In article , Cathy Weeks says...

Jon Walters wrote in message
...

First of all -- the kids of this generation are spoiled
and "do no wrong" in the eyes of their parents. They are
right and you are wrong .... especially when a 13 year old
wanted $40 to shovel the snow from my sidewalk recently. I
told the kid I'll give him $10 and he walked away. Good. I'll
wait until it melts before I pay that much.

Ah, so you think just because he's 13, he ought to do it for less than
an amount that he considers worth his time? He doesn't owe you
service. The only thing I can think of is that he might not have been
polite, and that's the only thing that he might have done wrong. But,
I've seen people like you grump over the polite ones, too.

Shoveling snow is hard work, and it's no fun. And if you contract
with an agency that does stuff like that, they charge $75. So you
should either pay up or shut up and do it yourself.

I've heard this so many time before...old codgers who think the
neighbor kids owe them labor for cheap. And for whatever reason, it's
always over shoveling snow.

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

Yep. Like any contractor, he states a price, and the OP agrees or not. If it's
obviously high, it can be one of several reasons. Perhaps the kid doesn't know
the market. OK - he'll learn or lose out and go into another business. Maybe
it's becuase it's a loooong walkway to shovel. Maybe it's because he know what
the professionals *do* charge (would be awful high in my area, but I don't know
the OP's area) and he's going to charge what they charge (and why not? - did the
OP ectually expect a cheaper rate?). Finally, he may not *want* to do this job,
except if it's very lucrative for him, and is coming in with the high bid -
which is something real contractors do all the time. Especially if they can
tell they build be building/working/whatever on a difficult job.

So all the OP has to do is say "no deal". Which he did. Now as to what the
actual problem is......????

Banty