[Terre]

Ok, so my entry in this category was in my email today.

A designer has a client who wants a penthouse rooftop garden "in a zen/modern" theme that is a combination of "a fusion between India (taj majal mughel period) and very modern."

Ok, if I had any kind of a clue my price would triple but I think I have to pass on this one.

[Stonehenge]

Wow, that is pretty interesting. In a similar vein I had a web design client that struck a similar chord. Asked for a design that was a mix between Zen Buddhism and the band Nirvana (grunge rock). I thought it sounded like this client was going to be trouble. Turns out I was right.

I bet the same is true for the Taj/modern rooftop.

I don't think I've had any "out there" requests from our landscape clients. I did have one that because the paver they'd asked for was not in stock, they thought they would be entitled to a discount. But that was more ridiculous than strange.

[papercutter]

I had a client ask me to design a rain curtain into a pergola on the edge of a pool, so they could shoot really cool amateur porn. It's not often I'm speechless...

[Greensmith]

"As seen in..." Hmm... that might depend on your clientele haha.

[Lanelle]

Dave,
If I recall, there was a rain curtain in one of the displaygardens at the Dulles Expo Home Show this spring. Maybe that was their inspiration........hmmmm, maybe not.

[Terre]

Ok, I just don't think I want to know what their inspiration was!

[Squizzy Taylor]

Well I had an interesting fellow want me to build a totally hidden underground bunker in his backyard, without telling an engineer or the city council

He wanted it built out of solid stone.....I'm not sure if he was a nutcase or a crack dealer....but I got my truck moving and left like I stole it!

[F.E.2]

Well, this is not design related but one of my customers wanted me to shop vac all of his acorns out of his lawn. When I told him that wouldn't be practicle or time efficient he decided that he had to test it out himself. 20 min. later he had 5 sq. ft done and I couldn't belive what I was watching. Still brings a smile to my face everytime I think about it.

[Fine Edge]

Still makes me laugh when I pulled up in the driveway and sat in the truck trying to figure out what he was doing!
I, too, couldn't believe my eyes.

Could it really be? Does he have a shop vac? What is he vacuuming? I have to check this out.

To actually walk up on someone trying to vac all of his acorns while the whole crew is standing there speechless, well...........

Let's just put it this way: It was very hard to be polite and cordial when ( 1 ) you just want to laugh like crazy & (2) you really thought that he has had a severe brain malfunction.
It couldn't be that because his wife was standing right beside him giving him words of encouragement.

[NCSULandscaper]

had a guy come up to me in an auto parts parking lot a few weeks back to see if we could use our work trucks to harvest his marijuana crop so it would be less suspicious to the neighbors............

[Fine Edge]

Was pumping gas last year when a man walked up and wanted a ride to the Auto Parts store maybe 1/4 mile away. Said his starter went out and he needed to get a new one.
Plus, his boss was coming that way later so he'd have a ride back to his truck, something like that.
I don't mind helping someone out with a ride down the street,( plus I was pretty sure I could take him if he ended up being a loony,) but when he asked me to BUY the starter for him, and he'd pay me back later that day , I had to tell him bye bye.

[Greensmith]

Just a couple I remembered from the years...

I had a painter get his lift truck stuck in the mud while he tried to paint a gable. I just happened to be at the house that day with my truck and he asked me to pull it out. Those things are heavier then they look! My F550 barely moved it out of the rut.

Planting a memorial tree for a dog and the father lied about how deep he truely planted it. I was asked to not tell the wife when this was discovered. Great... and what about me and the crew stuck with a image and smell we want to forget now?

Could we cut every lateral on a Japanese maple we just planted so it looked more japanese? When I said no, the lady promptly "showed me" how it was done and in 30 minutes flat there was only three upright branches left of her $600 now warranty-less tree.

[TrickyDick]

My partner was asked to bury a donkey once. He was driving in a backhoe when a couple flagged him down on the side of the road. He stopped and they told him that their donkey had died and they couldn't get anyone to come and bury it. Apparently it was as much family pet as beast of burden so they felt really bad and could he please please please help them. He was so intrigued by the whole thing that he told them he would not only come bury their donkey, but he would do it for free just so he could tell people he had buried a donkey. Long story but I guess I was kind of a comedy of errors, especially the part about trying to strap the dead donkey to the forks cause it kept sliding off, and we ended up getting a bunch of free lobster out of the deal.

For you folks out there in rural America donkey burying may be a weekly occurance but around here we don't often even see, much less bury, donkeys.

[Lanelle]

This is a great thread! We need more occasions for laughter, especially in April.

[NCSULandscaper]

Originally Posted by TrickyDick

My partner was asked to bury a donkey once. He was driving in a backhoe when a couple flagged him down on the side of the road. He stopped and they told him that their donkey had died and they couldn't get anyone to come and bury it. Apparently it was as much family pet as beast of burden so they felt really bad and could he please please please help them. He was so intrigued by the whole thing that he told them he would not only come bury their donkey, but he would do it for free just so he could tell people he had buried a donkey. Long story but I guess I was kind of a comedy of errors, especially the part about trying to strap the dead donkey to the forks cause it kept sliding off, and we ended up getting a bunch of free lobster out of the deal.

For you folks out there in rural America donkey burying may be a weekly occurance but around here we don't often even see, much less bury, donkeys.

A donkey isnt as bad as burying a horse. I had to bury a horse one time, its a job to dig 8' down and 10x10 with a skid steer, but it was done.