He Likes Them Topless

Try and keep up sonny!

 
As a small business owner, I find that it's pretty easy to follow the advice that "the customer is always right" ...  right up to the point where they're wrong.

More often than not this occurs when I'm asked to provide a quote for tree care. This happened again a few days ago when I met with an older gentleman (we'll call him Mr. Smith) to chat about trimming his trees.


Maybe "mutilating" his trees would be a better word? He wants every tree on his property topped, because you know, they're pretty out of control.




The victims...

The token Ash

The ubiquitous Crabapple

The handsome Japanese Maple

And finally there's a Weeping Cherry he wants pruned under the window (any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated).

After 20+ years in the biz, I've finally figured out that self-righteous monologues berating the prospective client doesn't make me any new friends. I just stuck with thoughtful nods and a forced smile or two. The fact that this was the father-in-law of a valued new client helped keep me on my best behavior too.

Still, a Certified Arborist can't be seen out and about making freaky head cuts on trees so what's a guy to do?  Conveniently, there is ISA approved  "Crown Reduction" pruning. Instead of performing topping cuts mid-branch, we can reduce a tree by pruning it down to lateral branches that are large enough to assume the new leadership opening.

I certainly wouldn't call this necessary pruning, but if it prevents something like this from happening I think I've done my job.