My instinct says to get pi$$ed at him - but this dang, cursed conscience says to be grateful....dammit

[moparedtn]

Quick Ed Story Time!
Deadbeat neighbor is finally getting tossed out of my dads' former farmhouse next door, along with his family.
He's managed to kill off three riding mowers in succession, trying to mow what I used to for Pop using a tractor.
Regardless of his lack of motivation to provide for he and his in this life, he's always been kind to everyone and
the best kind of neighbor - quiet, no trouble, even keeps an eye out when I'm gone.
He's a good dude, his kids both grew up polite and productive....yada yada, you get the deal here.

So...a couple days ago, he asks to borrow my tractor with the finish mower on the back - part of what he has
to do to get clear of the lease is to get the veritable hayfield chopped back down to acceptable levels.
Keep in mind, I have NEVER loaned out anything of real value to anyone before - it's all come too hard to do
that - so the natural reaction was "nope"...
but then a little voice in the back of my head said "go ahead, it'll be fine and you're right up the ridge."
Dammit...warning bell #1 went off in my noggin.

I tell him I got to fetch some diesel for it first, but he holds up his pudgy paw and says "no worries, I got a bunch
of diesel. I'll fill it up, free of charge."
That should have been warning bell #2....'cause it was.

He commences to mowing and I head back up the ridge, praying all would be well and I'd get some sort of
atta boy award from the heavens over this.
Well, that didn't last long...I hear my tractor stop, but it isn't a "turn the key" sort of off.
No, this sounded a lot more - odd.
Warning bell #3 ringing in my head, I damn near race back down the ridge in the Ram....
And discover my tractor just sitting there, doing nothing but otherwise unscathed.
Neighbor has a flummoxed expression on his face, like the RCA Victor dog on those old record labels.
"What happened?"
"Stopped running."
"Uhhh, any idea why?"
"Nope. I filled it up and started mowing, then it just laid down."

I pick up the empty gas can he pointed to when he said that and instinctively gave a sniff of the contents...
WARNING BELL #4!! Oh hell, I'm gonna KILL me a neighbor!
That ain't diesel I'm smelling - that's stagnant old GASOLINE!
I chuck down the can, cursing like a tourettes sufferer under my breath, trying to maintain calm...
"Uhhh, neighbor? That ain't diesel!"
"Well, SURE it is... I think? I was told it was, anyways!"
He now realizes how close to death he is and instinctively steps back, stammering apologies and such nonsense...
and I expect the worst has happened to my beloved 20+ year old tractor.

So, now you know where the title of this post comes from...haven't spoken/seen the dude since, either.

I managed to get away from him and dragged the tractor back up to my place (ever-faithful Ram to the rescue yet
again!).
I figured, what the heck, before giving up on the old girl I'd flush the tank and lines and get some fresh diesel in
her, then observe what happened....and don't you know, that rascal came back to life and apparently runs fine now!
I figured he'd blown the damn thing up for sure....tough little diesels those Iseki folks make, I tell ya.

Younger me would have been ragin' angry all up in the neighbors' grille over such a stupid, irresponsible thing.
Me now? I'm literally ate up with empathy for the poor ignorant fella - and even a tiny bit of gratitude for not only
what he's been as a neigbor, but even for the offer to fuel the tractor, misguided though that turned out to be.

So - am I just getting soft?

 

[Don Frelier]

I think you handled it perfectly.
Patience is a small part of wisdom that God gives to some as we age.
But I think we have to ask for it and work towards it.
Of course as humans (men especially) we occasionally get it wrong.

In the end people are always worth more than stuff.

 

[khryslerkid]

I stopped lending things out years ago. It never turns out well or the item never returns. "Sorry, I don't have one." Or " It's not running right at the moment."

I would and have just done the job myself if it's within reason. Too many lessons learned in my lifetime.

A guy at work had to run an errand for the boss. He brings the new company truck back and it was smoking pretty bad. He parks it and walks into the shop. I asked him if he noticed all the smoke. He didn't. Long story short, he stopped and filled it up at a station that was cheaper than anyone else in town. He was really proud of himself getting a good deal. I asked him was this gas or diesel? He says gas of course. I said you know that's a diesel don't you?

IIRC it was over $2k to do what they had to do to clean the whole system, replace the fuel pump, ect.

 

[dadsbee]

We all get lax from time to time.. BUT.. nothing leaves my yard without me pulling it or driving it!

 

[Fran Blacker]

No good deed goes unpunished. ED you dodged a bullet or your neighbor did?

 

[moparedtn]

I would and have just done the job myself if it's within reason. Too many lessons learned in my lifetime.

That has actually happened before - did that for the property owner as a goodwill gesture once.
Dude is ex-navy and high on the pecking order of engineering at GE, contracting out to TVA....
and has an attitude to match, if you catch my drift.
(He's the one I went over to check on during a heat wave a little while back - and he promptly
passed out from the heat. If I hadn't been there to grab him and get some cold water on/in him.
Never heard another word about it, or even a thanks later on...)
Not bad folks - just the kind that likes to put on airs, as they used to say.

Needless to say, I haven't mowed for him again. Hoping he's as quiet as the current renters, best
case scenario.

 

[moparedtn]

I think you handled it perfectly.
Patience is a small part of wisdom that God gives to some as we age.
But I think we have to ask for it and work towards it.
Of course as humans (men especially) we occasionally get it wrong.

In the end people are always worth more than stuff.

Wife says it's probably a big part of why He has kept me around - I need "tenderizing".

 

[moparedtn]

No good deed goes unpunished. ED you dodged a bullet or your neighbor did?

Yes....figuratively in the former, literally in the latter.

