[ale] OT: Out in left field or in the sewers of The Big Apple

[Thompson Freeman]

On 07/13/2009 04:56:00 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 4:19 PM, Jeff Lightner
> <jlightner at water.com> wrote:
> 
> > Its not holding others responsible for your
> responsibilities.   Its
> > holding them responsible for THEIR responsibilities if
> they didn't put
> > up safety barricades around the manhole.
> >
> > Talking about traffic and subway entrances is a red
> herring.   We aren't
> > talking about normal hazards - we're talking about a
> hole where normally
> > there is a cover.  There is a reason why you'll see new
> traffic signals
> > flashing for a week to a month before they're turned on
> - its to get
> > people used to the fact that there is a change in
> environment.
> >
> 
> Maybe it's just me but it really feels like people are
> missing the punchline
> on this topic. People have fallen down stairs and into
> open manholes before.
> The important factor is this person fell into an open
> sewer hole while
> texting! This is totally hilarious!
> 
> Do municipal employees screw up and get the safety first
> _then_ open cover
> order wrong?  All the time. As is usually the case,
> accidents like this are
> first "set up" by a screw up then "activated" by a second
> screw up. There
> are two failures here but only the second one is worth any
> discussion.
> 
> Has anyone ever actually _seen_ the content of a typical
> teenage girl's text
> messages? If so, the idea of a texting teenager falling
> into a pipe full of
> poo is better than Marx Brothers, Monty Python and
> (original) Pink Panther
> all rolled into one! That she fell into a pipeline of poo
> while spewing a
> pipeline of poo is _so_ poetic.
> 
> I am, as a parent, very, very happy she didn't hit her
> face on the far side
> of the rim during the fall or break anything but her
> pride. But I would be
> one of those parents howling in laughter if my daughter
> had done the same
> thing. I've seen my daughter walk into the door frame
> entering her room
> while texting. I laughed so hard I cried. Especially since
> she had just been
> admonished for being "distant and distracted" because of
> the constant chat
> clients and text messaging (a claim vehemently denied by
> said youngster).
> 
> Kerbam-splat! Dad dies laughing. Kid quits walking and
> texting at the same
> time.


Jim.

Yes, I did rather lose the puchline. Like yourself, and as  
a parent, I'm glad that the physical consequences were not  
much more serious. Like yourself, I've laughed over my  
children getting full of themselves, setting themselves up  
for a pratfall moments later.

I guess where I lost it here is that the mommy is all set  
to get revenge on somebody, anybody, because her little  
snowflake couldn't possible in a million years contribute  
to her own load of grief.

YMMV, probably does, and I may be mature enough now to not  
rise further to bait on this subject. maybe...