What would you think if your gardener sent this message to all their clients?

[DoggyDooDooDoo]

"Hi all, just to let you know a new service I'm offering -

Poo picking - Happy to clean up after your dog before I start work
£15 first 1-15min
£1per min after that

Thanks!"

This follows an incident on Monday where they got dog poo sprayed all over them whilst strimming a garden that hadn't been poo-picked (as previously requested) before they started work. They had to leave work to go home and shower as it was splattered over their face.

YABU - dog poo is an occupational hazard of gardening and that's an outrageous price to charge for clearing it up

YANBU - fair enough, dog poo is rank and that's a reasonable price to charge for dealing with it before starting work

Assuming you do not live in the south west of the UK then, as it's hardly dipped below freezing at all here so far and most days have been in double figures with nights in the higher single figures. This weekend is set to be very cold, but as of today we have only had two frosts (and one of those hardly counts because it had vanished by 6.30am!).

They shouldn't offer to clear it up. Just charge £15 for being splattered by it. Picking it up is common decency, its outrageous people havent and not outrageous for them to charge for it to not happen again.

I would offer a quick clear for £10
Who the hell has dog shit in their garden that could take more than 15 mins to clear up - if they do - they should be dumped as a client.

If the customer doesn't pay the £10, and subsequently the gardener or tools get covered in dog shit, then there should be a surcharge of £25 or similar.

I've cleaned dog shit from my mower - my front garden is tiny - I checked it for shit, went and had a sandwich, then mowed it. In the time I'd been eating, some cunt had let their dog shit on it. I was livid. Beyond livid actually - cats were habitually shitting in flower bed, dogs on lawn (I had no pets at the time). Well I paved that garden over so it won't happen again.

Pet owners should pick up dog poo before any visitors / tradies visit, of course.

But.

i wouldn't trust someone with a strimmer around my precious plants (and hedgehog family, frogs) if they weren't looking at what they were strimming.

If he doesn't notice a pile of shit, is he going to notice that a rose cane is protruding over the lawn, or spot new hellebore shoots coming up?

That is a remarkably restrained and polite message!

How do you check though if there are lots of leaves on the ground? Do you have to rake through them all? Couldn't it still be missed?

Obviously missed that, thanks for explaining. No need for the insults though.

Good on him!
We always do a poo pick before the gardeners come, any decent dog owner with a shred of respect for anyone else should as well, and if they cant be arsed, they can pay for it.

@FallingStar21 you’re right; no need for insults. I apologise.

Has your friend contacted the Environmental Health department?

That must surely count as a health hazard - disgusting.

I've got three dogs. They get two 1 and 1/2 hour walks a day, during which they poo copiously (and I clear up). However last thing at night and first thing in the morning they use the garden (and usually have a poo then, too). I clean it up later in the morning (8 o'clock-ish).

They are spaniels. First spaniels we've ever had and they could poo for England. My terriers never defecated with such abandon, I can tell you! (But were much noisier!)

I think the gardener has been very restrained, he shouldn't have to even make this offer because the client should be clearing it. They are lucky he hasn't just dumped them.

Our gardener always wears a visor when strimming, mainly to protect his face from stones flying up but I guess it would work against stray dog poo too.

I’d be mortified if someone came to my garden and I hadn’t cleared up dog poo.

No worries :) and thank you for coming back to apologize

Completely reasonable.

My gardeners are coming next week for the final hedge cutting, clean up etc until next spring. There has been plenty of late growth, .....husband gives out about it every year if he has to still cut the grass in November 😁

YANBU... poor gardener! Can't even imagine.

How do they disinfect your garden?!

Not sure of the question - Are You being unreasonable about being asked to clean up before he starts? You are expected to provide a safe work environment. so HE is not being unreasonable.

I don't think he is charging enough to be honest, when people are thoughtless as to leave poo around.

I was a gardener for years and charged £20 to pick up poo.
I’ve known gardeners to never return to jobs after being splattered by poo so offering this solution is extremely reasonable.
poo also makes your mower stink.

In his place, my message would have read: If my preliminary check of the garden reveals dog faeces, there will be an additional charge to pick it up. Clients who would rather not incur this charge should ensure their gardens are faeces-free prior to my visit..."

It astonishes me that anyone leaves dog poo in their garden. On the very rare occasions (usually when she's ill) that our dog poos in the garden, we clear it up immediately. It's rare, however, because she gets 3 walks a day and we pick up and dispose of it en route.

My dog shits in my garden and on walks. He's very little and sometimes the shite comes very quickly through his little body and he urgently runs to the back door. He's wormed and it's picked up carefully. No problem and not lazy.

Totally off point (but plenty of opinions shared on the price of poo picking!) I find it really interesting that despite OP saying “they” most ppl have assumed the gardener is a man!

Welcome to 2023, men, women and everyone in between can also be gardeners and be sprayed in dog shit 🤣

I imagine you are the client they were working for when this happened otherwise you wouldn’t be asking mumsnet if this was unreasonable of him to text. Otherwise you would probably be thinking ‘poor thing’ that he had to endure that.

That their are some disgusting people who don’t pick up after their dogs, good on the gardener.