ReSSurrected
Shooter
Just read about how my Sunday went. Even if your day is worse, maybe you'll chuckle a little.
Normally, I work every weekend, and on Sundays I work open to close (14 hours) and give the rest of my managers that day off. Last week as I wrote the next week's schedule, I decided I was taking Sunday off. I had scheduled a staff meeting for that morning, but that was going to take maybe an hour, so I didn't mind going in for that. Ahhhh.... a weekend day off..... probably been at least 8 months since the last time I did that.
So I go in for my meeting which lasts about an hour. Not too much whining and complaining, so it was a good meeting. I get done, and decide to head over to Menard's and just wander around for a bit and see if I could find anything I couldn't live without.
Like any self-respecting man does, I found myself at the gas grills. Man have these things come a LONG way. There were grills there with digital readouts for each burner temp, small refrigerators built in, stereos, etc., with price tags all the way up to $900. Holy Crap. I'm a single guy and live alone, so I really don't have a need for a grill that will take a breathing head of cattle and process it into burgers and steaks right before my eyes as I listen to my favorite Metallica CD, all the while keeping the brewski's at the perfect temperature, but hey, it's fun to window shop.
So as I'm looking around, I spot a decent grill for $169. Good size, side burner, porcelain grates, temp. gauge, electronic ignition, 3 stainless burners. Not a bad deal, and I currently have no grill at all. I go over and look for one in the box, but don't see one. I find this young kid working the outdoor section, and ask if he knows if there are any of that model in stock. To my surprise, the level of customer service I received was fantastic. The guy said that no, there were none in stock and that the display I looked at was the last one. I said I'd be interested in the display, and he proceeded to thoroughly check it out and make sure it was in sellable condition. He found a couple small issues with it, such as the ignitor wasn't hooked up, and took care of it.
I wheeled my new gas grill to the front of the store, and he appeared at the register and advised the cashier to give $10 off. Cool. Ten bucks isn't gonna make or break me, but it was a nice gesture.
I get it wheeled out to the back of my truck, and just about the time I'm about to heft it up onto the tailgate bear-hug style, I hear from behind me:
"Excuse me sir, would you like some help with that?"
Some random guy walking into Menard's offers to help me pick the grill up and set it in the back of my truck. Guy helps me, and after thanking him, he continues into Menard's.
It is at this point I think to myself, seriously, "Holy crap. There's actually hope for mankind." [If you had any clue as to the number of complete idiots I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, you'd understand how big a deal it is for me to see a glimmer of hope.] I just walked into a chain home-improvement store, got great service, and some random dude went out of his way to give me a hand.
So I swing by Kroger and pick up some nice fresh burgers and a couple steaks. I'm stoked, gonna have lunch and dinner on my new gas grill. I get out of Kroger, jump in the truck, and head home.
I'm heading down 37, and as I get to the golf cart place, something in my rear view mirror catches my eye, and a thought ran through my mind like a lightning bolt.....
......grill.....flying......WTF!!!!!
That's right dear readers, there I am tooling down the highway, and my new gas grill is doing a damn fine Mary Poppins impersonation, sans umbrella.
Until it ran out of air speed, that is.
Lucky for me, it was raining, so upon impact, the grill skidded as opposed to crashing and tumbling like some kind of circus act.
I get pulled off to the shoulder, and start collecting the various parts that are now strewn along the highway. At the moment, I was perturbed enough to not really care about the condition of the grill, but was more concerned with getting it off the road. I contemplated calling the NTSB, but since it was an unmanned drone and there were no casualties, I decided to conduct the post-crash investigation on my own. Preliminary findings are that a stainless steel front panel caused chafing and subsequent failure of the heavy-duty, but not aircraft quality, Menard's twine that the vessel had been secured with.
I got it home and looked it over, and realized that it really wasn't that bad. The handle brackets were toast, but that was the only real damage. The lid has some road rash, but I say that just gives it character. Some people have bikes that have gone down at road speed. I have a grill. Top that.
After about 30 minutes of generally straightening and tweaking a few things here and there, I was cooking up some burgers on my road rash grill.
At the conclusion, I'm not pissed off about it at all. I was very, very lucky there was no one behind me when it happened. Could have turned out much worse, not for me, but for someone else.
If you haul stuff, make sure you've got it well secured, and then take a step back and make sure it's REALLY well secured. You may not get as lucky as I did.
