Lady in Boulder handed me a bag of dog poop while I was in her tree

I was about 40 feet up a cottonwood in Boulder last Tuesday trimming dead limbs when the homeowner comes out and hands me a bag of dog poop, saying "since you're up there anyway, could you toss this in the compost bin?" She thought I was the gardening guy because we both wore green shirts. Anyone else get mistaken for other trades while you're trying to focus on a climb?

3 comments

3 Comments

gracethomas17d ago

Oh man, that is both hilarious and infuriating at the same time. I swear, people see a person in work clothes doing a specific job and their brain just short circuits into thinking everyone is interchangeable, like we all come from the same "helpful person" factory. I once had a lady hand me her mail while I was pressure washing her driveway because she thought I was the mailman since he also wears a blue uniform. Like, ma'am, I am covered in water and mud, I am definitely not here to deliver your Netflix DVD from 2015. It's almost flattering how much faith they have in our ability to just pivot and handle any random task while dangling from a rope or standing in a puddle. Hope you at least got a good laugh out of it later, because that's all you can really do.

mileslane17d ago

Lost count of how many times people have handed me their trash while I'm on a ladder fixing their gutters.

olivia_white9317d ago

UGH that's SO frustrating! What worked for me was taping a big "TREE SERVICE" sign to my gear bag and just pointing at it with a deadpan face whenever someone tries to hand me random stuff.