So this weekend in my little town brought yet another storm, thankfully this time it was snow but it was a lot of snow, there is well over 20 inches of snow in my yard. Unlike my hearty Maine neighbors I am a cheapskate and have never bought a snow blower or any type of of snow removal implement other than an old fashioned shovel. Needless to say when we have the nasty storms that dump over a feet of snow, I am often praying that my neighbors have mercy and spread some neighborly love and plow us out.
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t…enter Wally. See, Wally is the ole school hustler that I never expected to see in a place like Maine. He is the white version of the guy’s in my Granny’s old neighborhood in Chicago. Guys who don’t work 9-5’s instead doing odd and end jobs to get by and maybe even some things I don’t want to know. The Wally’s of the world tend to look a little rough around the edges, in this case Wally is probably not much older than me and the spousal unit, however he looks like he has lead a hard life.
I met Wally last winter when after a particularly brutal storm, he knocked on my door and offered to shovel, he was with another man and they only had one shovel. So he asked if he could use my shovel, despite my common sense I said yes, well Wally and homie did a bang-up shovel job for a mere $20 in less time than either the hubby or I usually do. After paying him, he asked could they use the other shovel while they went around the area trying to drum up more work, he promised to bring it back.
Well I said yes and the hubster figured we would never see that shovel again, but hours later after making some cash, Wally brought my shovel back and I have used him ever since for large storms. I must say that I don’t mind shoveling but when there is over a foot of snow, my enthusiasm tends to wane since at that point shoveling ceases to be relaxing and becomes hard work.
So what’s wrong with Wally the hustler? Only issue I have is he shows up early in the morning, I am talking before 7 am and I am not a morning person. Once Wally woke me up at 6 am….I don’t have a job that requires me to get up that early and ringing my bell that early is a guarantee that mini-me will wake up which is what I don’t want. So I have to remind him don’t come so early.
Which brings me to this morning, I woke up at 6:15 am figuring I would be up when Wally rang, well it seems I missed Wally based off the footsteps at the door when I went downstairs at 6:20. So when a young man not much older than elder boy came knocking at 6:45 offering to shovel, I said yes. Today is a busy day, and the spousal unit’s knees have been bugging him and frankly I am not in the mood to shovel my way out the driveway.
Um, how come when I told young man what I normally pay he looked at me like I was crazy. See, Wally does my driveway and walkway for $20, and when he has his partner they normally get it done in less than 20 mins. Now doing the math, that’s not bad money considering that by the end of a morning they probably get at least 10 houses and with a 50-50 split, not bad at all for not even a half day’s worth of work.
Well young hustler was looking like I had given him an indecent proposal, so since I only had a crispy $20 bill and wasn’t about to head to the ATM for more cash, I asked him to do the driveway and part of the walkway for $20. 30 mins later, while we can get the car our the drivewaym I still have to shovel a path to the car since young hustler apprently didn’t think it was a good idea to shovel at least a small path to the car from my door.
Damn, even young hustlers are lacking in work ethics these days…see the reason the Wally’s of the world get by is they know when its time to bust a sweat, instead young blood figured he was going to get some easy cash.
Anyway at least I am not trapped in the house and can start my day, but Wally where are thou? Don’t leave me hanging again.
