The Weirdest Response Ever
I used to do pool and spa maintenance in my 20s. During this time, I worked on one property with a mountainside, 10-bedroom, 14-bath mansion, with a saltwater pool, tennis courts, guest mansion, and a servants’ house that had four bedrooms and five baths. The property had so much more than this, but that wasn’t the craziest part.
For about two years, not a single person was ever there. The middle-aged, single woman that owned it lived in a city about four hours away and just didn’t come to the property, because she was so busy with work. A multi-multi-multi-million-dollar compound, just empty. All the time. Finally, after two years, I got a call from my boss on my day off.
He asked if I could go to the house to put some pool floats away. He apologized, because it was my day off, but said the owner would pay me $500 to go put them away. I was confused as to why there were even pool floats out anyway because nobody was ever there, but I figured who cares; $500 for 10 minutes.
I showed up at the house and the woman’s adult children were staying at the house with over 10 kids between them all, and they were having a massive pool party/cookout. I awkwardly walked up and said to one of the parents, “Sorry, it must have been a mistake, but I was told to come put pool floats away, but you’re obviously here so I’ll leave.”
But, instead, I got the weirdest response ever. The woman’s adult son said, “Oh, no, we’re getting ready to leave. You can take them.” Then he instructed the kids to push them towards me. I literally grabbed one inner tube float and four pool noodles, brought them 10 feet into the pool house, and put them away. I, confusedly, said they were all set and went to leave.
The son thanked me and handed me a folded mass of $20 bills. It was $400. I was expecting $500 from my boss for payment, but I figured that $400 cash was still overpayment for what I had done, so I didn’t mention it. The next day at work, my boss gave me another $1,000. I told him the son had already paid me $400, which was fine.
He said that the son told the woman what a great job I did, so she wanted to pay me $1000 instead of $500, and the $400 from yesterday was a tip from her son. For 10 minutes of work. She actually called my boss the next day to ask if she should reimburse me for gas since it was 15 minutes from my house. I told him that I was all set.
Story credit: Reddit / TheApprenticeLife