Thread: Elbow grease

The left-handed stuff stuff has to be mixed with water on the knee!

Once when I was a wee Wolf Cub off on a weekend camp-out (for the Canusa games I believe) we were told to stay with the senior Boy Scouts to watch how they started and handled the camp fire. It wasn't long before the ringleader sent us small fries away demanding that we not return until we found a "Left Handed Smoke Shifter" because he needed it and insisted that we go for it immediately. I, being a precocious if diminutive child, knew we were being abused and promptly went directly to our Akayla asking for the 'necessary' device. Needless to say, it didn't turn out too well for the senior Scout.

X

When I was a mechanic we used to send the new apprentices out to the auto parts store for a "long wait" for a distributor. Needless to say the salesman would let them stand there for half an hour then tell them that they now had a long wait and to go back to work

They could never find the left handed spanner or the sky hook either

Sounds like snipe hunting to me!

Originally Posted by Aussie

When I was a mechanic we used to send the new apprentices out to the auto parts store for a "long wait" for a distributor. Needless to say the salesman would let them stand there for half an hour then tell them that they now had a long wait and to go back to work

They could never find the left handed spanner or the sky hook either

In 1980 I was working in an oil refinery, and just a "college kid" summer hire. I was went to get a "left handed" sky hook. Needless to say, I reported the guys and went on to a summer of work that was rewarding, not wasteful.

RT

If it was just a summer job, then it wouldn't really matter what you did. Unless you do piecework or commission, you are paid the same whatever you do. A boss who liked to give me menial tasks whenever she was pissed at me inadvertently taught me that lesson. Pushing the broom around the warehouse, I realized that it didn't matter whether I was negotiating with our customs brokerage firm, replacing toilet paper rolls, drafting SOPs, training the staff, sweeping the floor or reorganizing internal communications. I was still getting paid $11 per hour. If my work suffered because of her peevishness, well I was only following my superior's direct orders and I always had that explanation ready when the director of operations would come in and ask why we were not sending a truck to the US that day. "I am sorry _____, but ______ ordered me to sweep the floors so I could not prepare the invoices or the customs declarations on time." (in a sweet and reasonable tone)

When someone learning the dutch language comes over here we send them out for a besneden brood instead of a GEsneden brood....




(Circumsized bread instead of sliced bread)

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

(Circumsized bread instead of sliced bread)

sounds the same to me

Nenad

Gary, Let me know if you run out...I have a extra box in the shop!

Originally Posted by garythepenman

You forgot to mention left handed and right handed elbow grease..

Gary

now if I could only find the sparks for my grinder..

My first "paying" job (I grew up on a farm) was at a grocery store. After
a few weeks sweeping, getting rid of boxes, bagging, etc. they decided
I ready for stocking the shelves. When I asked what to do with the cans
that wouldn't go in the shelf when it was full, I was sent to one of the
other stockers for the "shelf stretcher". He looked around, and sent me
to someone else as he didn't have it.

This went on with three other guys, and I was sent to the store manager
to see if it might be in the office. He even searched around for it before
telling me that it had broken the week before and got thrown out.

Then he sent me to the hardware store for another...Same story there....
they looked and looked through various shelves and bins before going to
the office and declaring that they had 4 on order but they kept getting
back-ordered.....SO.....they sent me to another hardware store. Same
story there, and they told me to let the manager know there were
several on order, and to send me back the next week to pick it up!

Man....everybody had a good laugh on that for about two weeks because
every week the damn things were back-ordered!

What can I say...I was just a good 'ol country boy....I did convince
one of the guys there that the brakes on his car would work better
if he put brake fluid in the tire treads every week! I guess everybody
figured I was dumb as a post so I couldn't be pulling their leg, and
besides, I knew how to work on farm equipment and all....He must
have used about 4 gallons before he figured that one out.