Ecmweb 6623 606ecmscfig1
Ecmweb 6623 606ecmscfig1
Ecmweb 6623 606ecmscfig1
Ecmweb 6623 606ecmscfig1
Ecmweb 6623 606ecmscfig1

Short Circuits

June 1, 2006
Everyone makes mistakes. Some are just funnier than others.

Ram Tough

Several years ago our company was wiring a supermarket. One of the pieces of equipment to be connected was a cardboard baler. The electrician assigned to work on it asked me if I thought it was okay if he fastened the conduit to it. Not paying particular attention, I told him it would be fine. Unfortunately, when the machine was powered up for a test run I soon realized a big problem. He had attached the conduit to the movable ram. Needless to say, this was a very short test run.
Duane Fait
Black River Falls, Wis.




Driving Tech Crazy

Our company uses a customer contact software package to print driving instructions for work orders. One morning, after following the driving directions exactly as noted, a tech realized that neither the address, nor the street, existed in this location (outside of the city on the southeast side of town). He called and spoke with the customer call rep that had scheduled the appointment with the customer and explained his dilemma. She gladly searched for driving directions using an alternative method (Internet search) and verbally gave him new directions, which took him outside the city limits on the north side of town, but much farther West than where our shop is located. Once again, the tech realized that no such address or street existed in this area. He then decided that it might be best to just call the customer and ask where they were located. He wasn't too pleased when he learned the customer's home was located in a new subdivision just a few miles from our office.
Brenda Krause
Valparaiso, Ind.

Illustrations by Clint Metcalf

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