Cat On A Hot Tin Roof....And Real Life Drama!

....well, not exactly a 'hot' roof, because it was early morning on a damp, cool day. But, the cat was clearly hanging on for dear life, with its claws firmly embedded into the sun roof seam, as the car traveled at a good rate of speed.  Talk about one scared looking cat!!!

It was quite the scene.  I did a double take....and hoped the cat would survive the drive and be reunited with its rightful owner (hopefully the driver) when the car finally arrived at its destination.  I sure hope he didn't have to break in a hurry!  YIKES!!!

That was witnessed early on Thursday morning last!  And it was just one of four unbelievable things to happen to me within 30 minutes after leaving our home.

But back to the beginning! The First Event!

Our son in law had asked if I could drive to a major mechanical distributor - a 15 minute drive from our home - to pick up a special mechanical piece he had ordered.  "Of course", said I.  Trevor emailed the purchase order that I printed.

From our photo archives...

By 7:15 Thursday morning, I drove to this large multinational supplier, parked and walked in.  Yeah, thought I, I'm the only customer here.  Service will be quick.  What's not to like about that!

I was the only client to approach the order desk.  Two fellas (late 20's - early 30's) were busy talking about nothing when I approached the desk and presented my purchase order. I politely said 'good morning' only to be met with a snarly attitude...kind of like..." why are you bothering us?"  Hmmm, I thought, they are not having a good day.  Maybe the boss just reamed them out or they did not get the pay raise they asked for or they really hate their job.  I concluded they really hated their customer service jobs.I think they hated life, ....certainly theirs!

Mr. Snarly      &        Mr. Angry Rhino

I explained that although the purchase order had been written up at their sister distributor in another nearby city, the piece I was there to collect was only available at this warehouse.  The one snarly guy (Mr. Snarly) stated they only had one in stock.....not two!  I tried to keep my cool when I explained that I was only there to get one piece....not two....that was clearly written on the order form!  So, Mr. Snarly huffed as he took off to the back of the warehouse while the other snarly (whom I call Mr. Angry Rhino) was moaning about some other thing and chose to ignore the telephone when it rang.  Wow!, I thought.....something is going on here.....and it ain't pretty!

Well, within a few minutes, Mr. Snarly returned with the equipment I was there to pick up, slams it on the counter, completely ignores me as he prepares an invoice and barks about how I had planned to pay for this.  I had the Visa card in my hand all along and when he finally noticed it, he bluntly stated that I had to pay at the window.  There is no signage to direct one to a window to make a payment!  OK, what window?  As though I had to know this, (never having set foot in this place before) the company had moved their Visa/Master Card machine to the other side of a small residential style window where a young lady sat at a desk, calmly filing her nails. No word of a lie!!!!  She did not expect me to show up at the window!

What do you want?  I'm busy filing my nails!!!!

I am at the ready to present my Visa card, and the young lady showed no enthusiasm to leave her chair to receive the payment. I could not believe the culture - or lack thereof - in this place of business. She never acknowledged me.  She took the payment and off I went.  She did not say thanks...or have a nice day...or get lost....or drop dead....or anything.  Maybe she was deaf and dumb....well, ...she was certainly dumb!

I wished her, Mr Snarly and Mr. Angry Rhino, a sarcastic "really good day!"  I left....disgusted and hell bent on writing the company to relate my experience....or lack of a good one!

 You're Fired!

These three individuals need to be fired.  They need to learn a valuable lesson....and sooner rather than later.  There are many young people looking for work - so we are told - and I would be recruiting, and be heavily involved in training too, were I the manager of this operation.  Perhaps the manager needs to be the first to be fired!!!!

The Second Bad Experience:

With that experience over and done with, I drove out of their parking area and back onto the street.  Not five (5) seconds later, an angry man is running towards my truck - screaming and yelling his face off - with a 'one finger salute' - telling me to 'F' off!  YIKES!!!  My window is closed but I can read lips just as well as most folks.  I also understand hand signals....especially the 'one finger salute'.

Mr 'One Finger Salute'

What the heck is going on?  I haven't done anything to deserve this, thought I....  He is yelling his face off telling me to back up and get the heck out and to go the other way.  OK, I quickly noticed that, just ahead, a red jeep had had a run in with a lime green Kia automobile.  The jeep was driven by a male and the Kia by a young woman. She seemed to be in severe distress - emotional, not physical.  No one appeared to be physically hurt.  There were a few people there to assist.  No need for me to intervene.

Mr. 'One Finger Salute' - the self appointed traffic cop who chose to guide traffic away from the accident scene - was hyper energized  (something I have not witnessed in years).  It almost seemed as though he was on some type of bad drug!

With my window now open, I calmly ( I know, hard to believe I would stay calm) suggested I would turn right, into a parking area nearby and make my way to the street, while avoiding the scene.  Well.....wrong thing to say!  'One Finger Salute', who reeked of alcohol (recall that it is now about 7:30 am) and who displays all the physical attributes of a long time alcoholic, yelled that it was his 'G_ d  D_ mn_d' parking lot and to turn around and get the 'F' out.  WOW!  

Now that got my blood boiling and I was quick to think about getting out of my truck and giving this guy a serious butt kicking licking.  Although he was about my age, the guy was in poor physical condition and I knew I would quickly settle the score - unhurt and victorious!

OK....it's time to kick some serious butt!!

Well, not sure why, I was able to keep my cool, put my truck in reverse, back up and leave the scene in the hands of Mr. 'One Finger Salute'!  I could not believe what had just happened!

Wow, thought I, what is with today(Thursday)!  Was there a full moon overnight that brought out all the kooks?  Are there some really bad ions in the air around here?  Is there something here that is having a serious effect on people's mental abilities?  Have these people been exposed to something I should be worried about?  Oh....so many thoughts!

One thing was clear!  Get out of here, ASAP

The Third Event:

So, there I was, one minute later, stopped for a red light, and thinking about what I just experienced.  When the light turned green and I started to edge forward.      YIKES! In my peripheral vision, I see a large transport truck that will blow through his red light....and he did just that! 

Holy crap!@&*+#@$%  I really need to get out of this area before something truly catastrophic happens.

The horns started blowing....irate drivers displayed the 'one finger salute'...and it seemed as though chaos had just been averted. WOW..GET ME OUT OF HERE!

So... I cautiously drove back home - parked my truck - enjoyed a solid cup of coffee and recalled the previous 30 minutes of unbelievable experiences.

I am willing to bet that most - if not all of you - have experienced situations similar to this or that, at the very least, led you to wish you would have safely stayed under the covers in your own bed.  I sure did.  SHEESH!!!!!  Maybe it was the Cat on the roof of the car that caused all the problems!  Who's to know for sure? 

Thanks for stopping by.