Not long after the signs went up the phone rang......
"I’ve got a mole in my gardens ruining my lawn and flower beds. How much to catch it?"
£40 I said, confidently.
"Great, when can you come?"
That weekend, I turned up, set a few traps, and told the owner i’d be back the next day. But when I returned, every trap had been backfilled with soil. Not the best start.
On my second visit, I caught one mole, but the other was still giving me the runaround. While resetting a trap, the homeowner came out holding a cage with a live squirrel inside.
“I’ve been after this squirrel in my loft for six months, he said.
I asked what he was planning to do with it, and he casually replied, "Drown it in the water butt."
After convincing him that (1) it was illegal and (2) it wasn't exactly a humane option, I agreed to take it away and dispatch it properly with my air rifle. Only, as I grabbed the cage, the squirrel shot out, ran across the garden, stopped for a second as if to say Cheers, mate and disappeared into the trees!
When I say the homeowner lost his mind, I mean he absolutely lost it.
With my first-ever paid job now a complete disaster, one escaped squirrel, one still-uncaught mole, and £20 already spent on fuel ”I did the only mature thing I could think of: I ghosted him!
Years later, I happened to be in the area and decided to pop back. To my surprise, he was over the whole squirrel incident and just wanted to pay me for the mole I had eventually caught. We had a good laugh about it, and I apologised for disappearing.
Lesson learned .......own your mistakes!
Matthew
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