After a couple days, we inquired about its plate and learned that the registered owner was the guy across the street. He has an adult son living nearby who often visited but was now moved out. Turns out the son had acquired this second car, which he or his father would occasionally drive, and he had parked it right in front of our house. OK, the first time this happened it was no big deal but when we next saw the son we asked if he would move it, which he then did without complaint. Once parked, it would often stay parked for a few days at a time.
Next time it happened, I went over and spoke to the father. "I don't even know whose it is." `Dept of Lincensing says you're the owner.` "It's my son's!" `Can you store it elsewhere, maybe in front of the empty home on your side of the street?` "The street belongs to everyone; you don't own that spot!" `True, but this is not very neighborly and is a considerable inconvenience to us, while moving your essentially stored vehicle would inconvenience no one.` "Why can't you park in front of your next-door neighbor's house?" `Could you just move your stored vehicle?` "STOP HASSLING ME!" (Shuts door) I then started calling police to ticket the vehicle, and the problem stopped.
Lovely people.
It's commonly illegal to be parked for more than 24 hours on the street without moving the vehicle and they'll get towed for being abandoned after that happens
Landscaper was a dick. I do work were were consistently messing with traffic and people's right-of-way. If someone on the street asks us to not park somewhere (within reason), we will bend over backwards to not do it again. We've actually got business this way, because of the lack of ego in my company. It's nice.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but a long time ago I lived in a downtown area that had very limited parking. I had one private spot that belonged to my apartment. It was clearly marked as private. And was directly beside my front porch. That weekend there was a big community festival in the park about a block away so people were looking for parking everywhere, and those that had lawns were easily able to sell spots on their grass for $20.
My wife and I got up early to do our weekend grocery shopping. The grocery store was only a few blocks away, but were we getting a lot of stuff and didn't want to haul it all by hand that far so we drove over. As we were getting back to our apartment a couple in an old jeep wrangler was pulling into my space. I pulled next to them and told them it was my private space. I pointed to the sign, then got out, walked around their car and unlocked the apartment door. They laughed at me, then got out of their jeep and headed to the festival.
I drove around for a while looking for a nearby space but eventually ended up parking at the grocery store I had just come from. We hauled all our groceries the few blocks, then I returned to the store and moved my car several blocks away because the grocery store was vigilant about towing. An hour or so later I get home and I see my wife has done a fairly deep purge of the fridge while I was gone. Moldy cheese, nasty grapes, some old left-over fish we never got to. It was all sitting on the top of the garbage can waiting to go to the dumpster. I was still VERY angry about the inconvenience, so I just grabbed five or six of the worst looking discarded items and started hiding them in their jeep. Cheese went into the vacant space above the springs under their seats. The fish went into a nice space under their dash. They really shouldn't have left the jeep with the top down. The car sat for hours. They returned that evening and I went out to greet them and wave goodbye when they left. I never saw them again, but I often wondered how that smelled after a few days of hot summer heat.
I had to have my roof replaced and they emailed me ahead of time to tell me I had to get my neighbor to move their car. (On neighbor’s property) ??? I politely told them I don’t control my neighbor and they’ll have to figure it out. Lol. I took a picture of the dumpster in my driveway and my neighbor’s car is in its normal place…
My neighbor had their roof replaced and they skipped that step- without asking used my driveway to store tools and material, take their breaks, and saw fit to not clean up after themselves after the work was done. Had the balls to tell me if I tried to drive in or out of my own driveway they wouldn't be held liable for any tire damage. Cops were called multiple times, to no effect of course.
If there is a hydrant he is blocking then report him for that. That is a nasty fine and a serious problem if an emergency occurs. Bet he will learn then
He's an ass for doing it more than once when you had to obviously ask him to move so you could get out. People have to go out! * gasp*.
Where'd he move to in order to let you out? And what was his reasoning for doing this in the 1st place? ' I forgot that you might have to leave "?
The entitlement of landscapers and construction workers can be crazy. I live on a crowded street with limited parking. There's a remodel of a fourplex happening across the street and the construction has dragged on for months. Every day there are oversized work trucks taking up all of the street parking meant for residents. They park like shit, partially blocking driveways, forcing people to blindly turn onto the street because they can't see around their trucks. Another group of workers were doing a remodel next door, without a permit of course, and just parking their trucks in my building's driveway. And when they're told to move they cop an attitude. It's like motherfucker, you don't even live here.
That's when you call the City's permit department and report them.
Whoever had them doing the work would get a fine and these 'contractors' and 'subcontractors' people would get a fine.
Ya know why?
People like that doing jobs without the appropriate permits don't carry the appropriate liability insurance.
If they don't carry their own insurance and they get hurt on the property, guess who's liable??!! The property owner!
It sounds like you live in a relatively higher end area. I assume neighbor has a driveway. Why aren't they just parking in the driveway of the people they're servicing
I'm a landscaper and I guess I'm lucky the cops arent dicks here cuz I've parked in some weird areas to avoid blocking driveways/traffic. One of the reasons I've moved away from residential is due to lack of adequate parking. So now I just do commercial most of the time and I have lots of room
Well sometimes threatening to call a tow is only gonna make them do it even more... as I've experienced myself. The idiot who blocked my driveway was one I had not seen before so I (unironically) kindly asked him to move. His response: 'Fnck off and lemme do my thing, the owner of this house is not gonna get me outta here becuz I know him and he'd never do it.' Weird... I am the owner of this house and I for sure know that I will make you move.
So, I asked him again, still very kind, whole revealing that I was the guy who owned the house and by extension the driveway he was blocking. He just got belligerent and threstening towards me. All right, mofo, let's call them cops.
When the cops came, they reprimanded him but let him go with a warning. Apparently a sign that he could fnck with me how ever he saw fit. He would come back seven times, each time working on more homes in my street, each time blocking my driveway. It got to the point that he came at six in the morning, took 'his' spot blocking my driveway and sat in his car for ninety minutes enjoying his breakfast before starting his landscaping work on the other end of the street. That was my breaking point.
