# Food and Beverages From Customers...



## Beast12 (Sep 11, 2007)

Well, it happens all the time:

You are working at a property and a little old lady pokes her head out the door: "Would you guys like something to drink?"

I usually say SURE. Then out she comes a few minutes later with some coffee that usually tastes like battery acid. So, what do you do? I take a sip or two and kind of tip it a bit a pour some out. Do that a few times until it is gone. 

The other day we went to a job and had a customer offer us SALTY CHEESE? What the....?!?! I passed on that. 

About 6 weeks ago we went to a customers house. I get there and find out the homeowners is one of my teachers I had from time to time in elementary school. She is Dutch. So, morning break comes and she asks us if we would like some snacks. Sure that would be great. I forget what she brought out but I actually ate it.  Then, just before lunch she comes out and asks us if we would like some pizza for lunch. Heck ya! So, when we stop for lunch she invites us in and proceeds to feed us pizza, yogurt, granola bars, Gatorade, juice and fruit! What a nice lady. I think she said she is going to call us back in the fall to do more work. I won't pack a lunch that day. 

So, give me your best and worst "Food and Beverage" stories. 

-Matt


----------



## lees trees (Sep 11, 2007)

had a old man with a lot of goop in his bad eye bring me a water in a dirty goopy glass. not for sure the glass was goopy but couldn't take the chance.


----------



## RDT (Sep 11, 2007)

Thats dam funny lees trees.:hmm3grin2orange:


----------



## John464 (Sep 11, 2007)

best - steak , filet minon cooked on outdoor barbecue but ate inside at their dinner table along with homemade sundried tomatoes, and was sent home with homemade sausage and a bottle of homemade wine. Thanks Nicky!

worst - expired cake stale and water in a dirty glass with floaters


----------



## Highclimber OR (Sep 11, 2007)

Pork chops and all the fix ins was the best, the hose is about as bad as it gets unless you are in the middle of nowhere and there is no hose. Water is water.


----------



## okietreedude1 (Sep 11, 2007)

had a lady one insist on giving us a pepsi (it was very hot and we denied as we had water w/ us), so we gave in. she goes inside and returns w/ DIET pepsi. [insert puking smiley here] Ive actually had that happen a few times, customer offers drink, returns w/ something diet. I dont do diet soda.


----------



## OTG BOSTON (Sep 12, 2007)

I am shocked at the amount of times I have been/am offered beer while working


----------



## frashdog (Sep 12, 2007)

Love crushing beers with customers at the end of the day, two drink max.

How's a big glass of milk handed to you in the middle of a sweaty day.


----------



## Adkpk (Sep 12, 2007)

Had a customer that came out every time, never missed, with an ice cold can of Olympia beer. Her dog bit me about 20 different times I'd say. I remember once she had to run out to get a six pack, I knew it was the end of an era. She moved a year later.


----------



## woodchux (Sep 12, 2007)

One day you guys are gonna eat a roofy, and end up locked in someones dungeon. 

I always pass on the offerings.


----------



## John Paul Sanborn (Sep 12, 2007)

I cannot say what was the best, but I've had bar-b-q in the inner city, and hot soup on cold days in the exurbs. I'd say the blue collar people treat you better then those with more, they know what a days work is like and appreciate it when people work hard for them. The upper crust expect it from you.


----------



## Adkpk (Sep 12, 2007)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> I'd say the blue collar people treat you better then those with more, they know what a days work is like and appreciate it when people work hard for them. The upper crust expect it from you.



And how. Rich people suck. 


Except for Lakeside of course.


----------



## Sunrise Guy (Sep 12, 2007)

Had this lonely, chubby gal offer me a beer after I cleared her roof. She was already breathing hard when she asked me in, so I figured what was to follow would certainly po my gf. I declined. Lots of folks offer water and pop, but we're self-contained, so we always decline. Did accept a beer, once, after a long, hot, sweaty take-down. I was so tired and hungry that the lone beer spaced me out in a second. I don't remember much about packing up my gear, but I stayed in the client's yard for an hour afterwards to come down, before driving home. Now that I think about it, I actually asked a client for a pb&j sandwich. I was feeling so hungry that I couldn't think straight. She brought out two huge sandwiches on bakery bread, a bag of chips and an iced down bottle of Gatorade. Sweet---Talk about hitting the spot!


----------



## treeman82 (Sep 12, 2007)

I don't know where to start on this subject.

Let me think... I guess I'll stick with this calendar year????

Last winter... guaranteed breakfast / lunch / dinner at this house (old school Italian couple) Lunch for 2 days out of 3 was; home-made sausage, meatballs, ziti, bread from arthur ave. The third day "Kitchen's closed. I'm making cookies." that day I actually had to go to a deli  But I came back to fresh pizells and a 2 lb bag of biscotti which were AMAZING. 

