Wanted: Someone who likes dogs and mornings

The gate latch on a Farmers Branch backyard makes a particular sound at 8:30 in the morning. A little metal clack, then the give of the hinge, and then, almost always, the dog. Sometimes it's a shepherd mix who has been waiting at the window since the truck pulled up. Sometimes it's a fourteen-year-old beagle who lifts her head, decides you're fine, and goes back to sleep in the sun.

That's the start of the shift. Not a desk, not a badge reader, not a conference bridge that opens with eight seconds of silence while everyone figures out who's talking on mute. A gate, a yard, and a dog who is genuinely pleased you came.

I have been doing this work myself since December, and I want to tell you what it actually is, because the job title does it no favors.

What the morning looks like

The day starts at our Farmers Branch shop around 8:00, where you pick up your rake and bin and get your route. First gate is usually 8:30, which is deliberate. Dogs keep a schedule, and there is no sense arriving before they've had their morning.

A handful of stops, clustered close together, mostly within a few square miles. Sometimes one sits out on its own a half hour away. You drive, you find the address, you park, you walk the yard with a rake and a collector bin, you clear it, you bag it, you latch the gate, and you go. Twelve minutes at a small yard. Twenty at a big one.

There is no heavy lifting. Nothing you carry weighs more than a full grocery bag, and you decide how much goes in each one. There is no crawling under decks or hauling equipment up three flights. Almost every property is a single-story house with a flat backyard and a side gate. You are on your feet and moving, which is the whole appeal for the right person, and you are done before the worst of the afternoon.

What the work does require is a driver's license, a reliable vehicle, a phone you can text from, and the kind of attention that notices a gate latch that's starting to fail before it fails.

What it means to the customer

Here's the part that surprised me most.

I thought I was selling a chore off someone's list. Sometimes that's true. More often I'm serving a woman in her seventies who loves her dog with her whole heart and whose knees have opinions about bending over forty times in a row. I'm serving a household with two working parents and three kids where the yard is the last thing anybody has energy for on Sunday. I'm serving dog moms who decided to take in others' dogs for day care or foster out of the goodness of their hearts. And when I hear "you're the best part of my week!" that's music to my ears.

Those customers are letting us into the private part of their property. The back gate is not the front door. When somebody trusts you with the back gate, week after week, while they're at work and the house is empty, that trust is the actual product. The clean yard is the receipt.

So the person who does this job is representing something bigger than a clean yard. They wave at the neighbor. They send a photo when the gate hardware is loose. They notice that the water bowl is empty on a hot day and text the customer about it. They are, for fifteen minutes a week, the face of a small local company that decided pet waste removal deserved to be done properly.

What it means to UrbanTail

I built this company after a job loss taught me that loyalty to an employer is not a retirement plan. UrbanTail is mine, and the standard is simple: clean spaces. no excuses.

I am at the point where I cannot serve every yard myself and also build the commercial side of the business. So I'm looking for one person to start, with room to grow into more hours as the routes fill in.

The role

Pet Waste Removal Technician (Part Time, Mornings)

• Roughly 15 to 25 hours a week across three or four days. Days can vary. No Sundays. 
• Starting at the shop around 8:00 a.m. and typically wrapped by early afternoon
• Service residential yards on a fixed weekly route
• Reliable vehicle and a valid driver's license required. Mileage is covered.
• Tools come back to the shop for cleaning and storage at the end of each route
• Comfortable navigating to unfamiliar addresses without getting rattled
• Clear, prompt communication with the office by text, and friendly communication with customers when you cross paths with them
• Genuinely likes dogs and is not nervous around them, including big ones, loud ones and the ones who are all bark
• Genuinely likes being outdoors. This is the whole job.
• Willing to hand a door hanger to a neighbor or answer a "what do you charge?" question in a driveway. Sales training is provided. Enthusiasm is not.
• No heavy lifting, minimal bending, rarely any stairs

If you are semi-retired and looking for something that gets you moving in the morning, pays you honestly, and sends you home with the rest of your day intact, I would love to talk to you. Same goes for anyone between things, or anyone whose ideal workday involves more dogs and fewer meetings. And if you want a few good mornings a week with your weekdays otherwise free, this is that. 

The ask

If that's you, send an email to info@urbantailcleanup.com and tell me a little about yourself. No resume required. If it's someone you know, forward this along. Referrals are how nearly everything good has come to this company so far, and I don't expect that to change now.

I'll buy the coffee.

Phyllis - UrbanTail Cleanup

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