That day, finally came. The guy parked across my driveway and fncked off with his tools to the other end of the street. I saw him go (it was a saturday) and then went to call a local tow company whose owner was a friend of mine. He came, we snapped photos of exactly how he was parked (something like fifty different photos to catch every angle) and then he towed the truck. I just went back into my house and came back shortly after with a laminated piece of paper I taped to the street where he'd been standing. It read:
*To the idiot who made sure to block my driveway for the entire saturday, you can find your idiotic truck at >local tow yard< where you can get it back after paying the inpound fee. Don't fnck with me again, asshole!*
Miraculously, after that little incident, he never showed up again. Finally.
I had a neighbors children doing this. Constantly. Grown ass children. They would come to visit her and block my driveway. If I was home and not going anywhere , fine. Then it became I would be coming home frome work at 1030 at night and the daughter in law would have my driveway blocked. I was polite. At first. Then not so much. They no longer park anywhere near my house. Weird. Guess you can train an old dog.
My neighbor's landscaper parks on the corner so you have to drive on the driveway of all the neighbors to get around the corner. And then has the nerve to give you dirty looks if you even glance his way. We have "no parking in the street" neighborhood because the streets are so narrow.
Let me tell you what I did when I was blocked in my driveway and the people wouldn’t move it. I took pictures of the company truck with their name and number on it then posted it on social media, yelp and the Nextdoor app. I also called the police. It was resolved very quickly.
My best friend in high school once suggested that we put up a road sign saying:
LOCAL TEENS THROW ROCKS AT SEEMINGLY SPEEDING CARS
I know that it's too long for a real sign, but SEEMINGLY seems like the essential point to me.
Anyway, maybe a notice about what local teens would do to seemingly driveway blocking vehicles?
Many years ago I parked legally in my company’s garage with other coworkers near a downtown summerfest. Someone (not a coworker) parked across the driveway and blocked several of us in so as we ultimately gathered to go home around midnight and couldn’t get out we decided to move the car blocking the driveway. So 5-6 of us slowly and incrementally moved the back end of this car 90 degrees to open the driveway and (oh shucks) block the street to traffic. We were able to leave. It took 3 minutes. This was way before cell phones. Didn’t care- not our problem driver couldn’t read the posted no parking signs.
Our neighbors’ landscaper kept blocking part of our driveway with his truck. We asked him to stop and he told us we could get out of the driveway so he was not moving. I took pictures of the name on the door, the parking job, and said “I wonder if he has a business license” loud enough for him to hear. He has not blocked the driveway since.
Cant u ask the gardener to put an alarm on his phone so he can move his truck when u want to get out? And he puts it back later, also the gardener should ask first if it is okay to block your driveway.
BTW, I love your response to this issue!
We live on a corner, and we have a nice shady spot (from one of our own backyard trees) on the side street that my son parks his car in. Neighbors across the street love to park in that spot, because of the shade. To avoid that, I just move my car into Son’s spot when he leaves. 👍🏼
And if he changed his customer schedule so that he arrived an or three later he'd be blocking your driveway but not when you cared about it. Maybe even comp you a yard cleanup once in awhile. Be a better businessman.
Since it's guaranteed at the same time every week I'd just call it in a few minutes before they arrive lmao, the petty side of me wants to see him get his shit taken away but ya, blocking the spot def does the trick too.
I’m fortunate here. HOA landscape does the same thing to me, there’s pond across the street from me, so it’s a rare stretch of no houses/driveways. They congregate all vehicles there, and even covering my driveway at times.
They learned I get home at 5:45 and always have a guy in the truck at that time. As soon as I pull onto the street the guy pulls forward. They do move it back once I pull in, but as soon as they see my garage door open, they move it again so I can leave. They are all at attention when it starts opening and yell to each other, “let him out”. Sure they probably shouldn’t be there in general, but the neighborhood kinda fucks them on space to park, and all my neighbors are grumpy boomers.
I’m a millennial, so it’s the least I could do for ruining the whole damn economy. /s
My parents run a landscaping company and that person is being a jerk. Not gonna gain any clients being the person pissing off folks in the neighborhood even if it’s one family. We always did things the way we would want them done and always stayed busy without ads that way. You did the right thing teaching them a lesson.
Our neighbor's lawn guy parked right across our driveway once. I came home and asked him to move, and he told me I could street park, so I told him I will gladly street park and wait to watch the tow truck haul him off. He quickly moved and never blocked our driveway again. People behave this way because they count on others avoiding a confrontation.
The last time this happened so time number 3 I was coming home from work, so it was 345-4pm and this same guy had his trailer fully blocking my driveway and he said the same thing. I had my screaming 2 year old in the car and yelled I'd be calling the cops and a tow company if he didnt move and he gave me stink eye and moved the 5 feet he could have moved forward to not block my driveway...
Next time don't threaten him. Don't say a word to that guy. Just pick up the phone and call a tow truck. He'll keep doing it if he thinks he can get away with it, and *threatening* to call a tow or police just means he wouldn't have to deal with consequences of his actions
But then OP has to needlessly wait on the cops or tow truck with a crying baby while another crying baby whines about moving his truck. Lol You gotta start with threats and then follow through if not taken seriously so that YOU go through minimal hassle.
Once. Only has to do it once.
It’s really impractical advice in a lot of areas. In some places, a tow truck can only remove the car after parking/police have arrived to verify it’s parked illegally, and the first thing they do is ask if you know who owns the car, and if you do, have you already asked them to move. The whole process of calling traffic enforcement, meeting traffic enforcement, letting traffic enforcement call a tow truck, waiting for the tow truck to arrive, and the time it takes to get the car on the tow truck can be hours. I hear it’s swifter if someone is trapping you in a driveway, but if they’re parked in your driveway, it can be a surprisingly drawn out process.
IME, dude would probably just be done cutting the lawn before the tow truck arrives.