Last winter... Up a BIG sugar maple, with a bunch of old Italian guys on the ground. "Matt, come on down for lunch, the moose is ready." They grilled some moose steaks and we all sat inside eating that, and some other stuff that I don't remember... shooting the ????... the old Italian guys had a few gallon jugs of wine floating around (I didn't have any). I was over there yesterday to look at something else, the guy asked if I wanted to stick around for lunch, they were gonna cook up a rabbit. I said no thank you.

A few weeks ago... working for a maintenance customer, home made brashole? meatballs, ziti, sausage, bread. Had steak there a few weeks prior to that.

Last week at the prior customer's daughter's house... go for weekly maintenance (she's a friend of mine) up on the back deck is a cooler filled with cold bottles of water, a muffin, and a cup of cold grapes. A few weeks prior to that was bottles of water, 1/2 of a watermelon all cut up, a container of yogurt, and a donut I didn't know what to do with everything.

Hmmm... have another one, every time I go there she either orders in (which sucks) or she cooks me something. I prefer when she cooks... another old school Italian. Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Ground a BIG oak stump the other day... ground a little bit, sat down with the wife and her friends for sandwiches, ground a little more, came back for cake and cookies, ground a little more and left.

Worked for these old Italian guys in April??? one guy is starting to go senile, so when the group sent him out with a LIST of what to get, it came back a bit screwed up.

Worked for a lesbian couple about a month ago? One comes out with an offer of lunch. TERRIBLE. They'd had a party (gay and lesbian party) 2 days prior to my working there, and wanted to give us the leftovers. NEVER again. I had problems just looking at the sausage that was in my pasta dish... couldn't bring myself to eat it.

A couple of other ladies I worked for recently... one brought out cold waters and gatorades. Another lady said to just help myself to whatever was in the downstairs fridge. I go down there; beer, iced tea, soda, and G-d only knows what else.

Not much worth mentioning besides those to the best of my recollection. Some pizza here and there, deli stuff... oh, one guy I already listed... he and his wife dragged me with them one morning for breakfast at the diner. 

On another note though, I truly love working for diabetics. I can eat all the candy, cake, and other sweets that inevitably find their way into those houses. So when I come by... "Matt, you take this home with you." COUNTLESS boxes of candies, chocolates, cakes, etc. etc.


----------



## M.D. Vaden (Sep 12, 2007)

Highclimber OR said:


> Pork chops and all the fix ins was the best, the hose is about as bad as it gets unless you are in the middle of nowhere and there is no hose. Water is water.



Don't you flush the hose?

The taste goes away almost entirely if its run for a half minute.

As of last June, I started carrying bottled water from Costco in my truck. But I usually crack one open when I'm done.

Hose is usually fine.

___________

Never had a bad snack experience yet. Usually high-grade coffee, or they give me a choice of drinks. Occassional sandwiches.

If its a beer, wine or Martinni, its only one, and it has to be at the end of the day.


----------



## sloth9669 (Sep 12, 2007)

*non tree work*

I work for verizon...so my stories come from that not my tree work days.

Best...some lil old lady ( the Cus mom ) about 80 full italian making some over sized golf ball thing made of sticky rice filled with a lil cheez and dab of sauce. Then rolled in breadcrumbs and fried.....yea i had 3

Beer....all the time they ask always declining not loosing my job for a can of naddy light with some guy i dont know.

Weed....yes been offered to go back and smoke it up...retards

Worst food.... non...i have and idea of when to say no...the cat smell...dishes half way up the wall and the cockroaches running around the house...i tend to say no thanx.


----------



## Adkpk (Sep 12, 2007)

sloth9669 said:


> Weed....yes been offered to go back and smoke it up...retards



:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:


----------



## TreeWizard (Sep 19, 2007)

I have a friend that was a foreman in a factory. His department was 85% female and when someone came up with a new dish, they would bring it in for him to try before they fed it to their husbands. He never knew until he quit that he was the test subject for all those meals.


----------



## SilentElk (Sep 21, 2007)

Once did some work for some nice oriental people. He strong insisted the next day when I was back finishing the job, his wife would make lunch. She made something not sure what but it was good! If thats what dog taste like I need to go the kennel.

Best stories of being offered stuff are from when I delievered pizza when I was 18. You could probably get stoned every night, 1/2 drunk and often enough have a girl wanting you stop by and see her when you get off work. Weekends were the best time to work. Good times.


----------



## tree md (Sep 21, 2007)

Did a job for a guy onetime who owned a chain of upper scale steak houses. He paid me mostly cash and $300 in gift certificates. I ate steak for a month.

Also had a lady buy me and my whole crew burgers and invited us in to eat at her table. She was pretty cool until she brought me up into her bedroom and asked me if I could go out the window and get a branch off of her roof. She was married so I told her I would have one of my guys get it from outside.

Have had several offer beer. If the job is done and it's the end of the day I sometimes except their offer.


