OK, So the John Deere Tech Comes to the House Today

[LaydeeBug]

because I recently had service to my lawn tractor and the battery wasn't in properly.

So the guy gets here around 10:30...he's affable enough, on his cell phone while I told him, "It's in the shed. This way". He smiles and nods and follows me back to the shed, and gets off the phone when I unlock the door. Sure enough, it's a missing bolt from the battery and a super easy, on the spot fix. Then he starts looking around. Like *casing* the place. It got creepy a little.

So he gets the parts out of the company truck, and asks about the volvo under the car tarp. I asked how he knew it was a volvo, since it isn't a fancy schmancy car clinging cover...it's "roughly" the size of the car. He says he works on cars, and could tell. I told him it needs a new engine (He asked to look and I let him) and mansplained that it needed a new engine...and then...

He starts saying that he can't find his clipboard. We go back to the shed three times so he can look for his clipboard. Then I remembered and told him he didn't have a clipboard because he was on his phone. He kept repeating, "I had to have the clipboard, or I wouldn't know this address." He said those words so much that I am posting this thread for posterity. It could very well be that this affable young man really lost his clipboard and I am being overly cautious.

Or he could have been casing the place. Either way, I am a wee bit nervous.

[mnhtnbb]

1. You have good reason to be nervous.

I had an a/c guy out to service the unit that handles the studio apartment over our garage. In the closet of the garage, where the blower is located, he asked me
"is that a gun?" I do not know why my husband had stored his shotgun out there--not locked up--but he had. I didn't know it was there before I opened the closet, or I would
have removed it. A couple of weeks later my husband wanted to
know where his shotgun was. Yep. It was gone. I suspect the guy lifted it when I went upstairs to lock up the apartment.

[LaydeeBug]

4. Wow. It's a good thing he only stole the gun instead of use your own weapon against you

I don't know if I should tell the John Deere People or not.

[mnhtnbb]

7. Do you have a lock on your shed?

[LaydeeBug]

10. Yes. But the hinges to the doors are on the outside. nt

[mnhtnbb]

9. It wasn't loaded and no ammo nearby.

[Downwinder]

2. Strange, how did he know the bolt was missing?

[LaydeeBug]

5. He looked at it. nt

[Downwinder]

6. Did he know before he came out?

[LaydeeBug]

11. Probably. I told the service receptionist that's what I thought it was. nt

[Brickbat]

3. If you feel it's an issue, call JD and tell them your concerns.

I have a single mom friend who called a home repair company owner to tell him he needed to teach his employees not to repair windows and then leave them unlocked, because it makes them look bad. He was appreciative, informed the employees who called her to apologize, and said he would provide some training on how to work more effectively with women.

He could just be ignorant and not understand how his actions affect people.

[Shemp Howard]

8. Were you alone when the tech guy arrived?

I'm guessing you were alone. Next time, work someone else into the conversation early on. As in, "Please don't block the driveway because my husband/wife will be home soon." It doesn't matter if that person really exists or not.

As for now, consider contacting your closest neighbor, and updating them. And it wouldn't hurt to contact your local police and ask them to have a patrol car pass by your place now and again in the next few days.

A neighbor of mine once even asked the local cops to pull in the driveway and just sit a spell. They obliged.

[LaydeeBug]

12. I was...but I talked about my other half...thanks for your advice

I might do that about the police. The thing is, he would most likely pull something within a few weeks, not *today* when I'm all fired up.

[Hekate]

13. Call the John Deere customer service manager and the police.

That is just way too creepy. It really truly is.

It's been awhile since I had something like that happen (and yeah, more than once in my life), but all of a sudden I flashed on an incident from terribly long ago, when I was barely adolescent. Was always the family babysitter, so I was the one who had to sign for something that day. The man with the clipboard set off all my alarm bells. Kept trying to crowd me on the porch as I signed. Kind of wanted to enter the house on some pretext. And me alone with all the little kids.

I finally got rid of him, eventually told my parents when they got home, and I don't think they ever followed up. But they should have, seriously.

And so should you. You have instincts for a reason.

[malaise]

14. He's casing the place

Put up some cameras and tell others