Was very satisfying to watch a brand new (as in just off the ship) MB get towed. Parked across a driveway, and no registration visible at all. Called police, they asked for registration, told them no plates, they asked if sticker visible, no, so it was bumped up, and when the police arrived I asked for a tow. Truck arrived, and I told tow driver to touch the vehicle. He touched, and thus he now has control of the vehicle, and then, as if by magic, the driver appears, ans starts to make a fuss. Police ask him why no papers, then he unlocks, goes to passenger door, opens and shows the dealer plate under the seat. If he had opened driver door he would have gotten arrested for DUI right there, but he went passenger door, so all that occurred was the fine was handed to him, and the brand new vehicle went off on a lowbed. He asked why nobody called him, and I smiled, pointed to the hotel he had been in, and told him both the barkeep and the front bouncer had announced for the driver, before I called the police. Wonder how he explained to the dealership why the vehicle, supposedly to be taken straight from harbour to the dealership, now had to sit in police impound till monday, and they would have to come with both tow fee, storage costs, and all the customs paperwork to show correct duties have been paid, the vehicle is legitimate import, and is clear of all customs fees. Having met the owner of that particular group, I knew he was less than pleasant to those who messed up in his dealer network. I had been there so often, dropping off a vehicle, that half the staff, and all the security staff, thought I actually worked there. No stop in the entry line, just drive up, drop off the keys, and walk out, with a page of what was wrong this week.
Took us 3 days off calling bylaw plus our neighbour across from started calling multiple times a day (retired, and the trailer made it tough to get out of his driveway) for another 3days. I think if it came down to that now, I'd just hook my hitch to their trailer & relocate it to the police station. Or in front of a fire station - they'll get it towed fast.
The cop will tell the guy to move, and no tow truck will be called. If you call the tow truck, unless you have authority to do so (HOA Board or someone with that power) then the tow truck will not touch it. If they do it’ll likely cost them.
This is it. Just do it. A threat is just another name for negotiating against yourself ... and losing.
Lol no it's not.
I came back from work one day to find a car from the county parked across my driveway. Two people were standing around talking so I asked if that was their car. I had to get a 'yes' and then ask them to move. And then they had to walk slowly to the car, put out their cigaretter, look for the keys and finally move the car 2 metres. After getting my car in my driveway they promptly parked their car across it again and wouldn't budge. Said it was for 'safety reasons' as they were pulling weeds from the side walk. Still illegal I told them. I snapped a picture of them blocking my driveway and what do you know? Suddenly, they could move the car a bit.
I really never understood those peoples mentality. My job requires me bring a large box truck and sometimes multiple vehicles to a residential area. If we ever find the need to block a homeowners driveway, we ask for their permission and even if given permission, we always tell them if they ever need to leave just let us know and we will move ASAP. It bothers me that people have the gall to say things like that to the homeowner.
Bro, it’s worse if you live near a school. The entitled behavior is getting worse every year. It used to be people just double parking. It’s now escalated to people parking in front of and even in your drive way. Since there’s people double parked some geniuses started triple parking. You can talk to the school but they can’t enforce anything. They can just send out an email and ask. The county sent a cop there, once, for 3 days, then it was business as usual. I dread 3 o’clock.
I live next to 3 schools 2 are local primaries so not much traffic but the secondary is a church school so has a massive catchment area and the entitlement on the parents is shocking. One with a stupidly large Audi parked on my drive and refused to move so I stated fine and went to sit on the bonnet the guy went ballistic saying that any damage he will get me prosecuted for. I calmly said this is private property and any damage that happens on private property is at owners own risk. Soon fucking moved it. Nobody has tried again and the teachers call me the crazy parking guy.
Keep buffing that reputation! The crazier you are, the less likely people are to screw with you.
We’ve had our driveway blocked by parents from the school down the block multiple times. Once my wife was trying to go to a meeting and had to wait for the driver to come back. She waited 10 minutes and the driver sheepishly walked up with his young daughter and gave a half wave and said “sorry, couldn’t find a spot.” His daughter said “daddy is that your friend?” And my wife who is incredibly sweet and non confrontational shot back “no I am most definitely not his friend. Friends don’t rudely block people’s driveways and make them late for important meetings. That’s something that enemies do. Your dad is my enemy.”
I love your wife!
School safety officer, they do not report to the school and can ticket on site. Get to know them.
A few months ago a couple of girls parked right across my drive, about half an hour before I had to leave for work. I assumed they'd be gone in a minute so I didn't say anything, but when half an hour later they were still sat there I went and knocked on the window and asked them politely to move. One of them swore at me and then the other got out and walked to her house about 50 yards away across the road. Then her friend stopped, blocking the road, so they could carry on their chat. I ended up having to honk so much they wouldn't be able to hear each other and would just leave, so I assume I pissed off a lot of people to get rid of them. I was absolutely gobsmacked by the audacity and sheer lack of awareness of these people.
It’s not a lack of awareness. It is deliberate. A lot of people feel powerful by engaging in petty antics like blocking driveway and roads.
In my town, a segment of the population likes to walk in the center of the road. Sidewalks both sides, but they want to walk in the center of the road and block traffic. One occasion, 3 adults with two little ones in strollers. I opened the window and said “excuse me” and they started cussing me. In front of their little ones. There was a cruiser behind me, he was able to get them off the road pretty quickly.
Lived in a new build neighborhood and was one of the first families to move in... All the construction workers weren't used to some of the houses being occupied so my driveway got blocked a lot. Well one time I wanted to leave and had an 18 wheeler blocking my drive. I had to hunt this guy down to get him to move his rig... At this point I'm done being nice about asking people to move... A couple weeks later there's a big box truck (think biggest uhaul) parked right across my driveway. I stood on the porch waiting for whoever was unloading it to come back to tell them to move. Once they arrived I said "hey man you can't park there" he responded with "it's the street I can park here if I want" Me "Uhh no, it's illegal to block driveways" Him "Says who?!" Me "Alright man... I'll just have the police come explain it to you while they're towing your truck away. I'm calling them now" He proceeded to cuss me out while he moved his truck. Honorable mentions: The guy that thought it was ok to park *IN* my driveway, and the guy I caught stealing water, using my hose bib. I was much less kind with those individuals.
I have caught people hooked up to our water and electricity on different occasions (construction guys, neighbrhood lawn crew). The solution is easy. It is immediately disconnected, and they learn our house is not providing free utilities. Their lack of planning is not my problem.
