Why is it

[Peter Drouin]

I have a sign at the top of the driveway with the hours I'm open. 1½ hours after I'm close they drive in while I'm eating my supper. :
The numbers are 4" tall, Do you think if I put up 8' tall OPEN 8 AM TO 4 PM they will see it.?
Anyone else has that problem?

[moodnacreek]

The worst are the contractors. They eat at 11 and at noon go shopping and do it again after 5. The other day a guy was waiting in his truck when I got done with lunch. That has not happened in 20 years, They blow the horn, ring the phone and pound on the door when you go in to eat. I and only I was raised to figure out when people have their meals and not come at that time. In the winter, after seeing nobody all morning, and taking off all the layers of clothing and sitting down for lunch some s.o.b. wants me back outside pronto.  If you wait on somebody at noon they will always come back at noon and you good customers will come at 1 o'clock and that means no lunch. If they have come long distance I will take care of them.      The joys of a home business!

[Bruno of NH]

Yes
Yesterday told a guy I close at 4:00.
Messages me his wife is on her way a 4:30 gets here at 5:30
Sheila wasn't happy and someone pushed in my gate that same morning.

[YellowHammer]

Yes, used to happen all the time.

Not anymore.  We have a large electric, steel, black, 16 foot wide security gate that gets closed when we close.  It's like what's on an office driveway or apartment complex.  They may drive though it but they are not going far.    

It has the same 4" letters with the hours, but also has a 3 foot bright red reflective "STOP" sign in the middle of the gate, right next to the ADT burglar alarm sign.  

Nobody has ever gotten past the gate, although I've had quite a few call from the gate.  Some I let in, some I don't.  Most just turn around and drive away, without ever bothering me, and come back at a later time.  Some don't come back at all.  

If they complain, I tell them my hours are posted on the gate, are on my cell phone answering machine, on my webpage and on Google.  Oh well.    

 

[PAmizerman]

Yep never fails. I usually take care of the person. But I let them know how unhappy I am. I don't know why people think 12:00 is the most opritune time to come. I started throwing my phone on my file cabinet when I come in for lunch. I won't answer it when I'm eating. 
I want to make a sign that says
" if your here and I am not it's because you can't read or be on time" 

I don't mind staying late occasionally to help a guy out but dang it they had better be on time. That is one of my biggest pet peeves.

[thecfarm]

We had a greenhouse business for a while. We had signs,but some would come to the house and want to buy plants. Their theory was, well you are here,so it's no big deal. : 
I work in a hardware store. Someone will call for something and they have to have it. Will be right in to pick it up. They never show up. Now I ask them how long it will take for them to get here and add an hour to that and tell them it will go back onto the shelf. We have pulled items off the shelf and I could of sold it to someone else,because they never come in to pick it up.
The store closes at 6pm through the week. We have people come in at 5:59 and shop for 15 minutes and think that's it's no big deal. I would like to go to thier place of work and make them stay 15 minutes late and see how they like it. I look forward to going home at 6 and having supper.

[stavebuyer]

I live on an adjacent parcel. Separate address and driveways. Firewood people are the worst and I quit selling it last winter because of the "stalking". Firewood is a byproduct and not worth meeting the "demand" so I am following Yellowhammers lead. Signs don't work. Rude, self-absorbed idiots require locked gates(signs and closed gates only slows them). Sad you have to build a compound but I can't for the life of me understand why after I closed the office and put up a locked cable that the next recourse is to drive up to my house behind a closed gate and honk the horn for service. They universally leave without merchandise or assistance.

[Peter Drouin]

I knew I would have customers come at lunch so I eat at 11.30 am. And that works most times. 
Had them come on a Sunday too. The sign says closed on Sundays.
But when things get to me. I turn off the phone and go for a drive in the hot rod.


 
smiley_biggrin01
 

[YellowHammer]

It's amazing how many people ignore the signs if the gate isn't closed.

Whenever I leave gate open for some reason, not during business hours, it's like a magnet, and all sorts of people just drive up, some just to "look around".  Pretty creepy, and definitely having good security gate makes us sleep better at night.  

We burned out the Tractor Supply Mighty Mule gate openers about every year, and got tired of buying new ones, or getting them fixed.  We looked around several of the apartment complexes and gated communities and saw that they were using the heavy duty Elite or Liftmaster R2D2 style swing gate openers, so we invested and bought one, about $1,500.  Then we set steel gate posts in concrete so they wouldn't sag, and put greasable hinges on the gate.

