From RHUer

Way back in my college days (daze?) I was working at Builders Emporium, a hardware store chain in my area. It was the middle of spring and we were having a big weekend sale on everything.

Our lumber and garden departments had a lot of inventory outside the store, sort of ringing the building, including various types of cement. As the afternoon came on, a rare rain storm starting blowing into the area, and the store manager told me to get the forklift and bring the pallets of cement back into the store.

I hopped to it, but quickly realized that the lumber department main doorway - about the size of three garage doors - was blocked by the car of a customer. Customers often parked there when they needed to load something conveniently, but they were always nearby.

Well, there was nobody near this little Ford Pinto, which was parked with the doors locked. So I did a store-wide page asking whomever was parked there to please move. As I am waiting, the rain starts. Light at first but getting heavy. I covered the cement with a few tarps, but it still needed to get inside so we could then bring in other items we didn't want out in the rain.

I did another page and then said, "Screw it."

So I maneuvered the forklift gently under the Pinto, lifted it out of the way, and set it down in a nearby parking space. Well, wouldn't you know it? At that exact moment the owner of the car emerged and proceeded to the riot act.

I asked him why he had parked in a way that blocked our door? And also if he heard my pages?

He said he parked there because "I was only going to be a minute." And though he heard my pages, he thought it could wait.

Well, he filed a complaint but the company backed me up all the way. The guy took his car to a mechanic to have it checked for damage and the result: NONE.

So he couldn't even have the satisfaction of suing me for "his" troubles. HAHA!

--RHUer