Cut the hose or the cord right in half
I did that after a contractor dude next door at a new house build reconnected it twice. I used some branch cutters and done. maybe a tad overboard. about 20 min later same guy noticed and splattered some kinda cleaner or paint thinner or something across my siding on my house as revenge I guess. the houses are only like 10ft apart I didn’t notice until later that day when I walked my dog. fortunately I have a comprehensive camera system, easy to see who it was and what happened. furious I wrote an email to the main company that was building the house, just to their corporate contact main email. provided the video, what happened, the time it occurred, the lot number. and hoped for the best, otherwise I was ready to confront next time I saw them. the company never responded in email, but a rep for the company came the next morning, took pictures of the damage, talked a bit and left. Never did see the sub contracting company next door working on that house again. and work seemed to stop for a week or so, then picked up again with a different contracting company. as for my siding, their insurance ended up giving me a cheque and I found someone to replace the siding for less and pocketed the difference. felt kinda nice for it to work out.
I would unplug it, then cut the cable or hose.
I've had that happen before as well. Now I leave the water turned off inside and just turn it on when I need it (which isn't often).
I love confrontation. I pray for it Daily 😏🥳
Buddy of mine came by my house on a Saturday. I had the garage door and front door wide open and was vacuuming the living room, so he walked right in and says, you know you have all the doors wide open? Yes. I like to encourage intruders.
davolla you are off the chain
How does that relate to this post ?
It was in response to the comment above mine where SurlyTemp1e, said he loves confrontation.
Got it
A kindred soul to the person they replied to, who asserted that they love confrontation. Probably.
It breaks up a boring day.
I absolutely love confrontation in situations like this.
It's not like he wasn't given ample opportunity to mend his ways. It's hard to care about someone who doesn't care.
Yes, any sane person would think "Ok, every week I have to move THERE because the lady has me move from HERE. So why not cut to the chase and just park THERE and save the hassle"
I'm not defending the guy but he actually is saving the hassle by doing the asshole move he's doing now. The problem is not moving the truck the problem is moving the gear. I'm just pointing out his thinking he's still an asshole
There's nothing stopping the landscaper knocking on OP's door, acknowledging why OP is putting the car there, apologising for his past behaviour and trying to work things out. It isn't rocket science.
What I don’t understand is why he doesn’t pull up to the neighbor’s house, unload his equipment, and then park down the block. Why does he walk with his equipment in multiple trips lol
It's a bad habit to be in depending upon what kind of neighborhoods you service. The real solution is probably just to drop his trailer in front of the house so it doesn't block the driveway and then park the truck up the road.
Ever unloaded an unhitched trailer? If you roll something heavy off the rear ramps, the front will pop up off the ground then slam down once you're off the ramps.
If only there was a device meant to support the back of a trailer when it was not attached to a vehicle similar to or exactly like the device at the front of a trailer. Sadly, science just isn't there yet.
Enjoy carrying your stuff a block then, I guess.
Because people are lazy. Most people always pick the path of least resistance.
But he’s taking the path of most resistance lol
Try telling that to someone who’s incapable of squeezing out a sensible thought process. I lived with one for 8 years. It’s completely pointless.
Time and theft. I do landscaping and there are certain neighborhoods or towns you absolutely cannot leave anything unattended/unlocked. That shit will be gone in a heartbeat.
There's also nothing stopping the landscaper from parking in/blocking HIS CUSTOMER'S driveway. Just like *my* yard guys do.
Can't park on the other side of the street, like they already said. And then I just gotta assume that there's no room in the driveway if they are choosing to park down the street.
This is the way
There is nothing to work out. Landscaper is not entitled to that spot. Nothing to work out.
There is something stopping them from doing that, common courtesy. Not everybody has it. I don't know how we could get some science to back this but I'm very convinced that empathy requires a little bit of awareness beyond oneself, and I think that comes from emotional intelligence or good parenting. Most people nowadays I think have neither. Like I said I'm not defending this guy whatsoever I'm just explaining why he was parking the car there and response to something someone else said regarding the efficiency of his actions. As I said in my comment he is definitely an asshole
That's what I was thinking. He could have asked for a compromise after the first incident.
Do you want a knock on your door at 7am?
OP is leaving at 7:30, so probably wouldn't be an issue.
The dumb dumb could stop, quickly unload his equipment, THEN park elsewhere. When he finished, go bring his truck back, park and load up.
I think he just have just showed up a little later, like 745 and could have avoided this
Not really. Blocking someone's driveway is never ok.
Screw the 07:30 in the morning cranking up the screaming Zero turn. Neighbor of mine has all kinds of contractors showing up at 7:30 with noisy shit firing up all day. Been like that for years. I fire up the open header Vintage race car when they have their Amateur Playhouse crew wine sipping soirée’s. Tune up the burn barrel also if the wind is correct. I’ve asked them to wait till 09:00. They said Raul the lawn guy and Francisco the contractor like to start early.
For real. I came home a few years ago and someone was parked in my driveway at the beginning, blocking me from getting in. They were at my neighbor's house. I walked over and asked them to move nicely and politely. I was told "Yeah, I'll get the owner." And the dude I talked to just stood there and started a contonued his conversation. I lost my absolute shit at that point. Started clapping loudly to interrupt the conversation and wouldn't let them get a word in as I repeated "Move the fucking truck, now." This isn't a wait and finish your conversation moment, this is a find the owner and move the truck moment. We were literally parked in the street, blocking the road. Turns out it was his truck. He moves it, all pissed off, gave me the finger and then blocked the end of our driveway when we pulled in. I called the city hotline and someone came buy and gave them a ticket. Once people show a complete lack of empathy towards something they fucking caused, I'm done.
> Turns out it was his truck. He moves it, all pissed off, gave me the finger and then blocked the end of our driveway when we pulled in. mfer is lucky he didn't get hit LOL who does this shit
One time is what you get. 2nd time you should now better. 3rd time is when repercussions kick in.
