In a message dated 11/7/1999 6:05:46 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<snip-snip-snip>
"Would you believe," he said, "that by the time I could drive over to where
the engine was, that some S.O.B. had stole my lumber?!!!"
Bill Dunbar
Normal, Ill. Maybe the only normal guy on the list...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill and group:
I got a good chuckle out of your story and it reminds me of one. Many years
ago I used to work with a guy on the NS who "claimed" to be a good Christian
but all too often had "sticky" fingers, too! One day he decided to
"liberate" a brand new automatic battery charger (and some other misc. items)
from our material car for his personal use at home. When I saw him take it,
I made a comment that he could be "fired" for that. Also, I was a Local
Chairman at the time and really didn't want to be a witness to this theft.
Since he was always "preaching" at me, I decided it was my turn to "preach"
back at him about "stealing," but he evidently didn't want to hear what the
Good Book has to say about that and outright ignored me. I sternly told him
that if he were caught, there wasn't much the union could do for him, so if
you want to take the chance of losing your job over a battery charger, "then
be my guest, but don't call on me to represent you because I can't and won't
do it!"
As we arrived at the motel that evening, and as soon as the boss was safely
out of sight, he rushed over to his car and pulled it up along side the
truck. As he was placing the battery charger into his trunk, his pocket New
Testament (which he always carried in his front shirt pocket) fell out and
landed square on that stolen battery charger! I just happened to be walking
by to witness this and I just couldn't contain myself from making a comment
along the lines of, "Well, imagine that, Ralph! Your New Testament has
fallen right smack dab in the middle of that "hot" battery charger -- You
think GOD is trying to tell you something?" Well, folks, in an instant he
turned three different shades of red, quickly snatched up his New Testament
and stuffed it back into the pocket hence it came, jumped in his car and
drove off at a quicker than normal pace. I suppose I should have turned him
in, but I just couldn't stoop low enough to "rat" on him.
Other items (such as tools and a portable gas generator) also began to
mysteriously disappear while he was assigned to our gang, too. "Ralph" was
definitely a likely suspect because he lived nearby and there was never a
sign of forced entry. It was no real surprise when after he finally bid off
to another position, the "thieving" suddenly stopped. Hmmmm....
Jim Sinclair
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