If It’s Broken, Throw it in the Trash
Well, if you were a fisherman in the 90’s, you know that there were so many types of electronic gadgets such as depth gauges, graphs, flashers, fish finders and water temperature gauges. That’s where I come into the picture, electronic repairman, electronic gadgets, hey ole buddy; can you fix this for me? I never would say no and gave it a shot.
Speaking of temperature gauges, that’s where it all began. In May of 1996, my buddy Bob had an old water temperature gauge that was not working. If I just had known then what I know now, I would have bought him a new one. “Of course I will try to repair it”, I told him. He said, “If you can’t fix it, no big deal, just throw it in the trash.”
In the steel mill everyone tries to help out one another, especially on company time. This was not an uncommon practice and management did not seem to mind as long as company work got completed. Management who fished also had electronic gadgets.
Well, I gave it my best shot on Bob’s temperature gauge. It was about the size of a small alarm clock. It had a LCD screen similar to the ones on a hand held calculator, a twenty feet long cord with a probe on the end that dips into the water. I tried to repair this one with no success. The LCD screen was broken and would not display any information. The gauge probably cost twenty to thirty dollars. I had to break the bad news, “Bob, I can’t fix it”. “That’s ok pal, throw it in the trash”. I left the broken temperature gauge on the workbench and proceeded to do some other company work.
On the Sunday before Labor Day 1996 I was scheduled to work. The mill was running and my work was caught up so I decided to clean my workshop. I had been working on some electrical connections the week before and had to use a small amount of duct seal on a junction box that was getting wet. Duct seal is putty like compound electricians use to seal up wiring to keep out water and moisture and is a light gray color. It looks and feels like Play-Dough. On the workbench there were all kinds of scrap wires, left over duct seal, a broken Christmas ornament (flashing LED and battery) and Bobs broken temperature gauge.
I thought I would give Bob his broken temperature gauge back instead of throwing it in the trash. It had been in the office for months. Well, along with the temperature gauge I stuck the remaining duct seal, put a fresh battery in the Christmas ornament and it started blinking, I poked the ornament and some small wires into the duct seal too. I’ll stick it on Bob’s locker and he will get a kick about it and he will probably throw it in the trash.
Our shift ended at 2:30 PM and I was ready to go home. To assist my job I frequently used remote video cameras and time lapse video recorders to record events on equipment and machinery to aid in troubleshooting and repair. Well, I thought it would be funny to see Bob’s face when he sees his broken temperature gauge. I might get out of the mill before him and not see his reaction. I decided to aim and focus one of the cameras on Bob’s locker where I stuck his temperature gauge and record his action when he sees it then I could play the tape back the next day when we return to work. Just as I had thought, Bob was running late and I was ready to go home. Good thing I positioned the camera and started recording so I could see his reaction.
The employees at our steel mill frequently had to work on holidays such as Labor Day 1996. Working on a holiday entitled us to double time and one-half pay. This means for 8 hours work we earn 20 hours pay. Our shift began at 6:30 AM and on that Monday, Labor Day, I came to work as usual but as I approached the gate where employees enter the steel mill I notices one of our security guards standing at the inside of the gate. This was unusual but I didn’t think much of it. I proceeded through the gate and said good morning to the guard and walked toward my work area. From the parking lot to my work area I have to walk about 1,500 feet. Passing several coworkers that worked the night shift they were saying, “Someone tried to blow up the mill last night.” This didn’t register at first but all of a sudden I got a sick feeling in my stomach. What happened to Bob’s temperature gauge? Could this be what they are talking about?
As I got closer to my work area I could see some things were out of place where I had placed on Bob’s locker the temperature gauge, Christmas ornament (flashing LED and battery), small wires and gray duct seal. The gauge was not on Bob’s locker. Did Bob throw it in the trash? Did someone remove it and put it somewhere else? Where did it go? My thought was this has to be a joke on me this time. Someone had seen me place the temperature gauge on Bob’s locker and now they are playing a joke on me. I thought back just five minutes before about saying good morning to the guard. Oh great! This is not a joke.
I proceeded to my office to look at the video tape to review what had happened. As I opened the office door I noticed that the video monitor was already turned on. I had turned it off the day before. As I approached the time lapse video recorder I noticed the tape indicator was not on. Someone had been in the office and they took the video tape.
“This time I’ve really done it.” I said to myself. “Nobody saw me put this on Bob’s locker; I would not even be a suspect.” I thought. I went to the break room and talk was already going on. The Bomb Squad blew up a fake bomb last night. “What do you mean the Bomb Squad blew up a fake bomb last night?” I asked. This is the story I was told. “Someone left one of the train gates unsecured last night and security thinks someone might have come in and placed the bomb in the middle of the floor.” I was thinking to myself, “The middle of the floor, I put that on Bob’s locker.” A worker about 9:00 PM last night spotted a bomb in the middle of floor. It had a blinking red light and was about to blow up according to the timer on it. Several of the men saw it and were convinced it was a bomb made out of C4. Then they called security to come and look at it. Security said it was a bomb and proceeded to call local authorities and evacuate the mill. The local authorities investigated the situation and said it was indeed a bomb. “Evacuate the mill! Oh great!” I was thinking.