Scott
Normally, I work every weekend, and on Sundays I work open to close (14 hours) and give the rest of my managers that day off. Last week as I wrote the next week's schedule, I decided I was taking Sunday off. I had scheduled a staff meeting for that morning, but that was going to take maybe an hour, so I didn't mind going in for that. Ahhhh.... a weekend day off..... probably been at least 8 months since the last time I did that.
So I go in for my meeting which lasts about an hour. Not too much whining and complaining, so it was a good meeting. I get done, and decide to head over to Menard's and just wander around for a bit and see if I could find anything I couldn't live without.
Like any self-respecting man does, I found myself at the gas grills. Man have these things come a LONG way. There were grills there with digital readouts for each burner temp, small refrigerators built in, stereos, etc., with price tags all the way up to $900. Holy Crap. I'm a single guy and live alone, so I really don't have a need for a grill that will take a breathing head of cattle and process it into burgers and steaks right before my eyes as I listen to my favorite Metallica CD, all the while keeping the brewski's at the perfect temperature, but hey, it's fun to window shop.
So as I'm looking around, I spot a decent grill for $169. Good size, side burner, porcelain grates, temp. gauge, electronic ignition, 3 stainless burners. Not a bad deal, and I currently have no grill at all. I go over and look for one in the box, but don't see one. I find this young kid working the outdoor section, and ask if he knows if there are any of that model in stock. To my surprise, the level of customer service I received was fantastic. The guy said that no, there were none in stock and that the display I looked at was the last one. I said I'd be interested in the display, and he proceeded to thoroughly check it out and make sure it was in sellable condition. He found a couple small issues with it, such as the ignitor wasn't hooked up, and took care of it.
I wheeled my new gas grill to the front of the store, and he appeared at the register and advised the cashier to give $10 off. Cool. Ten bucks isn't gonna make or break me, but it was a nice gesture.
I get it wheeled out to the back of my truck, and just about the time I'm about to heft it up onto the tailgate bear-hug style, I hear from behind me:
"Excuse me sir, would you like some help with that?"
Some random guy walking into Menard's offers to help me pick the grill up and set it in the back of my truck. Guy helps me, and after thanking him, he continues into Menard's.
It is at this point I think to myself, seriously, "Holy crap. There's actually hope for mankind." [If you had any clue as to the number of complete idiots I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, you'd understand how big a deal it is for me to see a glimmer of hope.] I just walked into a chain home-improvement store, got great service, and some random dude went out of his way to give me a hand.
So I swing by Kroger and pick up some nice fresh burgers and a couple steaks. I'm stoked, gonna have lunch and dinner on my new gas grill. I get out of Kroger, jump in the truck, and head home.
I'm heading down 37, and as I get to the golf cart place, something in my rear view mirror catches my eye, and a thought ran through my mind like a lightning bolt.....
......grill.....flying......WTF!!!!!
That's right dear readers, there I am tooling down the highway, and my new gas grill is doing a damn fine Mary Poppins impersonation, sans umbrella.
Until it ran out of air speed, that is.
Lucky for me, it was raining, so upon impact, the grill skidded as opposed to crashing and tumbling like some kind of circus act.
I get pulled off to the shoulder, and start collecting the various parts that are now strewn along the highway. At the moment, I was perturbed enough to not really care about the condition of the grill, but was more concerned with getting it off the road. I contemplated calling the NTSB, but since it was an unmanned drone and there were no casualties, I decided to conduct the post-crash investigation on my own. Preliminary findings are that a stainless steel front panel caused chafing and subsequent failure of the heavy-duty, but not aircraft quality, Menard's twine that the vessel had been secured with.
I got it home and looked it over, and realized that it really wasn't that bad. The handle brackets were toast, but that was the only real damage. The lid has some road rash, but I say that just gives it character. Some people have bikes that have gone down at road speed. I have a grill. Top that.
After about 30 minutes of generally straightening and tweaking a few things here and there, I was cooking up some burgers on my road rash grill.
At the conclusion, I'm not pissed off about it at all. I was very, very lucky there was no one behind me when it happened. Could have turned out much worse, not for me, but for someone else.
If you haul stuff, make sure you've got it well secured, and then take a step back and make sure it's REALLY well secured. You may not get as lucky as I did.
Scott
to 451 and bazooka 
