First off, a whopping 6 blog entries all last month (although to be truthful, my last one could have been three). Definitely dipping below plan, but the good news is I am heading to Vegas next week. You know what that means…. enough blog fodder to last me the rest of the year 8^). This Labor Day weekend, we headed down to Springfield for an Agility Dog Show my dogs were competing in. It was actually being held at the State Fair Grounds along with a huge motorcycle race which was bringing in everyone with a Hog in a 50 mile radius that wasn’t already up in Wisconsin at the big Harley gathering up there. My parents showed up a little later in the day to watch the dogs run and ended up finding a spot where they were parking to go to the motorcycle race. Nothing to special there, just the standard honor system for row parking – space, car, car, space providing the ability for each vehicle to leave without being blocked in.
At some point in the day, I went back to my Dad’s vehicle to check if they had left their cell phone in the car. While I was looking in the car windows, a van pulls up and parks in the space between the double rows of cars (car, car, about 5 ft of space, newly parked car, about 5ft of space, car , car). My Dad was parked in the second spot in and wasn’t blocked in at the time since the new van parked behind the first car, but the driver was basically establishing a new row pattern which was surely to be duplicated the rest of the way down (assuming they could actually get turned 90 degrees in the tiny space. I was somewhat surprised that someone would actually do that so I decided it was appropriate to wait until the individual exited his vehicle so I could question him about this particular decision. Best case, I could point out the error of his ways, at worst case I would have new material for my blog. An older man gets out (I’ll go with mid 60’s) with a cigar in his mouth. I asked him if he was actually going to park there because it would lead to us being blocked in. He then asked us which car was our and we pointed out the second car in, but it would eventually happen if someone followed his lead…. what followed totally stunned me…
Completely out of the blue the individual replies with “You know, you’re right I am starting a new row and it could block you in. I’ll tell you what, since you’re wearing that shirt (looking towards my Father …. ) he then reaches over and pulls up his right sleeve to reveal a Caterpillar logo tattoo matching the logo on my Father’s shirt which I had given him as present) … I’ll move my vehicle for you.” Unbelievable, I was expecting some serious discord and as it turns out, this guy actually retired from Cat (where my brother and I work) and actually worked in the facility in Decatur where my older brother used to work – He even knew my brother. We exchanged names (his name was Mike), shook hands and pleasantly departed. Sometimes things work out better than expected and fortunately this is one of those times. Saved by a tattoo.. now that is definitely a first for me since most of the ink I see these days leans to the aggressive side. What is the most satisfying is someone liked working for my company so well, they had it permanently displayed on their body. Just one more example of the strong commitment to the Caterpillar Family.
Life Intrigued 