Permission revoked!

[Tommybuckets]

It all started when I pulled in to ask permission for a restaurant that was transformed into a funeral home. They are doing some work and digging so it seemed like a good time to ask. As I got out of the car I noticed something in the bush in front of my spot. I pulled it out and it was a checkbook. I went in and got permission for my site and was dismayed to hear he had had 6-7 guys come in at different stages of the digging to detect. He hemmed and hawed a bit but after a little persuading he let me detect as well. I found a D buckle and some modern clad. Nobody gets it all, but if there was any goodies they were not to be had from that site. I then looked at the checkbook and the address of the owner was right around the corner. I drove the checkbook over and caught the wife out front. I gave her the checkbook and explained where I found it. She told me it had been stolen from her car which had been unlocked in her driveway and the checks were cancelled but thanked me anyway. We talked for a while and I figured I'd get this next permission out of the deal. The house was from the 40s and the small front yard was one of those patchy grass, wild strawberries, weeds and mostly dirt that says dig here, this is not a manicured show yard. It looked tough to cut a plug and it was very dry. I explained that it would be better to wait until we had some rain.
We had a lot of rain so I returned to the site after work yesterday. I was kicking myself because I had not written the address down so I went zigging and zagging around keeping an eye for anyone I could ask in addition while I searched for my elusive permission. I didn't see any easy opportunities and found the house after a few streets. I knocked and the husband answered. He was a big formidable guy but had a smile on his face as I recapped the story and the permission and how I was waiting until the ground was soft so it would leave the yard nice when I cut the plug. I said I'd be happy to show him what we find etc. He nodded and smiled and went back inside. I got out my gear and started with the curb strip. Immediately got a 25-26 on the nox so I am thinking dime. I cut the gentlest and daintiest of plugs thinking I could feel the guys eyes on me from somewhere inside. I turn my head and hes charging me like a bull so I stand up and he starts in a loud voice " I am not going to let anyone dig holes in my yard! I don't let anybody dig holes in my yard!" I am asking myself is this the same guy I just talked to? WTF?!!
Speaking soft and quickly I explain how the ground is like soft butter and how I cut a semi circle, pop the plug up take out the item and flip the dirt back and he won't even be able to tell,... you all know the speech. The same speech I gave him at the beginning. I asked him to watch me do this first one then decide but he launched back in with " I don't let anybody dig in my yard, I can't beleive my wife said you could do this, I didn't understand what you were doing" yada yada... I am getting upset with him and laughing all at once thinking how I've done the most finely manicured yards at multi million dollar estates and this guys crying the blues about the f***ing curb strip. It crossed my mind to point out that the curb strip is actually a common thru way and the town shares ownership etc but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor so I popped my trunk and yelled "Ok! Ok, there must have been some misunderstanding or something!" and rolled out. It put a sour taste in my mouth and I called it a day. I guess the moral of the story is when the nice wife says you can metal detect, you dig hot and fast before the husband comes home.
I am most annoyed because its hard for me to gather the courage to just knock on doors and get permissions with no lead and here I had the lead of doing a kinda nice thing and get denied. Ugh, I am sure we all have stuff like this happen but it doesn't make it easier to knock that next door.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Let it go, like water off a duck's back. Not you. People are crazy.

 

[xr7ator]

I hear ya, Tb, but like Terry says, let it go. The upside is that things can go the other way, just keep trying and you will succeed. HH ALL

 

[digger460]

Bet you wanted to write a check about then

 

[BigWaveDave]

I got a guy like that in my neighborhood..... did the same thing.
Now every time I see him in the yard, I wave and yell out “hi Dick”
Pretty sure his name isn’t Richard.

 

[Megalodon]

When I got to the part where the wife said the checkbook was stolen, I thought you were about to get accused of theft. Returning lost items can be unpredictable. In the 1980's, one member of our metal detecting club found a woman's class ring, researched the owner, called her and arranged a time to return it. He got to the place and the police were waiting. She insisted that he be charged with theft. She claimed in court that she had a break-in years earlier and lost the ring in the break-in. Our club member had to go to court, hire his own lawyer, and although the case was dropped, it cost him lawyer fees. I have some class rings that might be identifiable, but I still remember sitting in that courtroom with some of our other club members, and I know how easily "no good deed goes unpunished". Being falsely accused of a crime is the greatest insult.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Calm down TB, ya gotta take the good with the bad. Over the years I've had permissions like that. I always think it better to politely thank them for their time and then and go off to another site. There's more terra firma out there to hunt.

 

[Jesse James]

I had a permission to do a church yard a few months ago. A walkway down the middle split the yard in 2 halves. I spent a few hrs hitting the right side of the lawn. He came out later and I showed him things I had found. He said not to dig on the left lawn because of a church event taking place the coming weekend, but that I was welcome to come back after that. I showed up 2 weeks later to finish that side of the lawn. About a half hour into it he pulls up in his car, "HEY! What are you doing?? I told you not to dig on that side! Why are doing that!?" I felt so stupid... He was a nice guy and I felt bad for making him angry. I explained to him what our conversation was 2 weeks before, and told him sorry, there must have been some sort of misunderstanding. He said," There are 2 unmarked graves in that yard, you can't do that". (which he had not mentioned before) He said read the plaque on the front of the church! I apologized and walked away. On my way out I read the plaque, and no mention of anything of the sorts... I was a bit confused as to what happened as I got in my car. I had thought about that for a few weeks trying to understand why he even invited me back in the first place.

 

[against the wind]

Sorry to hear of your encounter with the Crazy Man.

 

[kudzu74]

Freudian slip perhaps? Maybe, he will be on a future episode of 'Buried in the Backyard'...you know the murder mystery who done its on television.

 

[CT1976]

I know how frustrating that can be. In the three years I've been digging, permissions here are getting harder to come by. More recently, a year ago, I had a sweet permission--where the owner was cool and readily granted permission to me and my digging partner--but that ended when he moved recently (and like I renew my permissions each year). That sucks, but as they say, "It is what it is."

 

[rattail-1927]

I’m in Australia and I’m in the process of md in parks.... and I’ll bet the first worker that spots me will tell me to take a long walk off a short pier .
I suggested asking permission on another site but was informed any plug left messily, I was the one to get the blame... so I’m wondering just let sleeping dogs lye ....