I was going to share this in the Banned from a business thread, but I think it’s a bit of topic. 'Sides, I’ve only started 394 threads this week.
I used to work for a department store. I grew to hate the job with a heat of a thousand TGIFriday’s hot wings. But I needed the work, so I did not quit until I had another job lined up, and gave proper notice.
On what should have been my next-to-last day of work, I was scheduled to work from 12 to 9. I went to dinner around 5. When I was heading back to work, I found that I could not bear to go step into that horrid place again–not even to pick up the book and other belongings I had left there. I turned around and went home. By company rules, this meant that I could never be rehired; I knew this at the time, but decided my rule against burning bridges was going to have to be overruled in favor of me not going on a killing spree until a police sniper settled things.
This was a Friday. On Saturday evening, a friend of mine who still worked there knocked on my apartment door, very irritated. You see, my co-workers knew why I hated the place so, sympathized, and had planned on throwing me a surprise party–complete with a big ole chocolate-chocolate cake and a little cash–on my last day. She brought the cake and my book over, but, understandably, everybody had demanded their money back. :smack: I’m still surprised she didn’t smash the cake in my face; I wouldn’t have blamed her.
One Saturday afternoon, we were at a couple’s house watching football. While fussing around in the kitchen, I opened a cupboard door to get a glass. The top hinge had previously fallen off and the door almost came off the bottom hinge. The wife started nagging her hubby and stuff like “I thought you fixed that” and “you said you did that weeks ago” were said. He blew it off because the boys were watching football. She then opened the silverware drawer and the front of the drawer came off. She said more stuff like “you said you fixed this too” and “you never follow through”.
Later, the missus and I went off on a run to the grocery store. I suggested that the run should take no more than 20 minutes for the run. Missus **strongly suggested **to her hubby that he should be able to fix it in that time. He said he would.
Very much later in the evening, I went back to get another glass. The door almost fell off the hinge again. He hadn’t fixed anything. Boy, was she peeved at him. Good time it was already past time for all of us friends to clear out.
The next day, her hubby was steamed at me because she didn’t want to play any reindeer games with him (ahem) after we left. And threatened not to until he fixed these things. When we arrived, he was grumbling around in the kitchen with tools and grumpy at me.
It’s not like I set him up or anything, but after his several previous marriages, you figure he would have learned to listen the little lady. Or maybe since he hadn’t yet, that might be the reason he has previous marriages.
I was trying to get a friend to sign a petition. She was hesitant. I said “It’s just siging a petition. It’s not like we’re asking for your first born son.”
THEN I remember her first born son was the victim of a murder/suicide by his father.
To her credit, she turned around and walked out without saying a word and never mentioned the incident again.
Friends of mine rented an absolutely gorgeous apartment in eastern Hong Kong. They went for an extended vacation, and asked if I would keep an eye on the place. So I moved in temporarily. One day I came home from work, and some builders outside had banged the ceramic out-pipe of the toilet, and snapped it in half.
I only discovered this after I’d pooped in the toilet and flushed it, of course.
I cleared the mess up as best I could, then asked around in the lobby what the building management company’s number was. Then I called them and got pissed on my friends’ behalf, and told the company to come and fix the outpipe before the tenants got home. The company asked which apartment, and the tenants’ names, which I gave. I felt proud that I’d averted a crisis.
Imagine my surprise, when they got back, to find not only was their toilet fixed, but they’d received a notice of eviction a few days after my call. Turns out they had been illegally sub-letting, without their knowledge, and my phone call had tipped off the building owners.