45WinMag
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2009
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Yesterday, I was driving home from work and was making the turn into my neighborhood. To the right, there was a guy sitting with his legs in the street and a pile of junk beside him. There was a flash and I immediately reflexively looked away. This jackass was welding in the street in full view of anybody passing by. To make it worse, an elementary school was just around the bend less than 200 yards away and it was time for school to let out. Busses full of kids were going to be passing this asshole in just a few minutes.
I pulled over, called the police, and walked over to the teachers loading the busses to let them know about the welder. Police were there almost immediately and put a stop to the welding. I waved down one of the police officers and told him I was the guy who called. The officer told me the fire department had stopped this guy from welding in public before. The welder started to complain that his welding was perfectly safe and didn't pose a risk to bystanders' vision. I asked "if there's no risk, then why the fuck are you wearing a helmet?" One of the cops laughed.
About this time, the manager from the storage facility we were standing beside came out to see why there were cops on the property (the welder had plugged into the storage facility's electric outlet).
The storage manager was angry at the welder for stealing electricity, trespassing, and exposing the storage facility to potential liability for the welder's actions. The welder started with "I thought you'd have my back", implying that the manager should take his side due to shared ethnic background. The manager told him that if he wanted to weld, he should go to the public park between the storage facility and the school (which also partially serves as the school playground). At this point, I interjected "fuck no, you're not welding out in the open on a playground." One cop agreed and quietly said to me "my daughter goes to school there." I told him that my son does too.
I asked the police if there was any way to confiscate the welding equipment because he was using it to create a public hazard (I know there wasn't any way to permanently keep it from him, but I wanted to inconvenience the welder as much as possible). They said the best they could do was make him move along, so they made him pack his welding gear and pile of trash into his wagon and go somewhere else.
Entertaining afternoon.
I pulled over, called the police, and walked over to the teachers loading the busses to let them know about the welder. Police were there almost immediately and put a stop to the welding. I waved down one of the police officers and told him I was the guy who called. The officer told me the fire department had stopped this guy from welding in public before. The welder started to complain that his welding was perfectly safe and didn't pose a risk to bystanders' vision. I asked "if there's no risk, then why the fuck are you wearing a helmet?" One of the cops laughed.
About this time, the manager from the storage facility we were standing beside came out to see why there were cops on the property (the welder had plugged into the storage facility's electric outlet).
The storage manager was angry at the welder for stealing electricity, trespassing, and exposing the storage facility to potential liability for the welder's actions. The welder started with "I thought you'd have my back", implying that the manager should take his side due to shared ethnic background. The manager told him that if he wanted to weld, he should go to the public park between the storage facility and the school (which also partially serves as the school playground). At this point, I interjected "fuck no, you're not welding out in the open on a playground." One cop agreed and quietly said to me "my daughter goes to school there." I told him that my son does too.
I asked the police if there was any way to confiscate the welding equipment because he was using it to create a public hazard (I know there wasn't any way to permanently keep it from him, but I wanted to inconvenience the welder as much as possible). They said the best they could do was make him move along, so they made him pack his welding gear and pile of trash into his wagon and go somewhere else.
Entertaining afternoon.