The opener is very reliable machine, and have not had a single problem with it in over 10 years.  It's rated for an 18 foot gate, with 60 vehicles going through it per hour with a five year business warranty.

We spent way more than that repacing and repairing the budget Mighty Mule style openers.  

https://www.elitegates.net/proddetail.asp?prod=CSW200501u

[longtime lurker]

I don't do retail anymore ... which is to say I dont advertise for business but I got a few local builder customers from back when most of whom come early and late,  and the real good ones know to help themselves and put it in the book if no-one is about. Other than that no-one much knows I'm here and I never even worried about having a gate

Until that guy who drove in at 11 am christmas last, in need of some stair treads. Gate went in a week later.

[Southside]

Years back, before I had the mill, I had an honest mans gate to basically stop any cattle that may have made a mad dash for it. Come home one day and drive the 1/4 mile down to the house and two people come walking out of my house. I don't know them, they claimed they were "looking to buy the place". 

She later complained to the responding Troopers that making her lie face down in the snow and ice was not right while Mr Heckler, Mr Koch, and I all hung out watching her and her boyfriend while we waited for the Troopers to arrive. 

Built a real gate after that. 

[btulloh]

Wow. Were they charged with anything?  That is one of those things that really gets you to re-evaluate your approach to security. It's hard to lock up everything all the time.

[Southside]

Aggravated criminal trespass, only because they didn't take anything or it would have been burglary.  I pushed for littering too because he wet himself lying there in the snow and it was my driveway but the DA would not go for it. She tried to claim a realtor had told her the place was going to be coming for foreclosure sale and they could just go in and look around, only problem with that was I owned it outright.  I was a bachelor back then and my quite alpha German Shepherd partner had passed on before that incident, he would have enjoyed it, and she probably would have wet herself too had he been there.   

[Peter Drouin]

One time I came home with a truck in the yard, My truck was in the way. They could not get around it. I come in and no ones around, I grabbed 45 and walked out to the mill. There he was looking at the lumber. 
I ask what the #@!&* you doing in here? [Well, I thought it was ok to look around.]
Around here that's a good way to get your ass kicked.  :
Then they start talking about the lumber, I lost it, Told them to get the #$%^& out and never come back.
I yelled at them all the way out to there truck.
I was very colorful in my speech.  ;D

[moodnacreek]

With the firewood, it has to be delivered. If we get somebody in this small yard for firewood it's a lost half day or worse.

[ppine]

Put up a closed sign. 
some people are dense. 

[YellowHammer]

I've had a truck load of guys casing my house in the driveway, a guy who tried to rob me, two more guys who tried to rob me, and the neighbors who thought just because the gate was closed still meant they could come in.  One of the guys who tried to rob me didn't because I had a pistol and the remote control in my pocket.  I told them they could leave, or I could shut the gate and lock them in.  They chose to leave.

The one that finally got me the maddest was the guy who as soon as he saw me pull in the driveway, stomped on the gas of his vehicle and got to burning rubber down the road. So I did what any Alabama (or Georgia) redneck would do, I went Dukes of Hazzard on him, chased him down, and basically made him pull over or run into a creek.  So he pulls over, and I find out he's an insurance adjuster, come to inspect our facilities to make sure we were legit! Without us even being home! A sneak attack! Well, well well. So besides not getting him arrested, I changed insurance companies, and that's when we installed a security gate.  

No more drama since.     

[Peter Drouin]

Another good one is I put up an open flag when I open and take it down at 4. 
Some days I forget it.  I'm trying to get stuff done. I get a customer comes in at 5 or so.
Says I know your closed but the open flag is still up.  
 My fault I guess.  : :P

[Resonator]

Dealing with the general public you get all kinds, good and bad. I keep some lumber for sale next to the highway, that has a for sale sign with my phone#. Just past the lumber I have a movable NO TRESPASSING PRIVATE PROPERTY sign to block the driveway to my house. They can pull in and look at the lumber, but can't go further.

[Percy]

But when things get to me. I turn off the phone and go for a drive in the hot rod.

Quote of the day!! ;D

[btulloh]

Good plan.  I doubt you need to turn off the phone, though.  The exhaust note should cover it up nicely.   :D