but being dirty is so much more fun...
six months ago this dude brings in this ancient rusty BBQ and want us to do something to it... its been sitting in our metal pile since then. every now and then this dude calls and asks if its done yet. for six months hes been inquiring on its status and who ever answers the phone and talks to this guy writes down a message not addressed to anyone, asking about this fucking BBQ. no one knows exactly what he wants done and/or who to bill for it... we have even pulled it out of the bin every now and then, looked at it, scratched our heads and put it back.
this afternoon this old guy rolls up to my shop inquiring again about this BBQ.
"hey boy, so its not finished yet?" he says with notable irritation.
"what? whats not done yet?" i reply from under a welding mask.
"the BBQ for campground." he growls.
i stop what I'm doing and walk over to the metal bin, yank out this forty year old BBQ, and ask...
"why is this here again?"
"well, i talked with
someone here a while back about getting this fixed..."
"who?" i interrupted.
"um, someone here said they could..."
"who?" i interrupted again. "what did they say we would do?"
"listen here sunny, i brought this in so it could be repaired and spoke with
someone about it." he stammers.
at this point i am ignoring my guy who is standing around waiting for me to finish welding the brackets on the plate of steel so he can begin welding them into place inside the truck...
"no offence, but I'm really busy. what I'll do is get you a pad of paper and you can perhaps draw a diagram of what you want done to it, or write it down..."
i walk into the office and get him a fresh legal pad and a new pen. walk back out to the barn and give it to him.
"well i need a wire welded to it and some pipe extensions and any cra--"
"I'm sorry, if you could write a description of what you need done, then who ever it is you talked to about doing this can get it done---"
he interrupts me this time...
"hey kiddo, i need some wires welded here, " (he points to something on the tray) "and some pipe welded here---"
"yeah, like i said, I'm sorry but I'm really busy right now and my guy here is waiting for me to finish these brackets so he can do his job---"
fucker cuts me off again...
"HEY NOW BOY, WHAT I NEED IS SOME WIRES WELDED HERE--" he raises his voice like im fucking deaf or speak Spanish and don't understand what he is saying.
"here is the paper---"
"my handwriting isn't that good, that's why I'm telling you about---"
"you need to talk to who ever it is you left this with in the first place---"
"IT NEED SOME WIRES WELDED HERE AND A PIECE OF PIPE ADDED TO THE---"
"so please come back at eight in the morning tomorrow and see who it was that you left this with here and speak with them about what
EXACTLY IT IS YOU WANT THEM TO DO..."
"well if i could just tell you--"
"no, I'm not going to weld your BBQ. it will be
someone else, this
someone you spoke with will be more than happy to do it for you, but right now you've got a dime waiting on a penny and i need to get back to work."
"well I've got another one i need welded to a pipe and sunk in concrete, I'd like to do them both at the same time---"
I'll see you at eight in the morning sir and help you find your
someone and they will help you with all of that."
i turn, walk back to my welding table and start blasting away. i feel this man burning holes into my head and damning me to hell. he must have spent another five minutes there telling the back of my head what it is that he wants
someone to do for him. i hear his truck start and he drives off.
don't get me wrong, I'm down with old people. but I'm not your "sunny", your "boy", your "hey you" and I'm definitely not your "
someone"... so have a little more respect for the people who you asking to do you a favor next time cause i could have done all that welding in about four minutes...
