Have you ever been dumped by a landscaper? It's demoralizing, let me tell you. What did I do wrong?

Two years ago, Jeff wanted a break from weekly lawn mowing. Our neighbor gave us the name of her regular crew and he agreed to cut our grass right after hers on Thursdays for a special rate.

Last year, the guys just showed up one early Spring day and cut the grass. I hadn't called to schedule them. Their rate went up $5 over the previous year, no big deal. It seemed like a win-win situation. They came just about every week all summer long and I was never late with a payment.

This Spring, I expected the crew to just "show up" again. After all, I was a good customer. The neighbors' lawn got cut by a different company but that didn't affect me. Or did it? The grass got taller and taller and still no crew. I called in late April to check.

The landscaper beat around the bush, explained that since my neighbor went with another company, he thought I would too. The price of gas is just too high. He would have to raise his price five more dollars. I said yes to all his excuses so long as he understood that our lawn sprinklers are not running this summer due to our home improvement project. We may need a monthly instead of a weekly cutting. He said that actually fit his schedule better.

He came once on Saturday morning. We didn't like that. He came another time on Sunday morning. We really didn't like that. But I never complained to him about it.

I tried to get him to come this past week and he didn't even return my phone call. I called again later in the week, no return call. I called today and he was blunt: Can you get someone else?

Yup, business is good when you can turn it away. I'm expecting an estimate from a service in Monroe sometime this week. Fortunately the summer is mostly over. We might need one or two more cuttings before October. Or Jeff could do it. Or I could call my neighbor and see how she likes her new landscaping crew.