I was surveying a $2.5M tear down on 1/2 acre and the guy from next door came out of his $5.5M 2-1/2 story monstrosity on a 1 acre lot.
He stated that they could not go to a second story, they could not get that big.
I looked over his shoulder and asked, Really?
🙂 That is humorous. The really hot days here in Houston are the best. Whether it's the contractor riding around in his air conditioned peeyuk-up truck or the standard variety let-me-tell-you.. annoying passer by, the most fun you can have is getting them out into the hot sun and seeing how long you can keep them there. It's a game of sorts.
Made me think of dumb comments and questions by John Q. Public. Including some you have mentioned.
Are they widening the road?
Is that a camera?
Is that a laser?
Is that GPS?
Are you looking for a gas leak?
What is your starting point?
That looks easy. How do you become a surveyor?
You know, all you have to do is go to the courthouse and get the coordinates for all the property corners.
I worked on a survey crew for a summer when I was in college.
If you are surveying a lot 5 doors down why are you digging up my property corner?
Are you the cops?
Do you see a lot of wildlife in the woods?
Etc, etc. Does tend to get your smart azz going!
My favorites are:
Someone asks if they can walk between the gun and the prism. You tell them sure, then just as the cross your line of sight you say "you weren't planning on having children were you?"
Q: Why ya surveying?
A: Because Burger King wasn't hiring (always goes right over their heads).
A kid about twelve years old on a bike once asked my old boss (who made Dave look warm and fuzzy) "whatcha doing"; he replied without skipping a beat "minding my own d@mn business, try it sometime".
What ya surveying for?
"Usually comes out to about minimum wage"
Your remarks are kind of antiquated here nowadays.
The acid reply these days in this area that would stop them in their tracks would be...
" We are surveying a site plan for a fracking test drill"...
Then a slight pause followed by " Y'know Drill baby drill"
My old party chief used to say something like, "clear, corrugated, overhead, sewer lines" whenever anyone would ask.
"You idiots! You imbeciles! You fools!"
Good for you. I've always been partial to "homeless shelters for wayward sex offenders" and "FEMA trailer parks." They can't get on the phone fast enuf.
I was told once to "get that camera outta here." As soon as I began to explain, the "request" came again with a bit more urgency. I boxed it and refunded the fee to the client. I'm not getting hit in the back of the head with my own shovel while I look for monuments.
No Fun with the neighbors on a Friday afternoon
..Then there was the time I had the police called on me when a family of crappy little refugees decided to fence three to four feet of the county's row.
Had just finished recovering the original 1/2"IP, after a bit of digging, to find the refugees walking towards me, talking to the 911 operator, and demanding to see my driver's license. I had to go throught the most F$#$%*-Up experience because these crappy little people thought they owned that slice of the row. That definitely wrankled me.
If I would have known how that was going to turn out I would have left giving them the "---" and a healthy "G-A-F-Y".
I would like to have turned them in to the Harris County ROW Dept. Really burns me up those stiny little refugees can fence the public ROW, then call the police (public officials) to throw the surveyors out.
Really hate stingy crappy refugees like that. I do my level best to do things as well as I can, and have to deal with that.
No Fun with the neighbors on a Friday afternoon
I would rather have a dog or other critter in my way than the cops show up.
They do not have a clue as to what is going on and regardless of the law, they offer no help.
They stand around waiting for someone to pass their limit to arrest them.
When in doubt they tell the surveyor to leave while he is standing on his client's property or in a pubic area.
I've known of people actually having to leave their own land because of the neighbors complaints over who owns what.
For these folks I like to put a stake in their yard labeled Well #13 with lots of flagging and paint on the grass around the stake.
How'd I miss that one?!
Too funny!!!
That's more my game. I usually take the "iusedtosurveyincollege" guys for a walk to see how far they'll follow me.
Was surveying utilities and property for a NAHN/ Habitat subdivision project and the neighbor who lived in the most rundown house with 4 junked cars asked "what are you doin?", I said superfund waste dump. He immediately started ranting about Black helicopters and government conspiracies:-S . I moved into one of the houses 2 years later. He says hello once in a while, but still won't speak to me.
I used to like messing with the urban youth in Memphis when they asked what we were taking pictures of. My favorite response was. "I'm setting up to record an arrest for America's Most Wanted". Less than 5 minutes later the "hood" would be a ghost town.
> My favorites are:
>
> Someone asks if they can walk between the gun and the prism. You tell them sure, then just as the cross your line of sight you say "you weren't planning on having children were you?"
Ha....my go to line is "Don't worry, it goes right through you", then watch the look on their face as they try to decide if they should still walk across the shot
No Fun with the neighbors on a Friday afternoon
When I worked for a larger company, I had wallet cards printed and laminated for every party chief to carry that is this text from the California Professional Land Surveyors Act:
8774. Right of entry
(a) The right of entry upon or to real property to investigate and utilize boundary evidence, and to perform surveys, is a right of persons legally authorized to practice land surveying, and it is the responsibility of the owner or tenant who owns or controls property to provide reasonable access without undue delay. The right of entry is not contingent upon the provision of prior notice to the owner or tenant. However, the owner or tenant shall be notified of the proposed time of entry where practicable.
I put my direct line and name on the card and instructed all of my crews that if any land owner told them they had to get off the property, they should politely explain that there were lawfully there doing boundary work and show them owner/tenant that card. If the owner persisted, they should clear off but stay at the site and call me so I could ensure the survey was completed.
When I was still in college, I had a summer job surveying for a utility company. We were out in a very rich neighborhood that had an old railroad line running through it. The utility company was going to get a permit to run an underground line up this corridor.
There was a brush crew cutting the line ahead of us as we guided them and we were doing the topography of the corridor as we went along.
On the second day of the survey (we were there 4 days), a guy drives up in a very expensive car and asks me what we were doing. As the complete newbie, I told him that we were surveying and directed him to my party chief.
The guy explains that he is the local HOA president and demands to know why he wasn't notified that this survey was going on. The party chief said that if he wasn't an adjacent land owner, he wouldn't have gotten any notification as only the directly adjoining properties were notified.
He huffed and puffed about being a lawyer and about trespassing and about proper notification, all the while our brush crew is happily carving away at the brush on the site so we can traverse ahead. What it came down to was that he had a problem about how we were cutting the brush. Allegedly the particular brush was very pervasive and if you just cut it at the base and didn't remove the roots it would grow back thicker. The party chief (being too patient at the time) said that since it was on the railroad's property, it probably wasn't a concern of the nearby land owners anyway.
At that point, the "concerned HOA president" said "I don't care if you're surveying, but if you are going to survey, you'd better survey right!" To which the party chief said nothing, turned to us and said, "Lets get some lunch. Tell the brush crew to take lunch as well. I'm going to call the main office." I was super impressed with his method of handling the irate resident.
The project engineer was contacted and drove out to the job site to speak with the guy and apparently things were handled. We didn't see the guy after that. I never found out what transpired, but after 23 years, this story is still one of my favourites to remember.
😛 Big Time Chuckles.
:good: :good: :good:
B-)
