When a Mendocino, CA, man became upset about being awoken by logging trucks hitting their Jake Brakes as they drove past his home, he took a different approach to solving the problem.

Instead of appearing at the next city council meeting and demanding that the trucks be banned, the man – Bob LaMar – called the trucking companies and asked them very nicely to quiet down.

“I would call, always pleasant, and say, ‘It sounds like you have a new driver. I heard somebody grinding the Jake Brake,’” he told the Ft. Bragg Advocate-News.

The companies and their drivers responded in kind, and over time the usage of Jake Brakes in the area began to decrease.

Not content to let the story end there, LaMar decided he had to find a way to thank them for their response, according to the Advocate-News.

“Everybody complains,” he said. “I wanted to do something more, to reward them for being quiet.”

So LaMar put up a series of signs on the road that passes his house thanking the truckers and announcing that he would serve them free coffee and cookies Monday, Nov. 14.

From 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. that day, LaMar served about 50 friendly log truck drivers who stopped and thanked him, the Advocate-News reported.

“I got to meet these truckers face to face for the first time,” he said. “They are people with house payments, with families, who are trying to make a living here ... like the rest of us.”