The Hall of the Bizarre

Aug. 10, 2010
Odd and funny doings at the shop
Managing any type of vehicle maintenance operation is a demanding and challenging task. There are all kinds of daily pressures and problems that need to be dealt with, and the unexpected always seem to occur at the most inopportune times.   There are also those shop incidents that stand out because they are odd, strange or funny.   By way of example, I recall a maintenance manager telling me about the time he sent one of his newer technicians out to the lot to bring a long-haul road tractor into the shop.   In short order, the technician ran back into the shop visibly shaken. He told the manager that there was a couple in the tractor’s sleeper, and they weren’t sleeping.   Seems the driver assigned to the tractor figured it would be a good rendezvous spot for him and his married girlfriend since the tractor would be redlined for a while.   I also heard about a group of mischievous technicians who decided to play a trick on their boss who always worked late. After learning that he didn’t believe in ghosts, they jimmy-rigged his office door with fishing line to be able to open and close it while remaining out of sight.   While the boss worked away in his office late one evening, the technicians, from their hiding place, pulled his office door shut with a bang. Startled, the boss jumped out of his seat, quickly pulled open the door and looked around to see who had come in. “Who’s that?,” he yelled.   When no one answered, he walked around the shop to see who had come in. He soon saw that he was the only one there, and there were no open windows or doors from which a breeze might have blown the door shut.   The boss returned to his desk and had just sat down when the door closed again by itself. The boss repeated his attempt to find some one in the building.   When he didn’t find any one, he returned to his office, packed up and quickly left.  The next day at lunch, the boss mentioned what had happened to him.   Trying not to laugh, one of the technicians involved in the prank, said: “That is very strange. The only explanation I can think of is that it must have been a ghost.”   No one ever told the boss of the prank. (I hope he doesn’t read this blog.)   Have an odd, strange or funny shop incident that you’d like to share? I’d enjoy knowing about them and sharing them with the industry.   Please post a comment to this blog. Or, if you prefer, e-mail them to me directly at: [email protected].  

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