We had the same gardener for 15 years or so, 3 days a week, 2 hours a day.
he never missed a day and did a decent job. He is now about 70 years old.
then about six months ago he came to us and said he was leaving to go to his son in California and didn’t know when he would return. “Maybe never” he said.
He brought a young guy over (no relative) introduced him and left.
we have not seen nor heard from him since.
the new guy charged more, worked less and on two occasions left the garden hose running overnight which caused considerable water damage in the interior walls when we discovered it. so I fired him last week.
yesterday my old gardener showed up at the door in the early morning. We were still in bed so I asked him to return next week.
do I owe him given that he abandoned us without notice??