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The moment I realized hiring my nephew was a $15,000 mistake
I run a small landscaping company in Phoenix. Last summer my sister begged me to give her 19 year old son a job. I figured helping family was the right thing. He showed up late 3 times in the first week, took hour long breaks in the shade, and messed up a sprinkler system installation that flooded a client's yard. The repair cost me $700. I felt awful, but my wife finally said enough. Have any of you had to fire a family member and still keep things civil at Thanksgiving?
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torres.sage26d ago
Hold up, wait, did you say $700 to fix ONE sprinkler system? That's wild. I mean, I get that labor and parts add up, but that's like three full days of work for some guys I know. Your nephew must have really torn that yard up something fierce. Sounds like he was digging with a backhoe instead of a shovel.
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xenagarcia17d ago
Right?! "Backhoe instead of a shovel" is exactly what I was picturing (maybe a tiny one, but still). For $700, I'd expect my nephew to find a buried treasure chest down there, not just a busted pipe. Honestly, at that price, he could've rented an actual mini excavator for the day and still had cash left over for pizza. Sounds like the kid was trying to start his own underground sprinkler empire on your dime, haha.
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