For some reason, I was thinking about practical jokes yesterday.I have both initiated and been the victim of a few in my time.
When I was a supervisor for the Ohio Department of Transportation, I drove around in a pick up and checked on the various crews throughout the day.
A buddy of mine, who was one of the mechanics, pulled a good one on me one day.
I started my truck up one morning, began to drive off, and every time I applied the brakes the frickin’ horn would go off.
The SOB had wired the horn to the brake lights…Clever!!
Another time, a few of the guys got together and filled the cab of my truck with Styrofoam peanuts.
Perhaps the best one, was towards the end of a 22 hour shift during a snowstorm, I fell asleep in the chair in my office…I mean, I was OUT.
When I woke up a half hour later, I found my self duct taped to the chair. Ha. Classic!!
I actually appreciated this stuff because it emphasized the fact that the other two supervisors were pricks, and the guys knew they could still joke around with me.
That’s one of the reasons I never had any problem getting my guys to do their jobs. I was actually nice!!
I have also perpetrated a few in my lifetime, but the following has to be my best work, and I believe it has been replicated by others…
Some years ago, when I still lived in my house, the next door neighbor was working on his car…An older Chevy Impala or something.
The guy who lived across the street was with me as we watched him install a “fuel saving” device on his car.
The owner of the car told us that he was going to get 10-25% more mpg by using this thing. We laughed and scoffed, and he said, “Just you wait and see.”
The next night, I went over and put two gallons of gas in his gas tank. The next morning he went to work.
Then the next night, I went over and put two more gallons in his gas tank. This went on for about a week and a half.
The guy across the street started helping me fill his tank every night during this time.
One day, while shootin’ the shit in my driveway with my accomplice, the car owner came over and said to us…
“Yeah, you guys laughed at me, but I not only got 25% better gas mileage, I went from getting 22 mpg to what I'm guessin' is damn near 60 mpg. I haven’t had to fill up in a over a week!!”
I said, “Well that’s because we have been putting gas in your tank for over a week.” Laughter, well for my accomplice and I, ensued.
The car guy said, “Well, son of a bitch.” and walked away.
Five minutes later he came back with a beer for himself and one for each of us, and said, “Goddamn you bastards; that was a good one.”
Ha…I do so love a good practical joke.
Due to the length of this post, I will be awarding the COW Award tomorrow.
Have a great Saturday all…
Cheers!!