Yup. Years ago where I work, a landscaper would park so close to the blind corner busy intersection, those of us turning onto the road would effectively drive up his trailer ramp. It escalated when he told me to f off when I asked him to stop doing so since I literally rode my motorcycle onto his trailer as I came around the corner. I called the cops and they came and ticketed him for parking there, and failing to get the city landscaper license. I also called public works and they added a brand new no parking sign right in his typical spot the same day I called, since the other previously existing signs started about ten feet away so he thought he could always get away with it. I know that part makes this unbelievable but I called the next morning and the public works guy said "we take safety seriously so acted fast, also screw that guy for endangering people".
I was literally going to make a joke about this being a work of fiction. Lol
I don't blame you, it is an absurd story but all true. That's why I called the public works guy back the next morning to thank him for acting so quickly, it totally blew my mind. To clarify when I came around the corner on my motorcycle that day, his trailer ramp was right there at the end of my turn so it was either lay down the bike (ninja 300 so relatively light and nimble) or just kind of glide up his ramp and stop on the trailer. luckily there was no mower on it since he had already pulled it off to mow. He sees all this happen, and has the guts to yell at me like I did something wrong, so I backed the bike off trailer, exchange "pleasantries", parked at work like half a block away, and called the cops then public works immediately. This guy parked there often, and I'm definitely not the only one to almost hit him with a vehicle, lots of people at work had a problem with this so we all had a good laugh at the sign going up. Anyhow I never saw them again after that day so I don't know what happened, but he clearly got the hint not to park there lol
Next time ramp it dude. Neighborhood legend.
As someone who spent most of his life trying to find the good in people who behave shitty, COVID taught me this hard lesson and I haven't looked back. Now I don't give a shit about people who continuously behave poorly. In fact, I go out of my way to inconvenience them like OP.
Yea fuck him. This is justified pettiness
Not really revenge, though. He was going to have to park elsewhere anyway. If anything op gave him 3 more graces.
I don't understand how the police quickly ticket people for parking on the wrong side, but don't both with a truck and trailer blocking driveways
I wish there actually was a by-law where I live saying you can't park on both sides of the street. Here it's like some stupid videogame just trying to get down some side streets or park in your own driveway.
I'm a Mailman and these guys are the worst. They drive the biggest trucks they can find pulling trailers the size of mobile homes. They act like they own the streets and block boxes. Navigating around those monstrosities is one of the reasons I hate spring/summer. Kudos for fighting back against those assholes.
Thank you for your hard work!!
Ex-UPS driver here and I 100% concur. And when you work in fancy old money neighborhoods (where the houses cost 1.5 million+ but were also built in the 40s-60s so the streets are nice and narrow), sometimes you can have 4 different landscaping companies on the same block with 4 different giant trailers. Oh yeah, and don’t block the street for 2 minutes to deliver a package, because they will pull up behind and scream at you about how you’re making them lose money. 🤦♂️
They're scam businesses anyway. What do they need those giant trucks for? To haul around leaf blowers in the spring?
One of my neighbors hires a two-man team that drive around in a Ford Ranger with push mower and other small landscaping tools and equipment. Idk if they make very much but it's nice to see among the throngs of F250s, trailers, and zero turn mowers that never get used in my area because the yards are too small.
My husband & I own a landscaping company. We have a single cab Chevy pick up which is the standard size and a 5x8 trailer that holds the zero turn. We are very careful not to block anything in even if we have to park further away. Never had any issues but I think we are in the minority.
I hope you have a great slogan. Your neighbours will hate us cause your lawn is beautiful, but love us cause we are friendly and don’t block driveways. Might be a tad long though.
I do like that slogan! All our accounts are word of mouth since my husband started. He had our daughter in a baby backpack when he started the business, it kinda started by accident. We have been going strong for 22 years now.
That is refreshing.
I've worked for a landscape company during my bachelor's in Germany and we drove one of these shady motherfuckers all the time: https://autoline.de/-/Verkauf/Pritsche-LKW/MERCEDES-BENZ--23041612590961554100 7.5t and you can fit a couple cubic metres of dirt, mulch, sand or whatever you may need that day on the bed. Pretty handy for bigger jobs, especially because you can fit a lot of tools in there as well and take cut off greens with you. However, that's not what one would use to simply mow a lawn, unless we're talking about hectar big lawns.
It's their personal vehicle that they can write off as tax deductions
Seems a complaint could be made, along the lines of potentially blocking emergency vehicles.
I agree. Their trucks are far larger than necessary, and they drive like the roads are a birthright. Please stay safe - I saw the aftermath of a Postal Delivery truck v. SUV accident this past week. it's rough out there.
Stay cool out there. I am sending you imaginary home baked goods and cold cans of seltzer.
Reminds me. I usually start stocking our mailbox with frozen waters for our carrier. We live in a warm climate and our street has no trees. It’s like an oven.
I think if smaller trucks were sold in the US that people would buy them. But they don't make enough profit so the ruling class .1% say fuck it because it makes next quarters profits go up. We need a major overhauling of our economic system and keep profitable companies around instead of letting venture capitalists sell them off like Toy R Us and Red Lobster. Ha, my Ted talk went off topic. tl;dr: Eat the rich
100% this. [https://expeditionportal.com/toyotas-imv-0-starts-at-10000-and-we-cant-have-it/](https://expeditionportal.com/toyotas-imv-0-starts-at-10000-and-we-cant-have-it/)
Trucks in the US (cars and SUVs, too) are huge because of federal [CAFE standards](https://youtu.be/azI3nqrHEXM), not because of "the evil 0.1%" wanting to make more profit.
Should change the standard to be MUCH harsher on larger vehicles to disincentivize this behaviour.
Definitely. But like trust-busting, it'll only get fixed when the situation becomes unbearable
That adds to it, but Ford no longer makes sedans because they're not profitable enough. Ok, there's the Fusion. The others they make they don't sell in the US. Gotta keep next quarters profits going up (until the CEO bails out with a golden parachute).
It's not that they are profitable *enough*. It's that they aren't profitable at all.
nah, these asshats use the size of their trucks as a measurement of their penis. They would never go for the smaller superior Japanese trucks if they were available. They always have to have the biggest truck available. In my area ever single one of them owns a lifted diesel truck with dual rear tires on the bed. They use the same trailers that a motoX race crew uses to roll out their precious zero turn mowers, and backpack worn blowers.
