“A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work” has long been the aim of the labor movement, trade unions, and other workers’ groups. It’s also a motto of the American Federation of Labor and is at the heart of cutting an equitable deal.

For one guy, he was confused when a neighborhood kid showed up and started cutting his front lawn out of nowhere. After confronting him, the kid said he does it for all the neighbors and they pay him $5. Having struck no such deal, the guy refused to pay him, and then the kid’s mother got involved. 

More info: Reddit

These days almost everyone needs a side hustle, but for this neighborhood kid, his grass-cutting gamble didn’t pay off

Image credits: user18526052 / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Without asking or being asked, he started cutting a guy’s lawn until the guy saw and stopped him, then demanded $5 for doing a quarter of the job

Image credits: Karolina Kaboompics / Pexels (not the actual photo)

The guy told him they hadn’t made any kind of deal upfront, so he wouldn’t be paying him

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

The kid left quietly, but the next day his mom showed up at the guy’s door angry that her kid didn’t get paid

Image credits: Acceptable-Essay-490

He told her there was no prior arrangement made so there would be no payment, but now wonders if that was a jerk move

OP begins his story by telling the community that he recently bought his first house, likes the neighborhood and is settling in nicely. He adds that a few neighbors even came by to introduce themselves, including a woman in her early forties and her 13-year-old son. 

Not long after that, OP was kicking back on his couch when he noticed the teen cutting his front lawn. When he confronted him, the teen told him he does it for all the neighbors and they pay him $5 a cut. OP thanked him for his partial work but explained he wouldn’t be paying him because he hadn’t asked for his services.

The next day, the kid’s angry mother showed up on OP’s doorstep and asked him why her son hadn’t been paid. 

OP told her that her son hadn’t offered, and he hadn’t asked, but she wouldn’t accept his reasoning, telling him $5 isn’t a lot of money and he could have just paid it. OP responded by saying an arrangement like this needs to be made upfront, otherwise it’s nothing but a random demand for money.

OP says the woman basically tuned him out and walked away from him while he was talking to her, leaving him surprised that the adult in the situation was handling it worse than her literal child. 

Since then, she’s been staring daggers at OP and crossing the street whenever she sees him. OP says he has no desire to speak to her anyway but is thinking she might try to send the kid over to ask for the money or mow the lawn again.

He’s vented to friends and family about the situation and, while most seem to agree with him, others say he should’ve just paid the kid and told him not to cut the lawn again. Now OP’s wondering if he’s the jerk in the situation and has turned to netizens for advice.

You can’t knock the kid for having an entrepreneurial spirit, but if he’s going to have any real success, he’ll need to brush up on some basic business skills, starting with the art of negotiation. 

Image credits: Wynand van Poortvliet / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

As it stands, he didn’t give OP the chance to strike any sort of deal and just went ahead with an unsolicited job before demanding payment out of nowhere. That’s simply not the way the market works.

According to the Crimson Education website, teens that start a business when they’re in high school develop essential life skills while navigating real-world challenges. 

By honing abilities such as time management, problem solving, decision making, and financial literacy, for example, they lay a solid foundation for future success in both their personal and business lives. 

The site goes on to list several tips for launching a successful business while you’re in high school, which OP’s neighbor’s kid is headed to next year, as it happens. 

Some of these include identifying your passion and skill set, creating a unique selling proposition that makes your business stand out from the crowd, networking with local businesses and organizations, and offering exceptional customer service.

According to a 2021 study by Junior Achievement USA, a remarkable 60% of young individuals expressed a preference for starting their own business over pursuing a traditional job. The trend has only grown since then.

Who knows, the kid might go on to build a landscaping empire with a shrewd attitude and a bit of luck, but perhaps he should start by firing his mom – she’s terrible at PR.

Bored Panda reached out to Claire Wheeler, the visionary behind Kid Biz Academy to get her take on the situation.

When we asked her what she thought of the neighbor’s decision to not pay the teen for unsolicited work, she had this to say, “I think that on this instance, I definitely believe that it is a good learning experience for the child. I think the neighbor’s decision not to pay, although to the child and his mother may seem harsh, is warranted and a real-world learning experience for the child.”

Wheeler went on to add that, when starting a business, there is great joy and learning that comes with it, such as working out your target market, marketing your services, working on a sales pitch, the confidence that’s built by knocking on the door and selling your service or product, creating flyers, dealing with people when they approach or call your business and negotiating a price.

“All of these things are great learning, growth and confidence building experiences,” says Wheeler.

We asked Wheeler for one piece of advice she’d offer the budding landscaper.

She responded, “My advice to the landscaper going forward is to not give up! He already seems to have a growing number of clients in the neighborhood and can expand on that with marketing and word of mouth referrals. Most adults are more than happy to support a young person’s business so keep going – just remember to ask and agree on a price first.”

What do you think of OP’s situation? Was it a jerk move, or was the kid’s mom the actual jerk? Let us know your opinion in the comments!

In the comments, Redditors said they felt bad for the kid but slammed the mother for her rude and entitled behavior and wondered if she was keeping the kid’s cash for herself

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