 

[moparedtn]

We all get lax from time to time.. BUT.. nothing leaves my yard without me pulling it or driving it!

No idea what to even do with that reply...

 

[Mackman]

On occasion someone has asked to borrow a tractor or implement and I always respond with “I will come and do it for you”. Sometimes they don’t take me up on it but when they do, I have control over it’s operation. Learned it from my Dad many years ago.

 

[Dave6T4]

My father, and by association, I, learned a lesson on well-meaning lending of equipment. I grew up on a 100 acre Century dairy farm. My Dad had a hay baler that we used in the harvesting of our hay and straw crops. To earn extra income he did custom baling for our neighbours, and charged about 10 cents per bale for the service. By the design of this baler, about 3 bales of hay remained in the bale chamber at all times. This meant that the current customer received 3 bales of the last farmer's hay, and left his last 3 bales in the machine.
One of our neighbours was a nice enough guy, but always seemed to be down on his luck, and struggled financially. He needed his hay crop baled and approached my Dad with a proposition; he would borrow our tractor and baler and harvest his own crop, at a rate of 8 cents per bale, saving himself some money. Dad took pity on the guy and agreed to the deal, figuring he had other chores he could do on our farm in the meantime. After a short tutorial on the machine, our neighbour was on his way.
The next afternoon, with his hay baled, the neighbour returned our equipment, and paid for the service (the baler has a counter on it that keeps track of how many bales are produced). Much to his dismay, Dad discovered that the neighbour had not only gotten the last three bales of the previous farmer, but he also stripped his last three bales out of the machine. To accomplish this, this moron had to loosen the adjustable sides and top and bottom of the bale chamber. These now destroyed adjustments were very critical, since they govern the tightness of the pack of the hay within the bale chamber. This is a trial and error process to restore the proper tension, and quite time consuming. This was all for the guy to scam Dad out of 24 cents worth of hay! I rarely ever saw my father lose his ****, but it happened that day! After that, our tractor and equipment never left the farm without either my dad or myself in the seat. This happened about 60 years ago, but I still remember it well.

 

[KiwiKid72]

Good thing he didn't try to change the oil as well.

 

[Kern Dog]

If someone is such a broke dick that they can't afford to buy a tool, you know they won't have the money to replace something that they borrowed and broke.

 

[Thrashingcows]

Probably the only thing that saved your tractors motor was the fact that it had some diesel in it and if it was old stagnant gas it probably had lost a lot of it's volatility over time. Lucky circumstances though and glad your act of kindness didn't cost you a motor for your tractor!

I had a person who I know casually through work find out I had a car trailer, guy asks me if he can borrow it to make a 20 hour round trip to go pick up a vehicle and bring it back...Umm no you can't!

 

[kiwigtx]

Simple lesson.....don't lend tools to anyone who don't have any of their own or anything of significant value.

I made the mistake of lending my petrol powered water-blaster to my Dentist just down the road. It came back after two weeks with a damaged hose (she bought me another) and the cap of my gas can missing. It wasn't very clean either. Some people just have no respect or any regard for other people's property.

The only people who I now lend tools to are the guys I am working with at the time. At least I can keep a wary eye on them. These same guys understand the value of stuff. It makes a big difference.

 

[66 Sat]

I've been on the other side of this though, and don't like borrowing tools or equipment as a result.
Many moons ago when I was just starting out I needed to take some garden rubble to the dump. My neighbour, a builder, offered me his tip truck. I gratefully accepted, loaded it up, drove carefully to the local dump, raised the bed to tip the rubble....and the idling engine just quit. Tried turning it over a few times, wouldn't start again. After I called him and told him what had happened we got it towed to a garage. Timing belt had snapped, bent some valves.
He didn't blame me to my face, but I could tell he thought I'd been driving the thing hard.
I was struggling with cash back then and was completely innocent so I didn't want to help pay for the repairs.
Awkward situation all round, now I'd rather buy the tools myself or hire the equipment.

 

[Kern Dog]

I have borrowed things and had them break on me. The honorable thing to do is to return the borrowed item in the same condition as it was when you got it. I hesitate to borrow anything anyway. If I have to pay to fix it, it might as well be mine when I am done.

 

[moparedtn]

Probably the only thing that saved your tractors motor was the fact that it had some diesel in it and if it was old stagnant gas it probably had lost a lot of it's volatility over time. Lucky circumstances though and glad your act of kindness didn't cost you a motor for your tractor!

Yes, I appreciate your addressing the mechanical part of this event - and not knowing squat about diesels
beyond rudimentary maintenance sorts of things, I was actually sort of stumped worse damage didn't occur.

It had to be that it had a half tank of diesel in it before the bad crap was poured in, coupled with some sort
of mechanical thing where the tractor just laid down when the rotten gas-diesel mix first hit the cylinders - I guess?
The tractor at that point would roughly idle with assistance, but any effort at throttling up nosed over...
Fortunately also that we have a gas station locally that sells "straight" diesel (along with ethanol-free gas, which
Fred loves to guzzle).

Once I emptied the whole she-bang and got the good stuff back in her (as usual, zero working space where the
fuel filter/lines are on this rascal - ugh) I just let the thing idle a couple minutes and observed the miracle occur.
First time I hit the throttle, she picked right up like nothing had happened.
Needless to say, I was a happy boy - we don't have $25k for a replacement!

 

[moparedtn]

Good thing he didn't try to change the oil as well.

 

[moparedtn]

Simple lesson.....don't lend tools to anyone who don't have any of their own or anything of significant value.

Of course - but this was sort of a "he's earned this" coupled with a calculated risk.
(That's the "conscience" part - I try to do right by people in this life who've earned it).