Just a question...

If you had a neighbor who never maintains his power tools (lawn mower, leaf blower, edger) and wants to continually borrow yours because his will not start, would you?

It gets better...The guy makes good money, but prefers to blow $300 a night at the strip club once a week and goes out after work and parties.

This is where I have a problem. I take care of my stuff and invest my money for what I have. I see it as his priorities are screwed up. Instead of him buying reliable tools, he decides to blow it on something else. He asked me to borrow my $900 pressure washer (again) and after he complained that my edger wasn't running right, rubbed me the wrong way.

Am I being a dick because I will not let him use my stuff? I seem to think I am being a tad bit anal here.

Just asking...

not at all.. I never get my stuff returned to me in the same condition I loan it out, so I quit doing it... I tell them "it's broke, I loaned it out, I'm about to use it"

but I do think you should get in on that bar tab, maybe take Bjorn and see if you can turn him back

What ever happened to the days of "Return it in better condition than when you borrowed it" and "if you broke it, buy the guy a new one and a beer."

Oh Crap!!!!! I forgot I still had the neighbors air nibbler I borrowed last fall. Thanks for the reminder

When it's returned FU He fells bad and you feel worse. Don't give it another thought! .02

me and my neighbor get along better than most I guess, He has keys to my shop and house, any tool in my shop is his for the taking and anything he has in his I use at my leisure. I have a backhoe and tractor he can use at anytime "over $70,000" and I never even think of something being broke, and it has happend, Mine is the kind of neighbor that I would loan money in a jam and if he could not repay we would still be friends.

On the flip side, I rarely borrow other people's stuff. When I do, I'm constantly worrying that I will mess it up.

I usually let them borrow a tool but stand there while they use it and help out a little then get it back before I walk back to the house. You always want to finish the job faster when you have someone looking over your shoulder!

And as far as lawn equipment and pressure washers I'd say no and just keep my driveway and yard looking meticulous and hope that it makes them jealous of how good it looks. It works for me, every time I mow my yard it seems to cause a chain reaction around me! To bad nobody pressure washes the driveway like me but they give me the evil eye as they know I have the upper hand!

in my neighborhood closest neighbor is 1/2 mile away and if I hadn't built 2 other houses on my property closest neighbor would be a mile or so

I can see borrowing a tool once, but a lawn mower? C'mon... the guy needs to fix his or buy a new one. No, you're not being anal on this. IMO

Loaning him tools is the best way to cause bad neighbor relationships, if that's what you want, lol!! Knowing you Tom, I'm sure you won't lose any sleep over it!! I would tell him "sorry, but no" on that one.


Steve

See, thats my problem....

I am a dick and can be sarcastic on the board cause I dont have to live next to you!

On the other hand, this guy has no self worth or pride. For God sake, there are trees growing out of his gutters. And I live in an older yet nice neighborhood.

I understand that people are who they are, but when someone older than I can't get it, I just withdraw and bite my tongue. I have said to him in the past regarding the condition of his lawn and yard, yet, still does not sink in. The guy ripped up ALL of his shrubs and landscape because he said it was too much work.

Just a lazy [censored] who wants to blow his money on everything other than his house and to alleviate any investment, he borrows my [censored].

Telling him no or making an excuse is a dick move, explaining why (blows his money on booze) rectifies my position.

Or I can just rent the stuff out to him...1/2 of what Home Depot rents for. Just bites my [censored] that I loan a clean pressure washer and I get it back empty and dirty when I loaned it with a full tank. Will $2 in gas kill me? No, it's the principle.

Another reason is that I once loaned him my blower. Got it back full. Went to use it a few days later and wouldn't start. All my stuff starts on first or third pull...

Anyhow, after removing the gas, tank and cleaning carb, I realized the gas mix he filled blower with was 3 years old.

nothing is as bad as a brother-inlaw that is the type that does not take care of his property and mine. he once borrowed an electric sander from me. it was gone so long i thought he was the one who borrowed it but was not positive it was gone so long. my wife replaced it that christmas. a year after he had it when he was moving found it on his dryer under a stack of clothes!!! tools for him no more!!!!

I borrowed a pressure washer from the neighbor on my south side 14 yrs ago....a Kärcher.....thought it was a great tool ,so I bought one just like it...
5 yrs ago my new neighbor on my north side asked to borrow my pressure washer, I let him , he liked it so much he bought one like it...
so now all three of us have one each!

I'd rather loan to a neighbor than an inlaw. I loaned an engine hoist to an in law a long time ago, after 3 years I located it after being passed through several of his friends and their friends without my knowledge. At least the neighbor is fairly close and I can check on my stuff.

