no one want to work.

[vesta111]

We dug deep in our pockets to come up with enough money to be able to hire 2 kids at $15.00 an hour for 5 hours work with Pizza and soda included to clean up our flower beds, rake up the old leaves and put down lime.   Hubby would be working with them and supply all tools and chemicals we need for weed control. We would buy the small gas edgers and the little rotor tiller.   

We have put up signs everywhere for help wanted, asked around at Hubbys work, but so far we have not gotten one call.     So with this time getting anyone teenager willing to give up 5 hours of their life for $65.00 bucks and food, we are going into the Dark side.   

We will ask no questions if we find someone willing to rake and mulch, so they cannot speak English and we have to comunicate with much hand waving, pointing and extra supervision------Why not.

Yah now I am becoming part of the problem, but it is the little stuff that traps you.

[thundley4]

$15/hr X 5 hours = $75.

Just sayin'.

[NHSparky]

$75 each or for both?  Frankly, call a lawn care company if you're going to go to that length.  They'll do a better job, too.

[Thor]

After my first back surgery, I was looking for kids to do odd jobs around the house, like snow removal, lawn mowing or just general help once in a while. There were none to be found. It's as if they would rather be playing on their Play Station, XBox or whatever.

[Gina]

vesta, are you known in the neighborhood you are plastering the help wanted posters up?

[MrsSmith]

Most springs, we have at least one set of kids come down the street with mower and trimmer, looking for work.  There is a kid across the street that will mow any time we ask, and he does odd jobs for other neighbors.  When we need a bunch of help, we ask the youth group at church.   

[Doc]

vesta, are you known in the neighborhood you are plastering the help wanted posters up?

Gina we are in fact not known in the neighborhood,  we have lived here over 15 years and know perhaps 3 family's.-----Years of experience has caused me to friendly and up beat to the neighborhood but to not socialise within it.------ I cannot tell you the number of times when a neighbor, a good friend came on to my husband and their husband came on to me.

At our age this is a slim chance but when the neighbors know too much about you, then they can use it knowingly or unknowingly against you.

 We have a display case of arms of all sorts, antique and modern day in our family room.  A neighbor mentioned the case to her husband and he mentioned it to a coworker.  
  
Who the hell he mentioned it to is up for grabs, we had a hell of a time I bought my Rottie and joined a sporting group and learned how to use a gun.     This all came together when a Temp worker asked my hubby to see his collection.    The Temp told him that he had been told that he had an awesome collection.

We socialise with old friends and family, however your idea of putting up a flier here and there is not a bad idea.    Got to be careful here having teenagers apply that may be on drugs or into a gang may have some serious consequences.

[CG6468]

I have two guys in their 40s who will do anything around here I ask them to do. I'm glad I found them.

[rich_t]

It's pretty rare in my neighborhood to see kids knocking on doors and offering to mow lawns or shovel snow.  When I was a kid we were out every week offering our services.

I think that Thor is right about the X-box generation.

[Evil_Conservative]

Your mistake is hiring teenagers, Vesta.  They want to play Call of Duty or Halo all day.  You need to look for people in their 30's or 40's.  My husband enjoys doing stuff like that.  I'm willing to bet money that he'd go do something like that as a side job on the weekends. 

The eight year olds at our apartment complex are snotty little brats.  I'd hate to see how they act in ten years.  Lazzzzy.

[Evil_Conservative]

I cannot tell you the number of times when a neighbor, a good friend came on to my husband and their husband came on to me.

Do you live on Wisteria Lane?

WTF?  What kind of neighborhood do you live in? 

[Ballygrl]

After my first back surgery, I was looking for kids to do odd jobs around the house, like snow removal, lawn mowing or just general help once in a while. There were none to be found. It's as if they would rather be playing on their Play Station, XBox or whatever.

When we were kids we'd go to neighbors houses with our shovels asking if they needed help shoveling, over the years we noticed no kids coming to our neighborhood at all.

[jtyangel]

Must be the area you all live in. We'd have kids constantly coming by at the old house asking if they could *fill in summer/winter* chore for $$.

[jtyangel]

You'd be surprised at what lies beneath in some neighborhoods. I had a former person I babysat for try to get me involved in a threesome with her and her boyfriend....yuck! no thanks! I'm floored really at what is simmering in some people...I mean, who thinks like that when just tending to the everyday duties of life and then who actually comes out and says what's on their mind if they are...amazing to me really and no, I don't live on Wysteria Lane, but I do live in a very conservative area of Ohio. And here I was shocked by some of the things I've found out and I grew up in Miami, Florida Sometimes a book definitely can not be judged by it's cover on both counts with those places. 

[jtyangel]

On second thought, maybe all the bed swapping is why all the kids are out offering to mow lawns. Parents send the kids out to find somethign to do so the house is free. 

[compaqxp]

Sounds like around here where the teen only want to work in air conditioned buildings like wal-mart.

When I was a teenager I made money by doing what no one else wanted to do. My friends were all trying to get hired at stores and couldn't get a job, so I went to a local farm and had one in 15 minutes. They all thought I was crazy for working on one.

If I were you I'd just fire a company to do it.

[Thor]

Hell, as a pre-teen, I was mowing lawns in the Texas summer heat. It wasn't until I was 16 that I got a regular store type job at Jack in the Box. After that, I worked at DQ and Piggly Wiggly (which sucked because I was unloading trucks quite often at 0400- 0700.)

[JohnnyReb]

By age 10 daddy was hiring me out to mower pasture for people. At age 12 he bought me an 8N Ford tractor and from then on I was on my own. He never gave me another dime or loaned me any money after that.

You don't know how badly I wish I could think of a way to do something similar for my son. Times have changed and almost anyone can afford a nice tractor for their little farmettes now days.

Oh how I'd like to see him in a hay field with about a thousand  or more bales of hay to get up.... ..."What's the matter son, did you break a sweat?".....

[vesta111]

Found HIM, a man in mid 40's came recommended by Hubby's boss and 2 other coworkers.

Small world up here both my daughters know friends of his, and he and Hubby worked side by side for 7 hours for a low price of $100+ and we bought him lunch and cigarettes as a tip.

Looks like we found a Handy man, we have such a large lot that just needs cleaning and planting here and there, we will need him for another 3 weeks at least and then I need inside book cases made and painting done. 

What the hell, I would not have hired him with out reference's, his are good and I think we may have also found a friend.  He was a bit surprised that Hubby was working with him, I don't think that happens too often  to him.

[catsmtrods]

When I was a teenager we were like the Mexicans of today. The local contractors would stop by the neighborhood and pick us up for a days work. There were no video games so we were never in the house. We were always looking for something to do. It was a better world 40 years back.