The mill was evacuated that night about 9:30 PM. This was an hour before shift change. The local authorities now were taking over the situation. “A bomb made of C4, in the middle of the floor.” The Bomb Squad arrives and they decide it is a real bomb and it must be detonated. The Bomb Squad is part of the local Sheriff’s department. Because it was a Labor Day holiday weekend the ATF was not called by local authorities. Thank goodness.
In the mean time all managers were called out that night, including the plant manager. The plant manager is very upset and tells the others “Whoever is responsible will be fired and prosecuted!” I didn’t know this until later on. The mill had been evacuated, Bomb Squad ready to detonate the C4 bomb. Nobody was allowed to leave the plant premises until their id had been confirmed. The oncoming shift workers were trying to enter but not allowed in.
About 10:30 PM the Bomb Squad rigged up a charge to remotely detonate the C4 bomb. Their charge exploded the temperature gauge, Christmas ornament (flashing LED and battery), small wires and gray duct seal. No secondary explosion, the bomb was determined to be a fake. They do their reports, pack up and leave. The local news channels were trying to get inside the plant with their live satellite link coverage to report what was happening but were persuaded by company officials not to report anything. About 12:30 AM everything was back to normal. At this point I knew nobody suspected I was the one responsible. I knew I had not been captured on the video tape because I didn’t start it until after I put it on Bob’s locker. Who has the video I started wondering?
It turned out that management had the video tape and local authorities were not told about it until later. I knew what the right thing to do was and that was to admit I placed the temperature gauge on Bob’s locker. Boy was this going to be fun. I went to my boss and explained that the temperature gauge I placed on Bob’s locker must have been mistaken for a bomb and I had no intention of causing such a ruckus. Then it clicked with him about why the video was pointed it the direction of Bob’s locker. I told him the whole story about the temperature gauge, Christmas ornament (flashing LED and battery), small wires and gray duct seal. He thanked me for telling him the truth and told me he would get back to me about it.
In a couple of hours my boss calls me to his office. Management had a meeting and the plant manager is very upset. I found out just how upset later on as mentioned earlier. Because of my good work record and many of the managers that knew the type of person that I was they all stepped in on my behalf to try to save my job. I knew I was in a heap of trouble. Evacuating the plant, security called, local authorities called, having the Bomb Squad called out to detonate a fake bomb, all of the local TV stations trying to get a look inside with breaking news. What more could have gone wrong? I didn’t understand how the temperature gauge ended up in the middle of the floor.
Management reviewed the video tape. This tape would not play in a regular VCR only a time lapse VCR. The manager that took the tape took it home with him to play it his VCR but the video was too fast. After reviewing it in the proper VCR it shows the temperature gage on Bob’s locker at 2:30 PM. Bob saw it at the end of the shift that Sunday afternoon. He laughed at it and shut the locker door and went home. Why was it in the middle of the floor?
Upon further review of the tape, it clearly showed the temperature gauge fell off of Bob’s locker about 6:30 PM that Sunday evening. The duct seal turned loose from the locker door and struck the handle causing it to tumble about twenty feet across the floor. In the walkway in front of Bob’s locker lie the temperature gauge, Christmas ornament (flashing LED and battery), small wires and gray duct seal. This is what went wrong. This is how it ended up in the middle of the floor.
Well I claimed responsibility for what had happened and the plant manager was not happy. I was not completely fired but I was reprimanded for three weeks without pay. I thought this was bad but I knew it was justified. On my first day off of being reprimanded (temporarily fired) I went fishing. Upon returning home that evening I have a recording on my answering machine, it gets worse, the Sheriff’s department is also unhappy with me. An investigator from the Sheriff’s department wants to talk with me and he left his phone number for me to contact him. “Oh great, here we go again. Am I going to jail now?” I thought.
I had an ex-sister-in-law who was a police officer. Thank goodness we always got along. I called her and told her the situation and she burst out laughing. “I know I’m going to jail now.” I said to myself. She contacted the investigator at the Sheriff’s department and told him the situation. There seems to be some kind of code between law officers and thank goodness for that. She called me back and told me that he needs to complete the investigation for his report and for me to just tell him the truth. I contacted the investigator and went to the Sheriff’s office the next day. This was quite scary, I’ve never been in trouble with the law before, only have had two speeding tickets since I have been driving.
I met the investigating officer and he takes me to the “interrogation room”, which is a small room, it had a desk with a tape recorder on it, a couple of chairs, a bright light, a one way mirror and some type of sound proofing material on the wall that looked like an egg crate mattress pad. I’m thinking to myself, “If they don’t get my finger prints I’ll probably be ok”.
The investigator starts his interview with me and starts his tape recorder. I felt like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I explain how this was a big mistake and that I had no intention of anything like this happening. I told him the truth and I stuck to my story. He could see that what I was telling him was the truth and he told me of the consequences that could follow. I will not even mention them. He said he would file his report and that would be the end of the case. Was I ever relieved? Not only about not losing my job but not going to jail.
I spent the remainder of my time off working around the house and fishing. If there is one thing I learned about this experience is that you should “Always tell the truth and IF IT’S BROKEN, THROW it in the TRASH.”