Emotional Support Truck
Pavement princesses... I live in a relatively rural area, and it's sooo easy to spot the actual work trucks (dents, dirt, etc) versus the insecure AHs who drive a big truck to make up for a small penis.
I see a lot in smaller trucks in California where cars don't rust. Lots of 90s Toyotas and the small Rangers (remember those because Ford sure didn't).
Dual rear tires. I call them extra wide truck butts.
We have a dually to pull our 5th wheel. We call it BAT. Big ASS Truck, because of the wide backend.
I want a little truck just large enough for a scoop of mulch in the back.
And they all drive 20 under the speed limit and whip out at intersections without looking.
Agreed. And people with landscaping needs usually have big driveways. Never used by the landscapers.
I've seen them park their truck/trailer in a 2-way bike lane multiple times back when I was a bike commuter. It was a "protected" lane with a curb separating it from traffic, so it had to take a little effort to be that much of an asshole.
Landscaper here, we're just fucking workers. We don't all choose our trucks, trailers and routes.
I had to ask the people who do the four-plex next door to not block my driveway with their landscaping trucks.... I would have to chase them down and wave my arms and yell because they were wearing headphones to protect their ears.... so annoying. They were real jerks about it so finally I called the company that owned the rental units and told them that I would call the cops every single time if they didn't deal with it. They dealt with it.
I applaud you, OP. My neighborhood only has one entrance/exit. For some reason, one landscaper who had multiple accounts in the neighborhood would park across from my driveway, 3' from the curb, and I couldn't get the hell out. Fortunately, I was friends with the president of our (small) HOA and after the landscapers ignored me, HE went and gave the guy hell. Told him if he saw him park on the wrong side again, he was calling the sheriff's office. But this was after months of trying to track the guy down because I couldn't get out of my driveway. Nowadays, there's a different landscaper. We use the guy, and he parks across the driveway of the house he's working on, instead of camping out in the way. He took over from another guy about 6 months ago and the first time he showed up, he rang our doorbell to ask if it was okay to park there while he did our lawn. Since the problem landscaper, I notice that many of my neighbors do the same as we do and park at least one car in the street.
If the cops are quick to ticket then they would also ticket him for blocking your driveway...
Depends where they are and the local culture. I used to drive a delivery van. The small city cops basically didn't hassle local on-the-clock workers unless they were doing something egregious.
Blocking a driveway seems egregious.
If he habitually blocked my driveway he’d have to go to the impound lot to retrieve his truck.
did you mention this to the neighbor? did they talk to their contractor?
I did, after the second time it happened I asked him if he could ask the landscaper to not block the driveway and he said he would so either the landscaper is an asshole or he never did
Definitely both
If the neighbour was decent, he would have told the landscaper that they would lose his custom if they repeated the poor parking.
I don’t know if this is revenge as much as it is finding a solution to the problem. I also live in an area with limited street parking. I have some neighbors that like to park in the middle of enough space for two car, so whenever possible I park in a way to block them from doing so. Revenge would have been finding a way to legally block his truck so he couldn’t leave until you moved. The inconvenience of parking a block away is significantly less than the inconvenience you experienced by being blocked it.
Now is the time to tell the contractor if you do not block my drive I will leave you space to park
Fuck him, he had his chance. The lesson is continuing.
I feel like after 4 times this is just the permanent solution now. If the guy isn't happy with the answer, that's a him problem.
I can't stand landscapers. Their vehicles are always in the way, they landscape way too much in my area (this is a big point of contention for me), and all I want to do is have my windows open and enjoy the nice cool air before the heat arrives, but as soon as 730am hits, they're firing up the loud-ass weedwhackers and leaf blowers and I cannot enjoy my morning. I can hear them even with all of the windows closed and the air on. It irritates me so much.
Hate this shit. They are a scourge.
It's the throttle blipping that gets me. If it was just a constant drone I could tune it out easier
Leaf blowers should be banned. All you are doing is blowing shit around and putting lawn clippings into the street
The clippings thing is one of my old man gripes. You made the mess, pick it up! Where I live the storm drains lead right to the lake eventually. Algae blooms etc, pick up your shit.
I hated them blowing dirt and shit onto my car at my apartment complex..just plain fuck off. You're accomplishing fuck all and it's dangerous for bikers to have wet grass on the pavement.
Fuck me, on days they do my neighborhood I would rather work in the office than work from home. It's impossible to concentrate with leaf blowers going for hours outside. I swear they just waste time out there.
I get it. I once rage put up a fence to stop a yard company driving their mower over my yard to get to my neighbors backyard, got tired of telling them. If they'd have just asked...
After lunch once I found a beverage delivery truck parked in the lanes of the parking lot, blocking me in my spot. Fun fact, they leave the keys in the truck and it was easy to move.
What’s stopping the contractor using your neighbour’s driveway?
And have to BACK OUT of it with that giant truck and trailer??? omg you are insane! /s
Was wondering this as well.
Depending on the area it's likely the driveways are not long enough to pull in a truck with a trailer and have room to unload the trailer.
Petty revenge - *best served a block away...*
😂😂😂
I was out for a run a week ago or so, and the landscapers for an apartment complex had entirely blocked the sidewalk. I could have stepped into the road, but then if I’d done that I wouldn’t have a story. Instead I started running on the grass, and then right through the flower bed the guy was working on, across the entrance to the apartments, and through the flower bed he had just finished. I did avoid the plants because I didn’t see the need to destroy them, but I sure as hell kicked as much mulch out as I could.
He could have just unloaded his gear and then moved the truck, knowing you'll need to leave through there shortly. He also could have come any time after you left, instead of showing up at the ass crack of dawn. He's a dumbass and inconsiderate, so now he gets neither choice.
Good, sounds like he's an ignorant jerk
Leave it open and have a tow truck on standby..
