Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,761
There was a fellow putting a thread on a forum, seeking advice for a dilema he'd run into. The story the fellow told went like this:
He'd gotten into the hobby of detecting, and figured he'd start off at the local park. However, reading forums, he figured that it was his duty to ask permission [perhaps interpretting the code of ethics to say that} So the fellow goes into city hall in his city, and approaches the front desk.
He asks the clerk there "Is it ok to metal detect in the parks?" The clerk looks at him in a confused manner, and doesn't know the answer. But since it involves "parks", she sends him down to another office down the hall, that houses the park's dept. So he approaches that desk next.
He asks that clerk: "Is it ok to metal detect in the parks?" She too is baffled by his question. She has to ask him to repeat. Then ask what he means and what it involves. So the man gleefully explains how his detector beeps over metals, and finds trinkets, coins, etc... and is just a fun innocent hobby. So the clerk looks to-&-fro over her literature, scans the parks rules book/sheet, and eventually says to the man: "I don't see why not"
With that the man happily replies: "great! And I'll be sure to cover all my holes". (guess he thought he was a real winner with that line, eh?). But the minute the lady heard the word "holes", she stopped the man. She says "hold on, let me go check something".
She excused herself from the front counter. The man could see her go back down the hallways behind the counter, poking her head in various other superiors office doorways, apparently confering with other senior staff. She returns to the front desk, and tells the man "sorry sir, but we're going to have to tell you no".
The man was bummed, and rather curious what had just happened to turn his "yes" to a "no". So he asked the gal "why?". The lady then handed him a pamphlet from the local underground utility co, titled: "Call before you dig". And the picture on the cover of this leaflet showed a back-hoe. The man immediately realized that this rule about calling an 800# before you dig was for sewers, gas lines, etc... And meant for heavy equipment digging, NOT metal detectorists.
So he handed the pamphlet back to the lady chuckling, and correcting her, and saying: "but that's talking about heavy equipment for deep excavations. I'm only going to be digging 6 inches deep, not 6 foot!".
The lady takes the pamphlet back from the man and flips through it. She hands it back to the man again and says: " but sir, it doesn't say *how* deep, it just says call before you dig, so we're still going to have to tell you no".
The poor guy left with the pamphlet, more confused now, than when he'd arrived.
True Story!
He'd gotten into the hobby of detecting, and figured he'd start off at the local park. However, reading forums, he figured that it was his duty to ask permission [perhaps interpretting the code of ethics to say that} So the fellow goes into city hall in his city, and approaches the front desk.
He asks the clerk there "Is it ok to metal detect in the parks?" The clerk looks at him in a confused manner, and doesn't know the answer. But since it involves "parks", she sends him down to another office down the hall, that houses the park's dept. So he approaches that desk next.
He asks that clerk: "Is it ok to metal detect in the parks?" She too is baffled by his question. She has to ask him to repeat. Then ask what he means and what it involves. So the man gleefully explains how his detector beeps over metals, and finds trinkets, coins, etc... and is just a fun innocent hobby. So the clerk looks to-&-fro over her literature, scans the parks rules book/sheet, and eventually says to the man: "I don't see why not"
With that the man happily replies: "great! And I'll be sure to cover all my holes". (guess he thought he was a real winner with that line, eh?). But the minute the lady heard the word "holes", she stopped the man. She says "hold on, let me go check something".
She excused herself from the front counter. The man could see her go back down the hallways behind the counter, poking her head in various other superiors office doorways, apparently confering with other senior staff. She returns to the front desk, and tells the man "sorry sir, but we're going to have to tell you no".
The man was bummed, and rather curious what had just happened to turn his "yes" to a "no". So he asked the gal "why?". The lady then handed him a pamphlet from the local underground utility co, titled: "Call before you dig". And the picture on the cover of this leaflet showed a back-hoe. The man immediately realized that this rule about calling an 800# before you dig was for sewers, gas lines, etc... And meant for heavy equipment digging, NOT metal detectorists.
So he handed the pamphlet back to the lady chuckling, and correcting her, and saying: "but that's talking about heavy equipment for deep excavations. I'm only going to be digging 6 inches deep, not 6 foot!".
The lady takes the pamphlet back from the man and flips through it. She hands it back to the man again and says: " but sir, it doesn't say *how* deep, it just says call before you dig, so we're still going to have to tell you no".
The poor guy left with the pamphlet, more confused now, than when he'd arrived.
True Story!
Another "shouldn't ask for permission" thread to go with the other 50.
these 4 sentences put in a paragraph just made my day Thanks.
