It’s always a good idea to be considerate of other people, because if you’re not, you never know if these people will get you back via petty revenge.

In today’s story, a petty handyman gets revenge on a builder who forgets to bring ladders with him to a job site.

It turned into a pretty amazing and amusing afternoon for the handyman!

Check it out.

Make my life harder for no reason? Two can play at that game.

So, a bit of background first: I work as a handyman/builder.

Today’s job: Dig up some turf from somebody’s back garden and wheelbarrow it round to the front of the house, down the drive and into the skip across the road.

While I was doing that, another building company came to the house to take down an old pergola.

They showed up in a pickup, which they ‘parked’ right across the entrance to the drive.

The driver wasn’t very considerate.

I was wheeling some turf out as they arrived, so I asked the driver if he wouldn’t mind pulling back a couple of foot so I could get past.

Rather than just pulling back, he got out, looked at the front of his truck, shrugged and just said ‘nah, you got plenty of space, mate’ and walked away to the house.

Fair enough, I had space, although not exactly plenty.

Maybe 18 inches or so.

An opportunity for revenge arose…

I could squeeze through, just, but that didn’t make him any less of a jerk who’d made my life harder for no real reason.

I couldn’t be bothered to argue, so I just carried on.

And so here’s where the revenge comes in.

When I got back round to the back of the house, the builder and his mate were looking at the pergola.

I heard him say to his mate ‘We left the ladders at the yard, didn’t we?’.

He could’ve let the guy borrow his ladder…but didn’t.

I smiled, knowing I had not one, but two ladders in the back of my van that would be perfect for the job.

I’d have happily lent them both – always happy to help a fellow tradesman – but not this guy.

He could have easily helped me, but decided to be a jerk instead, so no ladders for him.

He did ask the homeowner if they had one, but he didn’t.

I got the feeling he knew he’d burned his bridges with me already, because he didn’t ask me.

It was an amusing afternoon.

So I spent the afternoon working while watching these guys trying to dismantle a pergola from ground level.

I watched them jumping up and down, stretching up with their drills at arm’s length.

They tried standing on flowerpots.

They tried – and failed – to actually climb up on the structure.

He made sure his ladders were visible.

They eventually settled on standing on his toolbox.

I’m not sure the eight inches or so lift they got from that was worth the bend it made in the lid, but it was at least enough to do the job.

I guess they were desperate by that point.

They were about four hours and 95% of the way into what should have been a max two hour job by the time I finished myself.

I made sure to leave my van doors open while I packed up so they could see the ladders in my van.

I’m not sure they saw. I hope they did.

If only the driver had moved his truck over!

He really should’ve offered to move his truck if he would loan him the ladders.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

The handyman should’ve used his ladder.

Here’s another way he could’ve used his ladder…

Here’s a comeback if he had asked to borrow the ladders…

This reader would’ve offered the ladders anyway.

If only the tradesman had been considerate!

This whole thing could have been avoided.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.