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Monday, March 2, 2009

HOM: WardGames

Tim left & I was asked to drive the truck full time. I said I'd be happy to, but only if I got a pay raise. I guess they were desperate because I got the raise, but I marked myself for failure by coercing them that way. I got on The List, and you know which one I mean. --- I bumped into a tree in Lakeside when I was backing out after a delivery. The owner called it in & complained. Strike One. --- I delivered a BIG load of appliances to a remote place up above Whitefish Lake. Going in, we were quite cautious because of some low hanging power lines, with Mark out watching the wires as I crawled the truck under them, but made it up with no problems. Coming out was different ... I hurried, since the truck was empty and I KNEW that there was no problem with the wires because we'd just come up the road. I forgot that taking the better part of a thousand pounds out of the truck would make a difference in its ride height. I guess it was the flash and the bang when I took out a set of the low hanging power wires that cleared up my mental fog . It took a second for me to realize what had happened, and when I did I made the executive decision to get the heck out of there. I was careful about low wires after that but didn't hit any more on the way down. I guess this was Ball One in my Ward's score -- we never mentioned the incident and I guess the management never noticed the scorch marks on the front of the truck box. --- I pulled up to a stop sign behind a car. The lady in the car pulled forward, I looked at oncoming traffic, decided I had time, and pulled out behind her. She decided the oncoming cars were too close and hit the brakes and I rear ended her. My first traffic ticket resulted. I guess this was a Foul Ball, or, since she chickened out, Fowl Ball. --- Mark & I did a duplicate of The Little Cowboy & The Dump Truck, but this time it was a crabby lady that Mark didn't like, standing on her porch. When the truck backfired she went straight up in the air and came down cussing, which pleased Mark. This was Ball Two as there were no repercussions. --- Ball Three. I delivered some stuff to a house on Willow Glen and they asked me to remove the old appliance. The owner was directing me when I backed up & didn't notice the low wire to the electric service panel. The truck caught it and pulled it down. Since I was doing a removal at the owner's request Wards ignored the incident. --- Mark transferred into the store & I got a new helper named Nels. We made a delivery in Whitefish, and Nels moved a boxed radial arm saw onto the tailgate when we wrestled out the stuff to be delivered. I sat in the cab and did paperwork while he closed the truck up afterwards. He left the saw on the tailgate and it fell off when we drove away. A passerby saw it and called it in to Wards. Strike Two for me, and Nels got fired. --- Thanksgiving came, and the day before I stopped by a house in town to deliver a recliner. No one was home so I left the standard "Sorry we missed you note" and finished up the day with the recliner still on board. I'd overlooked the note on the slip saying to just leave it on the porch if no one was home. Strike three! --- Friday, I went in to work and was told I no longer had a job, and they made it effective Wednesday night so I got no holiday pay. I went home and went back to bed, disgusted, aggravated, depressed and relieved, all at the same time. Lyn asked what happened and I told her I got fired, and that was the end of the discussion. Out! --- A couple of other Ward's memories: We delivered a truckload of new appliances to Lincoln Sears at Star Meadows. This was the start of my involvement with that area. Lincoln sold his ranch some years later to the Mico's, and I spent a lot of time there after that. Lincoln became a friend and even a book customer in later years. You will probably hear more of him as I bought a hay rake from him once, and he gave me some hunting tips about the Star Meadows area. He died recently and his son brought part of his library in to me. --- I was talking to a tall & willowy young lady up in the furniture department when she collapsed. I caught her and eased her into a handy chair, and in a minute or so she was okay. This swooning phenomenon has happened in front of me several times since, but unfortunately none of the young ladies were swooning over me, it was always some physical illness or problem. --- Last, and least. I lost the pair of wire cutters I used on the delivery truck and signed a new pair out of the hardware department. A few weeks later I found the missing pair under the seat in my Jeep. I still have them and use them, a souvenir -- or trophy -- of the only job I was ever fired from. TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)

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