Watering the Lawn | Mexico | Living in Mexico

Watering the Lawn

12/01/07 01:35 PM Filed in: Mexico
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My friend Bob employs a man we'll call José to clean up his yard, trim plants, cut grass, sweep patios—all kinds of general yard work. José is not one to unnecessarily exhibit initiative. I don't intend this observation to be pejorative; personally I would find it extremely difficult to get excited about raking leaves, especially for a lousy $700 pesos ($65 US) a week. José seems to be a good worker, responsible, trustworthy; Bob's trusted employee for several years now.

Bob has a number of other things he would like José to do, but José's day seems to be full. No time to wash the car or paint the ironwork. Given that Bob's yard isn't all that large, he wondered if perhaps by observing José at work, he might discover a few inefficiencies, which corrected, might free up time for applying Armor All to the interior of the Chevy Tahoe.

Those of you who have lived in Mexico for awhile know where this story is going.

Here in the Bahío, the soil is quite sandy in places, so those who cannot live without the green lawns they left up north find that water must be applied daily. Bob noted that José accomplished this task by standing for about an hour with a hose in his hand, his thumb pressed over the end coupling to create a crude spray, waving it about to reach all corners of the lawn.

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Of course there's a better way to do this. Bob did the obvious. He bought a simple lawn sprinkler for José to attach to the end of the hose, so that he could place it on the lawn and let it run while training the bougainvillea to climb the bedroom wall.

A few days later, Bob walked out into the yard. There he found José holding the hose with the new sprinkler attached, waving it over the lawn. No amount of explanation, cajoling or pleading has convinced José to do it any other way.

Some good has come out of this situation: Type "A" Bob is learning acceptance.

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