Am I being nitpicky?

[Ree]

I just had a young teen come to my door and ask if I wanted my lawn mowed.

He was charging $10.

It's actually worth it to me, since I have lost my resident groundskeeper. (My husband LOVED mowing the lawn. He found it relaxing.)

I agreed to it, then the kid said, "I have to go and get my mower."

Now, I can see how he wouldn't want to be going up and down the street with a mower, knocking on doors, but as far as I'm concerned, if he's offering his services, he should be prepared.

He lives about 2 blocks up from me, so I had to wait for him to bring his mower from home.

While I was waiting, I got thinking about it. I have a fair sized lawn. I know he agreed to do it for $10, but I figured I would give him $20.

I was sitting here, when there was another knock.
The kid was back.
He asked if I had a backyard.
I said I did.
He asked, "Is it OK if I charge you $15, then?"

I said, "Actually, I was going to give you $20 to do the whole lawn."
He asked what I wanted mowed, and I told him exactly where my lawn started and ended.
(Again, I would think, if he's knocking on a door to offer his services, he would have scouted out the lay of the land first so he had an idea of the size of the job.)

So, he started up the mower.
After less than 5 minutes, there was another knock on the door.
He was back, telling me he had to go and get gas.

I didn't offer to pay him so he could buy gas, because I was worried he would just take off and not come back. (Once more, I am thinking, if he wanted to offer his services, he should have made sure his mower was gassed up and ready to go.)

Once more, I had just got sitting down again when there was another knock.
The kid wanted to bum a cigarette.
I don't smoke.

Originally, I had thought, if the kid did a good job, there could have been a steady job out of it. I hate mowing the lawn, and I can't seem to get anyone around here to do it.

Now, I'm thinking I can't wait for him to finish, and I don't think I will get him to do it again.

He was really annoying.

Am I being too picky?

The more I think about it, I think I know the kid, and he has been in trouble with the law when he was with 2 of my previous foster girls. He's a nice enough kid, but has a crappy home life. I just don't know if I want him hanging around.

[Kiwi]

If hes a young teen then he probably hasn't really thought everything through...

Id give him points for having the initive for getting off his duff. I would tell him when you pay him though that as he is underage you won't allow him to smoke while on the job.

See what kind of job he does before you make a judgement call.

[BookstoreEscapee]

He sounds a bit...flighty...

I can understand not bringing the mower with him if he's out trolling for clients. Some people might want to hire him but prefer he come back another day or time, and not knowing how much work he'll find it's understandable he wouldn't want to drag the thing all over the neighborhood. The rest, though... Yes, he should definitely make sure he has gas in it before starting, and asking for cigs is just, well.... It would probably be a better idea if he said $10 was his base rate depending on the size of the yard or something like that. Sounds like he hasn't quite gotten his business plan together.

[Boozy]

My mom is always getting neighbourhood kids knocking on her door looking to do yardwork. She usually pays them more than they ask, because the poor things tend to undervalue their time and the work involved.

But if one had ever knocked on her door asking for a smoke, I think she'd tell them where to go.

If the kid's been in trouble with the law, it's probably a really good thing for him to have something to do with his time and an honest way to earn money. But that depends on how comfortable you are having him around. No one could blame you if you didn't want him hanging around.