I arrived at 8am to begin setting up equipment to shoot an interview for a business video. The organization decided to shoot the video in a grassy area outside the building, but the lawn was in use.
Landscapers pushed mowers, spewing out chewed up grass. I waited patiently. Each time the landscapers turned off their machines and I made a move to set up our equipment, the buzzing began again. I began to wonder if the landscapers watched me from the corners of their eyes, smirking and waiting for me to think it was my time to work. Someone suggested these men were milking the clock. I took the positive approach and proposed they might be meticulous mowers. One of the men was still pushing his mower when the business suggested an alternative location: the top of a nearby parking garage providing a view of the city.
The parking garage provided a somewhat perfect location until what appeared to be the beginnings of a garbage truck convention. A truck rolled up to a dumpster in the background. A different truck later drove up below and behind me. Those trucks are louder than lawn mowers.
Landscapers and garbage truck drivers have jobs to do. I learned long ago their schedules are aligned with shooting video no matter what time that might be. That’s just how it works.
After a couple of hours of shooting the interview and some additional video inside, I pointed out to someone a familiar sound. The landscapers were still meticulously at work on what by then must have been the prettiest patch of grass.