The Gas Men

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured I'd better run too!"

-- huff (notworried@home.com), November 17, 1999

Answers

See Citibank

See Citibank run

Run, Citibank, run!

-- _ (_@_._), November 17, 1999.

funny

-- thomas saul (thomas.saul@yale.edu), November 17, 1999.

Well, If I couldn't get a good view of their facial expression, I would at least step out side and look around a bit, being ready to run if needed :)

Not a "doomer", but an "investigative preparer" . :)

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

After 1/1/00 you might be hearing some cases of nervous women shooting men running down alleys because they think they are after their stockpile. Especially, god forbid, they are dirty from a hard day's work. From reading a bunch of posts from people here, I'd bet money on it actually.

That will be the upcoming typical Doomer mentality.

-- Jared (yep@it's going. to happen), November 17, 1999.

Jared..

What you said is true for some people I fear, however I own a shotgun but I don't plan to pull it out unless someone is actually trying to break into my home. Even then they will be given ample opportunity to change their minds, and leave in peace.

"Come to my door and ask, I will do what I can for you. Come to my door and demand, prepare to bleed."

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

Er, yes, I think this probably IS the doomer mentality, but I'm not a doomer and *I* think this alegorical woman was acting sensibly. Recognise a danger sign, act on it, and THEN worry about whether you've made a fool of yourself. I'm really not sure why you posted this.

Here's a similar example from first hand experience. When I go into work, I take off my shoes and remove my keys and cards from my pockets, for comfort. When the fire alarm goes off in my building, I first have to put my shoes on, and grab my keys and cards (I know, this isn't good prep, but bear with me). The thing that amazes me is that even after I've done this, with a shrieking siren going off, I'm usually still among the FIRST people to make a move for the door. Most of my co-workers are still sitting, dazed, open mouthed, waiting for someone else to make a move.

These are smart people. I can't (personally) understand why they have such difficulty in shifting their brains from "ho hum" to "Act NOW" mode, but they DO. They won't move until the HERD does, and that scares me for so many reasons.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 18, 1999.

Two men were walking through the woods when a bear spotted them and starts chasing them with a snarl. Immediately,one of the hikers pulls out a pair of running shoes and starts putting them on.The other hiker,seeing this yells;"you fool,that won't help you outrun the bear!" "I don't have to outrun the bear",replied the man with the shoes,"I have to outrun you."

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), November 18, 1999.