Leave my leaves where I left them! And the rake, too!

As we have entered the day of "tough economic times" I have gotten used to people trolling my neighborhood asking to do odd jobs. Every time I let my lawn grow an inch too high I get a steady stream of people knocking at my door asking if they can mow until I get tired of answering them and do it myself. I had one guy offer to trim the branches on my tree as I, myself, was trimming the branches on my tree. That one kind of confused me. But this past week I had one that may have topped that, even. A guy knocked on my door and asked if he could rake the leaves in my yard. Never mind the fact that there was already a pile of leaves in the front yard, indicating the fact that the job had already been started. There was also a rake on my front porch, which he had picked up when he knocked on the door. This guy was trying to get me to pay him to use MY rake to rake the leaves that had already been partially raked with said rake. Then he almost took the damn rake when he left! For people like this I really feel like I should just keep a bottle of Wild Irish Rose next to my front door, hand it to them, and cut out the middle man. Maybe Thunderbird. Do they still sell Thunderbird? How about NightTrain?

This may not even be an issue if not for the fact that perfectly capable human beings have gotten into the habit of actually paying to have work done that they themselves could just as easily accomplish, barring extreme laziness. I work in a field where I help people who cannot help themselves with many of life's daily tasks. These people want nothing more than to be able to do those things themselves. Meanwhile, perfectly mentally and physically capable people in this world just want "someone to do it for them" or "someone to take care of them". I cannot reconcile that in my head any more than I can figure out why someone would assume I would need someone to use my rake to rake my yard, which had already been partially raked. Hey, sometimes I even feel guilty about letting a waitress bring me a drink in a resteraunt. "Hey, just point me in the right direction and I'll get it myself". Come to think of it, that'd cut down on the tip, too. And, in these "tough economic times" we all need to do what we can to save a little cash, right? Even doing "menial tasks" like mowing lawns and raking leaves ourselves, if you're into that sort of thing.

I just kind of like to leave most of the leaves laying about the yard. Why do you think they call them "leaves"? Let the wind carry them away. In fact, the neighbor really likes to rake, I say give him a little extra work. Brighten his day a little. But what about that partial pile of leaves that I mentioned at the beginning, you ask? That was just there for the requisite "children playing in the pile of leaves" photo op that parents feel the need to have every year. And that, as they say, is the rest of the story.