I'm the opposite. My father-in-law was in the house construction business his entire life, therefore he knows and respects tools and equipment.

I loaned stuff out and then they would not return things...I had to go reclaim them..lost a few tools that way as I would forget who had them .BS! Plus I loaned a tent out to my sister in law...went looking for it a year or so later and could not remember who i had lent it too... I still had the tent fly on the shelf. One day I saw it up in her backyard and said, hey I have been looking all over for that tent, she said no that's her tent. I said where is the fly and she said she must have lost it....uh huh! Riiiight!

hey, can I borrow your lawnmower ? And by the way, would you tune it up first, I hate to waste extra gas when they are not tuned properly, but hey, you don't mind if you fill it up first too, right ? better yet, can you just come over and mow my lawn for me ?

Um no, I would **tch slap him, then take his lunch money.

then you have the opposite problem.... my friend who`s an AC man came by my house in the fall (while we still needed ac) to check out why it didnt work (A wire had been cut by a weed eater from my yard crew) and he came at 10 pm ,in the dark, we got it fixed...next day as I walked back there I noticed one of his tools...picked it up...called him..
he said "Oh thats where I left it"...and said he`d be by to pick it up when in our neighborhood again...I told him I`d leave it outside on the window sill at our brkfts room , so he could get it if he drove by and we werent home...
it STILL there! 5 months later...

guess he hasnt been to our neighbor hood for awhile....but he needs that tool! maybe cheap enough to but a new one?

Sorry for complaining about your edger Tom. I tried to clean it off with your pressure washer, but it just wouldn't run right after that.

Then I asked the stripper to wash your car to make up for everything, but she said that would cost another hundred bucks. Can I borrow some cash?

No, you're not being anal. I think maybe we have the same neighbor.

- Jake

Good to see you back on the frum Jake!

I think I am going to have a talk with him soon...with the fence between us and simply explain I invest a lot of money in all my stuff and can't afford the possibility of bad gas (see prior post).

Just irritates me that someone believes they can blow their money on stupid stuff then use 7 of my new power tools instead of buying their own stuff..

And the "borrowing" isn't infrequent...He asks for the washer 4-5 times a year..and I have to go get it back after 3-4 days.

And he leaves his garage door open and unlocked.

Oh well...

Hey Tom, tell him its in the repair shop, will cost over 200 bucks to fix it...and you can't figure out WHY it broke down....suggest that since he uses it 50% of the time he might like to kick in a bit....maybe that will slow him down...

after he`s borrowed it and used it why not go over there and "steal" your washer...then wait a day or two ,then go ask for it back....LOL...see how he reacts when its gone!

Since I started working on this car I learned many weeds are flowers... after a while! I wont even let my wife use my lawn mower! And if the tool plugs into something air or the wall it has a 20 foot rule. It only goes 20 feet from my door! I'd ask him if he needs 20 bucks to have the kid down the street cut his grass.

You would think they could at least clean the [censored] things when their done too. I once borrowed a binks paint gun from an old freind spent a better part of an hour explaining to him it was actually his and how I cleaned it!

Would you like to borrow my Campbell Hausfield Airless Paint Sprayer? The last guy that borrowed it didnt clean it and I'm still looking for a "gently used" gun for it :-D I'm sure a few hours of soaking and scrubbing will make it shiny new!

Have a garage sale and sell the tools to your neighbor, then when you need them, go next door and borrow his. If it breaks, just return it and dont worry about it.

You've been way too nice already. I've had nothing but trouble with tool borrowing in my life. I never borrow stuff, always buy what I need, and take care of it. I live in a new subdivision. Neighbor asks last year if they can borrow a shovel to move some mulch around. Then my wheelbarrow. Reluctantly, I agree, trying to be nice. Don't see either for over a month. Then they want my fertilizer spreader. Nope! Around christmas, they wanted a ladder to put up decorations on the high roof. I lied and told them I didn't have one tall enough. So this lady wanted to borrow the ladder anyway: she was going to make her husband set up the ladder on the pitched garage roof to climb up to the top roof! Wrong! Jim's Pick-A-Tool is 100% closed for good, don't care if people don't like it.

My problem is that I started loaning tools from the get go when asked and never was up front with explaining the "rules" of what I expected as far as gas and return condition.

As a side note...

My others neighbors cats walked all over my freshly waxed 10 Camaro...and pissed in my garage.

Back to trapping...

If my neighbors cats did that to my car,they would start disappearing one by one.

The cats go missing one by one hoorah, hoorah! (repeat 2 times)

somebody else can come up with the next part....

Clip a cattle fence electrifier to the car, that'll stop em....

Out in the country where I live we use a .22