[StarfishKey]

Well, I am waiting yet again to hear back from someone who is supposed to do some work on my property. This person is new to me, but was recommended by a neighbor, is licensed and insured, came to my house within days of getting my call totally lucid, and sent me a professional contract via email. Signed and ready for business. Everything looked professional and ready to go, and I thanked my lucky stars I finally found someone to work with who would actually call me back and show up when he said he was going to!

And then? I never heard from him again. No reply to my email. No follow-up with the permit process. Vanished. My neighbor hasn't heard back from him either for the work he promised to do for her. What happened?

Despite a good start, I think he came down with Keys Disease.

I did a search of "Keys Disease" just to see if his name might come up by chance, and here is what I found:

What about it ?: Keys Disease Defined
I don't know this Lynn Crawford, but she seems to be an expert in diagnosis.

If you have moved to the Keys, you need to check yourself periodically for signs that you have caught this island plague. I have yet to catch it, but hardworking people all around me are falling prey to it every day.

I have lost 3 potential landscaping companies, 2 plumbers, 3 contractors, 2 doctors, and countless local acquaintances to this disease already, in just the last 2 years.

If you plan to move here, be careful that you don't catch it. Many local job and rental postings prominently state, "No Keys Disease!" If the idea of honoring your commitments makes you break out in hives, I hope you're independently wealthy. As for me, the loss of so many around me to this plague has cost me a great deal of time and money and patience already. Things I can't really afford to lose. So, be warned if you're coming down to the Florida Keys - if you don't catch it, you should most surely expect that others you rely on will!




Awareness is Key.

[rnc2mbfl]

I think that the disease mutated in MiamiDade. That strain is called the Mañana Disease. It has very similar symptoms but it comes with excuses.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

I think that the disease mutated in MiamiDade. That strain is called the Mañana Disease.

LOL!

Yes, Mañana Disease sounds like it could be related to Keys Disease. I did not encounter it while I lived in Miami, but then again, I never owned a house while I lived there. [The maintenance workers at my apartment complex were by far the most professional and hardworking employees at the complex, with the management being downright evil - the maintenance guys by contrast were fairly new immigrants and didn't speak much other than Spanish, and were afraid to speak up about their bosses. They were really nice and stayed late to do extra things for me as soon as I asked for any help, but eventually they told me how bad their employers were, and I was certainly not surprised as apartment management in Miami is notoriously corrupt.]

[Madruga]

Keys Disease came from hispanic or cuban culture combined with the decadent alcohol mentality that is so relevant in the Keys today. Back in the day, up to about 1985, there was much less KD.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by Madruga

Keys Disease came from hispanic or cuban culture combined with the decadent alcohol mentality that is so relevant in the Keys today. Back in the day, up to about 1985, there was much less KD.

That is not remotely true. Please go vent your racism somewhere else. People have been coming to these islands to live out their version of paradise where one doesn't have to do anything for well over 100 years. Flagler's railroad was built specifically so the white Euro-wealthy could come here and do nothing. Long before, pirates came here to laze the days away, and only occasionally get up to steal from ships when they hit the reef which did the work for them. There is a long history of hard workers here, but there is also a long history of people who have no plan and come here to watch the water and wait for money to fall in their laps. Additionally, making a connection to Cuban culture as increasing around 1985 shows how ignorant you are of Key history. Cubans have been a strong part of Keys cultural fabric since there was a Cuba, and in the 1800s to early 1900s were a driving force behind the major industries here - including cigar rolling, pineapple farming, and wealthy tourism. In fact, they were so hard-working that they outdid the Keys in all 3 industries and ultimately most wealthy chose to continue on to visit there rather than stay in Key West, which was around that time the wealthiest town per capita in the US. Havana was more cosmopolitan, offered better clothing for sale and better quality everything for the money. So Cuban culture is no stranger to hard work - we in the Keys learned much of our industry from them, as well as sponging from Bahamians and Greeks.

Keys Disease stems from the type of people the Keys have always been advertised to attract... people who want to escape the pressures of reality and live in a fantasy world where they have no responsibilities. Quite honestly, although Keys Disease is an equal opportunity disease and can show up in anyone, it is found most often in white men originally from the mainland, aged 25-60.

Also very funny that you refer to alcohol as having been a post-1985 problem. The Keys were a major site of rum runners during Prohibition, 60 years earlier. The Keys have been a place where people drank and partied excessively since the days of the pirates 200 years before that.

[Madruga]

It is true, but you refuse to admit the short comings the Keys ***MOD CUT***.

[KEYS99]

I just got a vacation house in Key Largo and had a totally different experience. 100% satisfaction with all contractors, A/C, landscape, general contractor, boat lift, etc. I was actually surprised that they were much more efficient compared to Miami. Maybe you have the wrong vendors.

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by KEYS99

I just got a vacation house in Key Largo and had a totally different experience. 100% satisfaction with all contractors, A/C, landscape, general contractor, boat lift, etc. I was actually surprised that they were much more efficient compared to Miami. Maybe you have the wrong vendors.

Please list the companies!
Could help many people out.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

Please list the companies!
Could help many people out.

Exactly, post all of them and give them some business! I ask everyone I know here before doing any work, and have gotten every recommendation from people I trust who have lived here for decades, had work done recently, and know basically everybody there is to know. If there is a review online about people in the Keys, usually it is not positive for these very typical reasons.

Sure, posting their info is going to make them super-busy and hard to get. But they deserve it if what you're saying is really true for all their hard work, and you should also write them a positive review on Yelp or a similar online review site.

I must say though, it sounds too good to be true, because how it is that everyone I know has the same problem, including realtors and people who are powerful respected community members who do work all the time, but you just got down here and you had multiple experiences that were nothing but positive? What's your secret, flying people in? Now if they're all on-property at Ocean Reef, that is a different story, but if you are just hiring random people that are not all part of your complex and they all turned out great, that is unheard of here and you definitely need to back that up with names and numbers.

I certainly am not the one who made up the term "Keys Disease," it was coined a very long time before I got here, and is in regular use because it is considered a frequent issue here. I was taught about it from others, and in my experience they were absolutely right, it dominates nearly every form of commerce here. So if you managed to work around it, you will have to give details as to who has not fallen prey yet!

If you avoided permits and had the work done illegally by friends for a discount, though, that does not count. The rest of us have to follow the law and get LICENSED and insured people who hire legal documented workers, wait for permits to clear, and for schedules to free up without someone doing us a favor.

[Madruga]

The Fleas (Keys) are over-rated IMO. Just south of the last exit entering it's a two laner. Imagine a Cat 5? No middle class and growing gap between rich and poor. Tons of homeless bums and degenerates down there. Dad lived in Islamorada in the 80s-90s. Today he says "you could not pay me enuff money to live there again!".