Early Phone Call!

[jkwilson]

Phone rang about 10 after 6 this morning. I panicked just bit when I saw who was calling since it was a family member whose sister has some serious health issues. Quickly got my first laugh of the day though when he said "You were the only one I knew I could call this early. I know you farmers wake up at 3am!"

This guy retired from a career as a long-haul trucker effective March 31st. He and his wife are on a long road trip with their TT (not a GD product) to catch a significant birthday for an elderly relative and take a retirement vacation. Being a trucker, his route scheduling involves rolling out early and burning up the miles. This is being accelerated by weather issues which has them trying to get in the southern US before some bad weather this weekend so they aren't late for the birthday

To truly appreciate the situation, you have to understand that he wants to hit the road 10 minutes after waking up, while his wife wants a second cup of coffee before she gets dressed.

Getting back to the call, he told me when he went to put the slide in this morning, it "ate" one of his wife's "!@#$%^& fru-fru pillows". The motor quit and the slide was stuck half-way in and wouldn't move. Me being the compassionate guy I am, I asked him if it damaged the pillow and asked if he was calling to find out where he could get a replacement. Though I never served in the military, I thought I was pretty well versed in salty language, but I was educated by this old sailor this morning!

Turns out he had neglected to pack the owner's manual for the rig because he could get it online, only there was no online because he had bad cell service. He didn't know where the fuse for the slide motor was or how to operate the slide manually.

After a little more ridicule from me and salty responses from him, I found the information online and got him talked through the process and the pillow was saved!

Seriously, he is a good guy and I was happy to be able to help them through their minor crisis. We expect to see them in May as they swing back north on their trip, and I figure he'll bring me a decorative pillow as a gift. Good reminder, at least to me, to figure that kind of stuff out at home and not count on being able to figure it out on the road someplace.

[TNFSolitude]

great story to get a lesson out there.

[Jerryr]

Could be worse.

My idiot Brother in Law decided to make a surprise and unexpected visit to us after traveling 1300 miles. At 2:30 in the morning there was scratching on my bedroom window. I rolled out of bed, grabbed my 9mm, got the baby out of the crib and put her and the wife in the master BR Closet, then called 911.

Peaked out the front window to see several police cars rolling up from all directions with their lights off. Then I see a guy come out from the backyard. It's my idiot Brother in Law.

He's lucky I didn't blow his head off. When I asked why he didn't call first he said he didn't want to wake up the baby.

That was 40 years ago and he's still an idiot.