----------



## Joshua (Sep 21, 2007)

We were working for this lady who had won the lottery.
She brought out tea and hung around while we drank it.
It didn't taste too good.I don't think I even finished mine.
When she went away, my boss told me that she had tried 
to kill her husband by lacing his tea with bleach.
I wonder what I drank that day...


----------



## Dadatwins (Sep 21, 2007)

While was working for NYC parks dept we took a tree of the roof of an italian restaurant years ago, tree had taken the power out so the restaurant was closed but the owner was so happy he had the crew come in for a buffett lunch including dessert. He had his wife cooking on a gas stove. gave us cheesecake and all kinds of italian pastry that he could not keep because of the power outage. We ate like kings. Not very productive for the rest of day either.


----------



## Polish hammer (Dec 12, 2018)

Bump! I know this is super old but got a kick out of reading anybody got any new stories to add?!


----------



## old CB (Dec 12, 2018)

It's a rare job when someone doesn't ask if we want coffee or need water or something similar. "Nope, we bring water. We're self sufficient." I will drink a beer or two at the end of the day, and that's okay when it happens.

A couple years ago we were doing a job for a guy who was just all around fun. He had his grill set up in the yard and made a big deal about, "Don't bring lunch tomorrow, 'cause I'm gonna fix you sausage & brats." He said it several times. Cool! Next day, about an hour into work he says, "Hope you brought a good lunch." But he grilled for us just like he'd said.


----------



## Polish hammer (Dec 14, 2018)

So much for thread revival hah


----------



## AAATree (Dec 14, 2018)

Worked for a guy that was a manager at a big Mexican restaurant and let everyone on the crew eat for free at restaurant


----------



## alonfn4 (Dec 19, 2018)

I was offered coffee during a morning estimate early this week, but I kindly declined as I’ve never met them before, they seem nice but you never know now a days.

I usually supply coffee and lunch especially on bigger jobs as it’s just two of us. 

A few times home owners have gotten us pizza with out asking. 
People constantly ask us if we need water... probably every single job...


----------



## TimberMcPherson (Dec 24, 2018)

We have wonderful clients, most days clients make us coffee or tea

We get offered beer probably every second week, crew get them, I drive home.
We have been fed everything from curry to home made pizza. Get bottles of wine quite often to. We did a quick job for a regular client and she left me about 200 dollars worth of wine as a thanks.

We have clients who love to cook and love feeding a crew of thankful guys up. Its awesome but makes for tough climbing afterwards.

Worst was a client who made us coffee with salt instead of sugar, pretty funny at the time


----------



## Erwin (Jan 3, 2019)

I got fed very often since most of my clients are referrals. the best ever is home cooked Danish beef barley soup! way better than the one I got in a fancy restaurant!


----------



## ChipChomper (Jan 24, 2019)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> I cannot say what was the best, but I've had bar-b-q in the inner city, and hot soup on cold days in the exurbs. I'd say the blue collar people treat you better then those with more, they know what a days work is like and appreciate it when people work hard for them. The upper crust expect it from you.



Sorry Mr Sanborn, I think my mom was one of those entitled people I think you actually worked for Please accept my apologies on her behalf-- I've been trying to get that idea through her head for years but she doesn't get it even though her own son is working class.


----------



## Groundman One (Jan 29, 2019)

We did a job last summer for a landscaper at one of his client's, and when the client came out and asked if she could add a few more trees and asked what it would cost, I joked that we would do it for coffee and cake. Then she says _"Actually, I just made a cake yesterday."_ Something like that. Anyway, as we're finishing lunch, she comes out with a big ass slice of double decker chocolate cake for everyone. And it was really good, like a big brownie. Everyone just about fell asleep after eating lunch and then the cake. That was awesome!

And we got paid for the trees too.


----------



## tree MDS (Jan 30, 2019)

Groundman One said:


> We did a job last summer for a landscaper at one of his client's, and when the client came out and asked if she could add a few more trees and asked what it would cost, I joked that we would do it for coffee and cake. Then she says _"Actually, I just made a cake yesterday."_ Something like that. Anyway, as we're finishing lunch, she comes out with a big ass slice of double decker chocolate cake for everyone. And it was really good, like a big brownie. Everyone just about fell asleep after eating lunch and then the cake. That was awesome!
> 
> And we got paid for the trees too.



That really must have been something.


----------



## Groundman One (Jan 31, 2019)

tree MDS said:


> That really must have been something.



It really was good cake. 

We get a lot of coffee, sometimes very good coffee, but we don't get food very often. And it's always funny when someone offers you a beer and it's not even noon.


----------



## jzack605 (Feb 10, 2019)

On a planting job I dug up the women’s bulbs when planting Chrysanthemum’s. She was outside with us chatting away. I was working pretty fast and when I replaced the bulbs I put them in upside down. She was sharp and caught it quick, but thought it was hilarious. She bought me lunch for nearly a month straight after from the local deli. Sometimes a mistake pays


----------