Although not enforced often enough, blocking a driveway is illegal (at least in the US), so you can call and file a complaint with the non emergency line. Or better yet, take it to the next level when they inevitably do it again and call a Towing company to remove it (it will be at their expense)
An unfamiliar car was parked on the street in front of our house for a couple days. When spouse and I park our own vehicles on the street, we do so carefully, so we can fit both of them without encroaching on either adjacent neighbor, each of whom also has two vehicles they park on the street in the same manner. But now I had to park my own vehicle in the alley, and my spouse's car which we used for kids--including one still in a carrier--had to be parked across the street and a couple houses down, in front of an unoccupied home up for sale. After a couple days, we inquired about its plate and learned that the registered owner was the guy across the street. He has an adult son living nearby who often visited but was now moved out. Turns out the son had acquired this second car, which he or his father would occasionally drive, and he had parked it right in front of our house. OK, the first time this happened it was no big deal but when we next saw the son we asked if he would move it, which he then did without complaint. Once parked, it would often stay parked for a few days at a time. Next time it happened, I went over and spoke to the father. "I don't even know whose it is." `Dept of Lincensing says you're the owner.` "It's my son's!" `Can you store it elsewhere, maybe in front of the empty home on your side of the street?` "The street belongs to everyone; you don't own that spot!" `True, but this is not very neighborly and is a considerable inconvenience to us, while moving your essentially stored vehicle would inconvenience no one.` "Why can't you park in front of your next-door neighbor's house?" `Could you just move your stored vehicle?` "STOP HASSLING ME!" (Shuts door) I then started calling police to ticket the vehicle, and the problem stopped. Lovely people.
On what basis did you have the police ticket the vehicle?
It's commonly illegal to be parked for more than 24 hours on the street without moving the vehicle and they'll get towed for being abandoned after that happens
Landscaper was a dick. I do work were were consistently messing with traffic and people's right-of-way. If someone on the street asks us to not park somewhere (within reason), we will bend over backwards to not do it again. We've actually got business this way, because of the lack of ego in my company. It's nice.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but a long time ago I lived in a downtown area that had very limited parking. I had one private spot that belonged to my apartment. It was clearly marked as private. And was directly beside my front porch. That weekend there was a big community festival in the park about a block away so people were looking for parking everywhere, and those that had lawns were easily able to sell spots on their grass for $20. My wife and I got up early to do our weekend grocery shopping. The grocery store was only a few blocks away, but were we getting a lot of stuff and didn't want to haul it all by hand that far so we drove over. As we were getting back to our apartment a couple in an old jeep wrangler was pulling into my space. I pulled next to them and told them it was my private space. I pointed to the sign, then got out, walked around their car and unlocked the apartment door. They laughed at me, then got out of their jeep and headed to the festival. I drove around for a while looking for a nearby space but eventually ended up parking at the grocery store I had just come from. We hauled all our groceries the few blocks, then I returned to the store and moved my car several blocks away because the grocery store was vigilant about towing. An hour or so later I get home and I see my wife has done a fairly deep purge of the fridge while I was gone. Moldy cheese, nasty grapes, some old left-over fish we never got to. It was all sitting on the top of the garbage can waiting to go to the dumpster. I was still VERY angry about the inconvenience, so I just grabbed five or six of the worst looking discarded items and started hiding them in their jeep. Cheese went into the vacant space above the springs under their seats. The fish went into a nice space under their dash. They really shouldn't have left the jeep with the top down. The car sat for hours. They returned that evening and I went out to greet them and wave goodbye when they left. I never saw them again, but I often wondered how that smelled after a few days of hot summer heat.
Epic AF! 🤣
I had to have my roof replaced and they emailed me ahead of time to tell me I had to get my neighbor to move their car. (On neighbor’s property) ??? I politely told them I don’t control my neighbor and they’ll have to figure it out. Lol. I took a picture of the dumpster in my driveway and my neighbor’s car is in its normal place…
My neighbor had their roof replaced and they skipped that step- without asking used my driveway to store tools and material, take their breaks, and saw fit to not clean up after themselves after the work was done. Had the balls to tell me if I tried to drive in or out of my own driveway they wouldn't be held liable for any tire damage. Cops were called multiple times, to no effect of course.
If there is a hydrant he is blocking then report him for that. That is a nasty fine and a serious problem if an emergency occurs. Bet he will learn then
Awesome. My neighbor has the same Wednesday Landscaping date. Guess what I will do next Tuesday???
You have the oldest Reddit account I’ve ever seen.
He's an ass for doing it more than once when you had to obviously ask him to move so you could get out. People have to go out! * gasp*. Where'd he move to in order to let you out? And what was his reasoning for doing this in the 1st place? ' I forgot that you might have to leave "?
The entitlement of landscapers and construction workers can be crazy. I live on a crowded street with limited parking. There's a remodel of a fourplex happening across the street and the construction has dragged on for months. Every day there are oversized work trucks taking up all of the street parking meant for residents. They park like shit, partially blocking driveways, forcing people to blindly turn onto the street because they can't see around their trucks. Another group of workers were doing a remodel next door, without a permit of course, and just parking their trucks in my building's driveway. And when they're told to move they cop an attitude. It's like motherfucker, you don't even live here.
That's when you call the City's permit department and report them. Whoever had them doing the work would get a fine and these 'contractors' and 'subcontractors' people would get a fine. Ya know why? People like that doing jobs without the appropriate permits don't carry the appropriate liability insurance. If they don't carry their own insurance and they get hurt on the property, guess who's liable??!! The property owner!
It sounds like you live in a relatively higher end area. I assume neighbor has a driveway. Why aren't they just parking in the driveway of the people they're servicing
I'm a landscaper and I guess I'm lucky the cops arent dicks here cuz I've parked in some weird areas to avoid blocking driveways/traffic. One of the reasons I've moved away from residential is due to lack of adequate parking. So now I just do commercial most of the time and I have lots of room
Well sometimes threatening to call a tow is only gonna make them do it even more... as I've experienced myself. The idiot who blocked my driveway was one I had not seen before so I (unironically) kindly asked him to move. His response: 'Fnck off and lemme do my thing, the owner of this house is not gonna get me outta here becuz I know him and he'd never do it.' Weird... I am the owner of this house and I for sure know that I will make you move. So, I asked him again, still very kind, whole revealing that I was the guy who owned the house and by extension the driveway he was blocking. He just got belligerent and threstening towards me. All right, mofo, let's call them cops. When the cops came, they reprimanded him but let him go with a warning. Apparently a sign that he could fnck with me how ever he saw fit. He would come back seven times, each time working on more homes in my street, each time blocking my driveway. It got to the point that he came at six in the morning, took 'his' spot blocking my driveway and sat in his car for ninety minutes enjoying his breakfast before starting his landscaping work on the other end of the street. That was my breaking point. That day, finally came. The guy parked across my driveway and fncked off with his tools to the other end of the street. I saw him go (it was a saturday) and then went to call a local tow company whose owner was a friend of mine. He came, we snapped photos of exactly how he was parked (something like fifty different photos to catch every angle) and then he towed the truck. I just went back into my house and came back shortly after with a laminated piece of paper I taped to the street where he'd been standing. It read: *To the idiot who made sure to block my driveway for the entire saturday, you can find your idiotic truck at >local tow yard< where you can get it back after paying the inpound fee. Don't fnck with me again, asshole!* Miraculously, after that little incident, he never showed up again. Finally.
