Talk about making yer self feel stupid!
Last week I was at a truck stop just out side Toronto Ont,filling up my rig.This really nice Peterbuilt comes in besdie me and begins to fuel up as well.
WE both go in to pay for our deisel and come back out to our trucks but I notice that his has liquid falling out from under it.
I say shut er' down quick and lets take a look.(Being a former mechanic,I could pritty much tell it was rad fluid and there's only so many spots it can come from,so the repair shouldn't have been too hard.)
He pop's the hood,and see's what I see,,,a busted Rad hose right by the clamp comming out ot the top of the rad.Looking at me he says,,,with a bit of a southern drawl we Canadians pick right up on ...."Y'all know of a shop that can send out a service truck to get me fix'ed up"?
I looked at it and said,,"Hang on a sec,,I think I can jerry rig it up to get you to the Pete dealer just down 3 exits".
Making a long story short,I cut the hose compleatly,took out a bit of slack,pulled a new hose clamp out of my "TRUSTY" tool box which several of my friends claim has ONE of EVERYTHING known to mankind in it...tighten it up,help him top off the rad fluid and close the hood.
Feeling good about just helping somone is usually all the thanks I ever ask for...too many people in life have their hands stuck out,,,or just dont bother to help folks anymore.
..He says ..."What do I owe ya"?..I replied,,,"Buy me a coffe somtime and we'll call it square...You dont owe me a thing pal...welcom to Canada and have a great trip".
He askes me for my ph number and stuff..(I just gave him a busnes card)..and says if I ever get to TN,,look him up,and by the way 1 of his bosses will probably call to personally thank me,,"cuz it's just the way they are" he says.
I though nothing of it at all....UNTILL!!!!
About 2 hrs later i'm sitting in my truck nuking lunch (I have a microwave in my bunk) when my cell rings.....
Now I cant rmrmber looking at the lettering on the side of the guy's truck,,but I'm sure it didnt say what I now think it said!!!!
The call went somthing like this....(and the caller had a suthern drawl as well)
Ahhh,,it this Mr Over-Head?
Yeah,thats me,,,who's this?
This is the owner of the truck you just helped out,and I wanted to ask you a few questions...
(First I think,,Oh boy,,he's mad,adn now i'm in for it...)
Go ahead I say,,,what did ya want to know?
Well,,,he says what exactly did you do so I know what to tell teh Pete shop to look for?
I say,,"I shortned up the rad hose,clamped it,stuffed er' full a juice and told him to gouge on it to the next exit".
bit of a silence came over th3e phone,,,,
Ahhh Mr Over-Head...what exactly does that mean?
Ok,,now i'm lost,,he owns trucks and dont know what I just said?????
Befor I could answer,he than says.."You see I dont know much about our trucks,,its not really the end of the company i'm in."
OH GREAT!
I'm dealing with a bean counter I think...
"I'm in the musical end." he says..But then again you probably figured that out"
I replied..."How would I know that?...and by the way who the fu#k is this any way?"
"Oh excuse me he says...This is Kixx Brooks, (YES PEOPLE!!! FROM THE COUNTRY GROUP BROOKS AND DUNN!!!)I thought you knew who owned the truck,didnt my driver tell you?"
Now i'm getting anoyed...
"All right Billy quit fu#king around will ya?".....
Billy is my best friend in the whole world,(even though he hates football) and is ALWAYS pulling gag's like this on me.
The line goes really quiet and then the voice says...
"I don't know who Billy is,,but are you the fella that fixed up our equipment truck"?
I think for a quick second,,,and it hits me,,,Billy hasnt called me yet today,,how would he know I helped a fella fix his truck??
"OH DEAR GOD " I shreak in the phone...:"I'm sorry....I thought it was my friend playing a gag as he knows I really like your music and couldnt get tickets to your show in Ottawa on the 13th cus they were sold out"....
Now feeling compleatly stupid and not knowing what to say,,,I begin to appoligise profusly over and over...
...he says..."Not to worry,,,we really wanted to thank you fro your kindness and to let you know there's going to be 2 back stage passes for you at all 4 of our Canadian Shows next month,,just kind of our way to say thanks for the free help"!
I hung up the phone thinking wow,,,it aint every day you get to talk to a star,,,then got to thinking,ahh hell it was probably just some manager or somthing. That was until today.You see I just got back home from a raod trip about 3 hrs ago,,,and when I opened my mail I say a BIG letter from the Brooks and Dunn offices...In it were letters for the back stage passes,and autographed pictures for me...done in real ink,,not just some printed litograph style.
Now thats a story i'll always remember!!!!!