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  • Randy's Bad Luck Continues.....

    Randy's a nice guy, so it's not fair that as of late, every single asshole customer we've had to deal with has come after him with aggression usually only seen when you're unfortunate enough to end up on the same soccer pitch as Luis Suarez.

    Already this weekend, he's had to deal with an idiot student arguing that since he recently had his car fixed by our service department to the tune of $500 worth of repairs, we owe him some kind of discount on his tow for illegal parking. And no sooner had that been resolved than Angry Mom (tm) called in to harangue Randy for towing her little angelkins for no reason at all (see: Illegal Parking) and, to make matters worse, the call got dropped by our craptastic Tower's cellphone so that he also got his OTHER ear chewed off about "how dare we hang up" on people...

    Needless to say, Randy wasn't having a good day, so when a regular service tow call came in, he figured things were about to get better.

    It was a call from the State Police. A Trooper up on the interstate has a driver in need of a tow for a breakdown.

    Location, MM79 Eastbound

    So, up the interstate Randy goes, about 25 miles up when you count the mileage required to just get out of our town and onto the highway.

    He gets to MM 79 and.... .nothing. Not on his side or the west side.

    Well, maybe that's the last one they passed, and he just has to round up?

    MM 80 flies past.... nothing.

    Now Randy's starting to get that sinking feeling in his gut, and a nervous twitch in one eye.

    MM 81... nope MM 82.... nope MM 83......... nope

    Just when he's about to give up, and starts looking for a cross-over to get out of here and go home, Randy stumbles upon them.

    At MM 85

    Five miles past where they said they were.... at least.

    How the Trooper got this wrong, I have no idea, it's HIS beat, and there are MILE MARKERS every, well, you won't believe this, MILE. In some cases, they have them every HALF-MILE too! I've seen them in TENTHS-OF-MILES when you get close to an exit in places.... in this day an age of GPS equipped cars, GPS equipped phones and even GPS equipped shopping carts.... how you can screw this up is really a testament to the human spirit, and not in a good way.

    Furthermore, think of all the extra computers your average cop car has these days, plus good ol' fashioned radio. Why there's more telemetric data available within arm's reach of your average cop as they sit in the driver's seat than was on hand for all of the multi-man Mission Control that got us to the moon, and yet, terrestrial navigation is still tried and failed with alarming regularity by supposed proffessionals.

    I digress, he found them so we cool now, right?

    PSAW!

    The fun is just starting.

    As Randy walks up to the breakdown itself the Trooper looks past him, at our tow truck, and head-scratchingly asks. "How you gonna get six people in there?"







    Yep, he neglected to tell us this car, is actually a VAN. A van that had a FAMILY OF SIX in it.

    At this point, Randy is rapidly clicking his heels together, hoping this is all a dream, a very bad dream, and he'd like to be done with it and go back to Kansas now. No such luck, this is all very very real.

    "Well, I don't suppose you can tow it with them in it? Your employer probably wouldn't like that" says the Trooper.

    Yeah, too true buddy, too true.

    Know who else wouldn't like that? YOUR employer! As in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! Specifically, those that wrote title 75 of Purdon's Consolodated Statues, aka: The Vehicles code.

    Towing a vehicle, with people in it, is ILLEGAL!

    And even if the Keystone State hadn't felt the need to outlaw it, the Feds say that's a no-no too, 'specially not on THEIR highways. And see that unique serial number after the letters "DOT" on our truck's bed? That means Uncle Sam, as most crusty old geezer's are wont to do, is watching us with an Eagle-eye (C whut I did thar?) HOPING we'll screw up so he can kvetch at us no-good youngsters some more and punish us with a little grounding and taking about four or five figures worth of our allowance away.

    So, that plan of yours to stuff an entire family clan into the cab of a truck that only seats two comfortably, but three if you don't mind the middlemost passenger experiencing profound discomfort? That' ain't a gonna happen Super Trooper. It's a Ford F-450, not a clown car (*Insert predictable you-mean-Argabarga-isn't-a-clown?-LOL! joke here*)

    You probably should have SAID something during your call to us and then we could have either directed you to a towing service that has a bigger truck, called a cab, or in an absolute last-ditch effort, towed a loaner car from the service department out with us, had the excess family members follow us in that, and then just add the "rental" cost of said car to the bill.

    But, you just seemed to assume we'd psychically know that was the situation, and since you did that, you're out of luck. We're not going to exceed the safe or legal passenger limit on our truck by a modest 230% We won't be doing that now, not ever, and not even at gunpoint, assuming you have any ammunition on you. If your discretion shown this morning so far is any indication, I get the feeling your fellow Troopers probably only allow you one bullet, and it's in your breast pocket right now (Just try and load it, and I'll bet you'll also find it's a .45 round. No, it's not a mistake they issued that to you along with a 9mm sidearm :P)

    Now the Trooper sounds positively dejected, he was hoping to fob off this problem on Randy, seems like. And now he, the civil servant, cannot abandon said society for the warm and inviting comfort of a nearby donut shop, as it would be very very negligent of him indeed to leave these folks on the side of the road where the Peterbuilt of natural selection (Sorry Wolfie, stole your line, but only because it's a GOOD one) prowl for anything that dares step over the lines.

    The family had originally wanted to go to "National Chain Garage" which is about 20 miles down the road, and out of Trooper's patrol area. Thinking quickly trying to salvage the situation, Randy tells him that just one exit up is "Local Garage B" which, though not a national chain, is open weekends and they can at least make arrangements there for more tows/cabs if they can't get it fixed. Since that's IN the Trooper's area, he should be able to take 4 in his cruiser, letting Randy take the extra 2 in his truck and EVERYONE gets to get off the highway an live! WIN WIN!