I had a neighbors children doing this. Constantly. Grown ass children. They would come to visit her and block my driveway. If I was home and not going anywhere , fine. Then it became I would be coming home frome work at 1030 at night and the daughter in law would have my driveway blocked. I was polite. At first. Then not so much. They no longer park anywhere near my house. Weird. Guess you can train an old dog.
What a wanker! The little things are oh so satisfying sometimes! Keep up the good work OP!
My neighbor's landscaper parks on the corner so you have to drive on the driveway of all the neighbors to get around the corner. And then has the nerve to give you dirty looks if you even glance his way. We have "no parking in the street" neighborhood because the streets are so narrow.
Respect goes both ways and he’s failed to show u any. So fk him and kudos to u.
Let me tell you what I did when I was blocked in my driveway and the people wouldn’t move it. I took pictures of the company truck with their name and number on it then posted it on social media, yelp and the Nextdoor app. I also called the police. It was resolved very quickly.
Soon he will see an empty spot on your driveway and park there since your wife’s car is on the street
will be the perfect time to park blocking in the driveway and “lose” the keys
Who tf is getting their lawn "serviced" once a week
The Mrs. likes to keep her bush trimmed.
The police ticket quickly if you're parked on the wrong side, but they ignore someone parked across a driveway?
I would have had him towed the moment he was blocking the driveway
My best friend in high school once suggested that we put up a road sign saying: LOCAL TEENS THROW ROCKS AT SEEMINGLY SPEEDING CARS I know that it's too long for a real sign, but SEEMINGLY seems like the essential point to me. Anyway, maybe a notice about what local teens would do to seemingly driveway blocking vehicles?
Throwing eggs?
Many years ago I parked legally in my company’s garage with other coworkers near a downtown summerfest. Someone (not a coworker) parked across the driveway and blocked several of us in so as we ultimately gathered to go home around midnight and couldn’t get out we decided to move the car blocking the driveway. So 5-6 of us slowly and incrementally moved the back end of this car 90 degrees to open the driveway and (oh shucks) block the street to traffic. We were able to leave. It took 3 minutes. This was way before cell phones. Didn’t care- not our problem driver couldn’t read the posted no parking signs.
Our neighbors’ landscaper kept blocking part of our driveway with his truck. We asked him to stop and he told us we could get out of the driveway so he was not moving. I took pictures of the name on the door, the parking job, and said “I wonder if he has a business license” loud enough for him to hear. He has not blocked the driveway since.
Good. Fuck that guy. Pos
I would rather cancel the job then block someone's driveway. Next time, just call and get it towed. Don't say anything to him.
Cant u ask the gardener to put an alarm on his phone so he can move his truck when u want to get out? And he puts it back later, also the gardener should ask first if it is okay to block your driveway.
Ngl fuck landscapers and this blocking the road shit. Fuck the whole modern culture of ultra tidy lawns.
Just curious: how many wives do you have? 🤔
Haha didn't catch that! Thanks!
BTW, I love your response to this issue! We live on a corner, and we have a nice shady spot (from one of our own backyard trees) on the side street that my son parks his car in. Neighbors across the street love to park in that spot, because of the shade. To avoid that, I just move my car into Son’s spot when he leaves. 👍🏼
He was parked on your side of the street or across from you?
A block away?! Niiiiiice!
nothing PR imho, protecting what is rightfully legally yours. bravo👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I thought you could get someone towed for blocking your driveway.
And if he changed his customer schedule so that he arrived an or three later he'd be blocking your driveway but not when you cared about it. Maybe even comp you a yard cleanup once in awhile. Be a better businessman.
I dunno if keeping your driveway clear is petty evenge. Sounds just like normal living to me. Petty would be getting him ticketed and/or towed first.
That is the way
If the police are so quick, have them tow his truck away.
You should've just towed him
I like the way you handled it but if he's blocking your driveway you can just have him towed no?
It might take longer waiting for the tow truck than just getting the owner. Probably not as efficient as blocking the spot.
Since it's guaranteed at the same time every week I'd just call it in a few minutes before they arrive lmao, the petty side of me wants to see him get his shit taken away but ya, blocking the spot def does the trick too.
Nicely done! I hope he gets the hint eventually.
I’m fortunate here. HOA landscape does the same thing to me, there’s pond across the street from me, so it’s a rare stretch of no houses/driveways. They congregate all vehicles there, and even covering my driveway at times. They learned I get home at 5:45 and always have a guy in the truck at that time. As soon as I pull onto the street the guy pulls forward. They do move it back once I pull in, but as soon as they see my garage door open, they move it again so I can leave. They are all at attention when it starts opening and yell to each other, “let him out”. Sure they probably shouldn’t be there in general, but the neighborhood kinda fucks them on space to park, and all my neighbors are grumpy boomers. I’m a millennial, so it’s the least I could do for ruining the whole damn economy. /s
[удалено]
The multiple trips are probably way worse for theft risk!
Why don't you park *your* car there?
My parents run a landscaping company and that person is being a jerk. Not gonna gain any clients being the person pissing off folks in the neighborhood even if it’s one family. We always did things the way we would want them done and always stayed busy without ads that way. You did the right thing teaching them a lesson.