Times When Initiative Doesn’t Pay

"Fired," he lamented. "I can't believe she fired me after all these years. She even said I was doing a good job." He had, it seems, priced himself out of the market and lost one of his best customers.

He had begun raking her leaves on his day off to earn some extra money, and she had been impressed with his thoroughness and diligence. With only a yard broom, the job was big--ten full hours--but she was happy to pay the $60 he asked. To her, $6 an hour seemed more that fair.

The problems began when passers-by started asking him to work for them, too. There just weren't enough spare hours. Thinking that he might be able to take on a little more work if he had better equipment, he purchased a second-hand mower with a bagger. This allowed him do the big yard in just six hours. He charged the same $60, but the lady was a bit skeptical. After all, he was only picking up leaves, and $10 an hour seemed a bit on the high side for that.

As requests for his services mounted, he upgraded equipment. With $800 invested, the big yard was only a four-hour job. But the $60 price translated to $15 an hour, and the lady was, to say the least, peeved. How dare he charge three times what hamburger flippers were paid? After all, leaves weren't exactly rocket science. Nevertheless, requests for his services continued to come.

Then he overstepped his bounds. He should have left things as they were, she said. Then she wouldn't have been forced to take unpleasant measures. But she had limits... very reasonable limits. At least she thought so.

His final tumble from favor came when he upgraded equipment that fateful last time. Now, with more than $5,000 invested, the big yard took only two hours. In the same time that it had taken him to do this one job, he could now do several. Yes, equipment and maintenance were expensive, but they were worth it. And his wife and children enjoyed seeing a tidy nest egg accumulate in the cookie jar.

There was just one minor problem, a small fly in the ointment. The price. It was the same $60 he had begun charging four years before, but the thought of paying $30 an hour to do leaves nudged her over the edge of tolerance. She must, she icily informed him, find someone who would work for less.

And she did. Why should she continue to pay $30 an hour when she could get the same job done for $6 an hour? And the young fellow who had quoted that price didn't need fancy equipment either. With just a yard broom, he guessed it would take him all day-- a full ten hours. But the more favorable hourly rate compelled her to sever what had been a good working relationship.

I guess there are times when initiative just doesn't pay.

Copyright 1999 James McAlister

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