    Family says that's a great idea

    Trooper says that's a great idea

    Hours later... and Randy's STILL so peeved about the whole thing that he seems to be going through his cigarettes with even more gusto than usual....
    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

  • #2
    Hmmmm... Wonder if the trooper's dash cam has audio of him suggesting that Randy break the law... (assuming he has a dash cam, that is...)
    "If your day is filled with firefighting, you need to start taking the matches away from the toddlers…” - HM

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    • #3
      It's absolutely aggravating when people give wrong information or leave out important information and then try to blame you because things aren't going as they should. That trooper really should have known better than that. I know the guy's a cop, but I sure hope Randy was able to verbally knock a clue or two into his head.
      I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
      My LiveJournal
      A page we can all agree with!

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      • #4
        Quoth XCashier View Post
        I know the guy's a cop, but I sure hope Randy was able to verbally knock a clue or two into his head.
        If not Randy, the trooper's supervisorThis guy suggested dangerous and illegal activity.
        I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

        Who is John Galt?
        -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

        Comment


        • #5
          I wish I could buy Randy a beer for all the trouble he got hit with.

          Comment


          • #6
            DEJA VU!

            Similar story about people thinking that you can put more passengers in a tow truck then seatbelts.

            I had an official on a road call me and ask if it's legal to put 3 people + driver in a cab meant for only 3. I told him it's one person per belt.

            He then tells me, "Is it legal for a person to be in the car?"

            My response word for word

            "In the car? ..the car strapped to the bed of the tow truck now several more feet in the air then regular car specs suggest? LEFT IN THE CAR?"

            Official, "Yes..?"

            "No that is not legal, you'd better call the police"

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth taxguykarl View Post
              If not Randy, the trooper's supervisorThis guy suggested dangerous and illegal activity.
              The cop would have just said he was kidding and Randy couldn't take a joke.
              They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Argabarga View Post
                Know who else wouldn't like that? YOUR employer! As in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! Specifically, those that wrote title 75 of Purdon's Consolodated Statues, aka: The Vehicles code.

                Towing a vehicle, with people in it, is ILLEGAL!

                And even if the Keystone State hadn't felt the need to outlaw it, the Feds say that's a no-no too, 'specially not on THEIR highways. And see that unique serial number after the letters "DOT" on our truck's bed? That means Uncle Sam, as most crusty old geezer's are wont to do, is watching us with an Eagle-eye (C whut I did thar?) HOPING we'll screw up so he can kvetch at us no-good youngsters some more and punish us with a little grounding and taking about four or five figures worth of our allowance away.
                Just a suggestion that you might want to pass on to your boss(es): I would imagine the situation pops up frequently enough that you might want to have the drivers keep a copy of that particular law in the truck. That way when the request comes up and is turned down, they have proof of just how illegal it is.
                I AM the evil bastard!
                A+ Certified IT Technician

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth lordlundar View Post
                  you might want to have the drivers keep a copy of that particular law in the truck. That way when the request comes up and is turned down, they have proof of just how illegal it is.
                  We do keep copies of the DOT book in the glovebox

                  And, it doesn't help:

                  "But, nobody will know!"
                  "I won't tell!"
                  "I have KIDS in the car!"
                  "I have PETS in the car!"
                  "So you're REFUSING to help me?"
                  "But this is an EMERGENCY!"
                  "This is BULLS*IT!"

                  etc. etc. etc. etc.

                  Thinking your average SC cares about the law, even when shown it? You're, new, to this whole customer service thing, aren't you?
                  - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                    The cop would have just said he was kidding and Randy couldn't take a joke.
                    Oh yes, that old standby. The millennia-old excuse brought out whenever someone is called on their bullshit: "I was just kidding!" I would hope the police supervisor is more savvy than to accept that. Because whether he was "kidding", negligent or just plain stupid, he should have known you can't tow a vehicle with people in it and brought a van or called a taxi service for them.
                    I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
                    My LiveJournal
                    A page we can all agree with!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Funny thing is where I am from it would be legal to do just that!

                      Our driving law specifies that when you have a learners permit you cannot have more occupants than seatbelts but make no such condition once you have your full license.

                      In fact I remember as a kid having to sit on my cousins lap when they were in town so all 8 of us could take one car down to the local zoo. And yes I do mean car, not a station wagon or anything.
                      If it makes sense, it's not allowed™. -- BeckySunshine

                      I've heard of breaking wind but not breaking and entering wind. --- Sheldonrs

                      My gaming blog:Ghosts from the Black

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Randy's a nice guy, so it's not fair that as of late, every single asshole customer we've had to deal with has come after him with aggression usually only seen when you're unfortunate enough to end up on the same soccer pitch as Luis Suarez.
                        Did he by any chance tow an illegal parked Gypsy wagon owned by a little old lady somewhere between 80 and 800 years old?
                        "First time I ever seen a chainsaw go down anybody's britches,"

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Dark Psion View Post
                          Did he by any chance tow an illegal parked Gypsy wagon owned by a little old lady somewhere between 80 and 800 years old?
                          I'm hearing Michael Constantine say, in a raspy voice, "Rude customerrrrrrs...."

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Dark Psion View Post
                            Did he by any chance tow an illegal parked Gypsy wagon owned by a little old lady somewhere between 80 and 800 years old?
                            Could've been worse. It might've been Large Marge's semi he needed to tow.
                            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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                            • #15
                              I prefer the creepy peasants in my stories to use the phrase "They were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarnned.........." if they insist on raspy-voiced mumbling.


                              And, just to be safe, I resolutely refuse to EVER tow any 58' Plymouths
                              Last edited by Argabarga; 07-05-2014, 05:01 AM.
                              - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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