A couple of weeks ago, as I am locating the relatively new chainlink fence between the parcel I'm surveying and the north adjoiner:
North lady: "Are you surveying for a fence?"
Me: "No ma'am, someone purchased this house and I'm doing the survey for the real estate closing."
North lady: "But are they going to put up a fence?"
Me: Puzzled look; reapeated previous statement. No, she was not a blonde. (My wife is not present or I would not have typed that.)
Another good one; the idea was stolen from someone off the board that gave me a chuckle (can't remember who). I was surveying a farm parcel about 80 miles west of Chicago, and there was a red pickup that must have gone past me at least 6 times before he stopped and asked:
Farmer: "What are you surveying for?"
Me: "Well, they scrapped the plans for the airport in Peotone, and they decided to move it out here. Don't tell anyone, though, because they're going to have to take all these farms by eminent domain."
Look on farmer's face: Priceless
I let him off the hook after about 10 seconds, because I thought his head was going to explode.
nope
and my data collector also has a camera
it was hot and muggy
i was sticky and tired
that's good Rob! I remember all the talk about new airports... or the NASCAR track and before that the Super Conducting Super Collider would have gone right under my home town. {big rock}... what was the latest one? maybe the new highway that was supposed to parallel Rt. 47?? is that still in the works?
Funny you should bring up Peotone. I worked for a firm that set some some panel points for photo control out there in the early aughts and some of the points they used black spray painted crosses in the middle of some of the farm intersections. When the GPS crew came back out some one had painted the crosses into swastikas.
Ah, the "Buttercream Highway". I actually did the Corridor Protection Map for that project. It's just sitting right now; they're widening 47 through Yorkville currently. They're not going to change out the bridge, though, so I don't know how much it will help. If development was rolling like it was 5 years ago, then maybe it would get the funding. Right now, I doubt anything is going to happen for a while. There are a few residential subs around south of 126 with all the improvements in and 1 or 2 homes on them. Been sitting like that for 4-5 years. There's also at least 1/2 a dozen subs with the plats ready to go west of 47 that never got recorded because the developers went belly up.
Mark,
One of my first projects when I went pro back in the day was a design survey of the Oregon State Penn. We spent quite a bit of time inside at it was a little scary how many of the residents had been surveyors at one time or another. At the office we used to joke that it was the Old Surveyor's Home.
John
> Funny you should bring up Peotone. I worked for a firm that set some some panel points for photo control out there in the early aughts and some of the points they used black spray painted crosses in the middle of some of the farm intersections. When the GPS crew came back out some one had painted the crosses into swastikas.
I hate Illinois Nazis
Stupid answers
The questions are not stupid, but the answers are!
I could never understand what is supposed to be funny about these actual stupid answers that only made the surveyor look stupid.
Keith
Stupid answers
Wow...lighten up dude.
Stupid answers
he don't know Keith very well, do he?
(in my best tweety bird voice)
I have had a poop load of dumb questions throw at me in the last 24 years...
Guy on street "what are you surveying for"
Me "a living"...
Neighbor "how do you know how big my lot is"
Me " I have your deed in my truck"
Neighbor again "how do you know those other markers are right"
Me "cause we "surveyed them"
Friends father "what is it telling you now" ..referring to the data collector.
Me "dont tell that guy anything else"...that got a big laugh.
Stupid answers
lol....well I didn't mention straight section lines along latitudinal arcs, did I?
Stupid answers
"well I didn't mention straight section lines along latitudinal arcs, did I?"
And please don't...lol
Stupid answers
:good:
I have a few standard "go-to" responses. My favorite for getting nosy neighbors away is this
Them: "What are you surveying for"
Me: "Where is your house"
Them: "Right over there"
Me: "Sir/Mam, so you don't know"
Them: "No"
Me: "Sir/Mam, I hate to tell you this, but you were supposed to have received a letter already."
Them: "Why?"
Me: "Well, we are staking centerline for I-69 and it is supposed to take your house out. The land department had guaranteed me that all landowners had been contacted and that all negotiations were finalized. You're the third person to tell me you have no idea! This is horrible!"
Them: "WTH do you mean a road is going through my house?!?!"
Me: "Sir/Mam, all I can tell you is to talk to TxDOT. In fact, don't call them because they never answer the phone. You need to talk to Joe Smith at the regional TxDOT office in Tyler. I spoke with him earlier and he's in all day long. Go visit with him right now and get this squared, because you need your money, or I need new plans on where the road is going!"
Them: "They ain't gonna build no road through my house!"
Me: As they are leaving "Give Em Hell Harry! I'm just making 8!"
I also typically say I work for a surveyor of low stature in the area who doesn't have a TxDOT contract. I figure, if they're gonna waste my time, I'm really fixing to waste their time!
When Columbia exploded and rained debris over Cherokee County, we mapped shuttle debris with officers. The day it happened, I had my ProXRS out gathering data points in an RV park. The ProXRS beeped once a second. When the 5th person asked me if it was a radiation detector, I was about to have some fun. The next guy comes up and says "How many rads is it pulling?". So I get a weird look on my face and swap it to area where it beeps much more rapidly, and start screaming at the officer (who I know very well), "Get them out of here. This stuff is hot. We need to evac this entire area NOW!". It was loud enough that everyone heard me, they all left, and we went on about our rat killing.
If you can't have fun, this job sucks.
I have told elsewhere on this board where my first day on the job brought me to the house of a woman whose husband had a heart attack when the surveyor told them what they were doing, and that guy WASN'T lying.
Even if you've been asked stupid questions a hundred times that day, there's no reason to be rude to the next bypasser or stranger who's curious.
Everybody is ignorant about something......sometimes a concise and accurate answer might go along way towards educating that portion of the public that wants $250 surveys.
SOOOOOO- YOURE to blame
[sarcasm]for all the goofy crap that ends up on RUmor Mills and Prison Planet.....[/sarcasm]o.O
I gotta side with keith on this one.
you have a chance to educate the public when ask these questions and you call it wasting time, So being vindictive you waste theirs, wow, this is why we as a profession are thought of as less than professional. then some ask why we aren't respected like other professionals. Geez Go figure. after 38 years i guess i don't get this attitude that you are displaing,
SC,
I think a lot of these are people letting off steam, maybe thinking of clever retorts they "wish" they had thought of at the time. You have to be able to deal with the public in this profession, and I think a light hearted joke at the right time to the right person isn't a big deal. I agree, though, you can't be a smart ^%$ to everyone, or all the time.
Writing it out on the internet doesn't convey they wink or the grin you might give while teasing a bit.
ALSO, I've always been taught NOT to just give out details of what we were working on to just anyone walking up and asking. That can get you in as much trouble as joking. So maybe we develop these silly responses as a way to disarm nosey neighbors without giving them a stern lecture about privacy and the rights of our clients.
Andy