Just need to vent...

Today's vent -
Careless company employees.
BANG ! !
Look out window and see a heavy duty work truck just smashed into neighbor's tree across the street.
Run outside to see if driver had heart attack Etc - to render help. No one's in it. It's locked.
911 called. Checked our cameras. Showed no one was in it driving.
Cops showed up.
Long story short - driver from over a dozen houses up the street forgot to set break.
Street is on a gentle slope.
The rest is history.
Good news is the tree was there otherwise it would have clipped off a fire hydrant.
Hope the business owner is well insured.
Hope the employee is shown mercy - but dang - we've had a few careless employees in our day & it brought back some serious flashbacks.





Perfect chance to lighten the mood - being the consummate wise Guy:

"You can't park here"

"Think that'll rub out?"

"That's no way to flush a radiator"

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Just west of downtown Pontiac, Michigan, on Orchard Lake Road, is a railroad overpass. I think there has been a reconstruction project since I worked in the area, to improve the clearance, but back in the 1980s and 1990s it was (Gemini tells me) 12 feet 6 inches.

There were large signs on Orchard Lake Road as you approached from either direction. There were also light beams and photocells on poles 12'6" high as you approached from either direction. If your vehicle broke the beam, bright red lights would flash and electric bells would clang in parabolic reflectors focused at your cab.

Also, all of the agencies in the greater metro area that rented trucks had a special clause in their rental contracts. If the truck wasn't under 12'6", you had to sign a special agreement that you weren't going to drive it on Orchard Lake Rd west of downtown.

The firm I worked for had a delivery that had to be made. One of the guys was assigned to go rent a truck and get the stuff and deliver it. He rented the truck. He signed the agreement. He loaded the truck. He drove on Orchard Lake Rd. The red lights flashed. The bells clanged. And he peeled the top off the truck.

 

10' bridge on storrow drive in Boston, it's a newbie ritual


another bridge

 

Similar IQ to the guy who buffed and polished my boat.

 

Can't find good skilled labor these days. It seems idiots who just landed in this country with no skill are marking up their prices thinking they're worth $250/h.

 

Having stayed at a KOA Campground in Miles City montana, there's a train UNDERPASS that has one of these ridiculously short clearance conditions. Would have knocked the 2 ACs off the 5th wheel, as well as the satellite dish, had driving not been in full focus - all the while keeping an eye on pedestrians, traffic, & directions.

 

Considering the downside, sometimes they are.

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