Verbatim
What’s the Funniest or Most Unbelievable Moment You’ve Experienced on the Job?
Propane peers recount the memory that still gets brought up at office holiday parties
Whitney Parsley is an associate at the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm Cetane Associates and specializes in M&A and corporate governance. Contact Parsley at wparsley@cetane.com. Visit cetane.com.
Every job has that one story. You know the one — it gets brought up at the holiday party, retold at the counter during a slow afternoon and somehow gets a little better every time someone tells it. This month, we asked propane pros to dig into the vault and share the moments that still make them laugh, shake their heads or wonder how they made it out in one piece.
These responders were brave enough to let us in on their most memorable, most ridiculous, most “you-can’t-make-this-up” workday tales — the kind that remind us that no two days on the job are ever quite the same.
In this column, adopted from the familiar “Heard on the Street” format, we offer our responders a chance to answer the question posed in the title. These are their replies, reported verbatim. Enjoy!
Tipping Point: A Promotion I’ll Never Live Down
My experience is both embarrassing and funny, depending on who you are. This goes back to my Agway days. So, I got this nice promotion into a regional support position. Our company president (initials MH) has a first meeting at corporate in the boardroom. Yep, long table, high-back leather chairs with nameplates with board members’ names engraved on them. You get the picture. So, MH is giving his presentation and I’m rocking back in my chair, and then I go past that point and now gravity takes over. I try to reach over to grab onto the person next to me and they lean away. All everyone sees is the bottom of the chair and my two feet sticking up. I yell, “Don’t worry, I’m fine!” MH does the old look over and does not miss a beat with his presentation and keeps going. No one could even laugh. No, I did not get fired. Embarrassed my new boss, but not even a write-up. Now, that’s how you make a first impression!
Tom Krupa | NGL Supply Terminals Co. | Richmond, Virginia
The Great Bob Ambush of Halloween Past
One of my favorite memories at work happened on Halloween. Every year, our office goes all in with a group costume theme, and a few years ago we decided to surprise the four Bobs who work here. Without telling them, the rest of us each dressed up as a different famous “Bob.” We ended up with nine different Bob characters roaming the office! The funniest part was that the real Bobs didn’t catch on right away. We spent the entire morning greeting each other as “Bob,” and it wasn’t until about midmorning that they finally realized what was happening. It was such a simple, silly prank, but it’s still one of those stories that comes up every Halloween and never fails to make us laugh.
Staci Rammel | Woodruff Energy | Bridgeton, New Jersey
Aerial Views & Near Misses: 2 Stories From the Family Business
Two of the most unbelievable moments in our company’s history are courtesy of my brother. When he first started working in the business, one of his first jobs was painting our storage tanks. At some point, he decided it would be funny to paint a four-letter word across the top of one of the tanks. He probably never imagined anyone would see it — until one day a police officer walked into the office carrying an aerial photograph of our facility. There it was, plain as day, for everyone flying overhead to see. Needless to say, that wasn’t the kind of attention we were looking for. The second incident was much more serious. While hooking up a bobtail to reload it, the hose suddenly blew off, sending propane spraying everywhere like a giant Water Wiggle. We immediately shut off the power from the office, everyone responded quickly and thankfully no one was hurt. Looking back, both stories have become part of our family business folklore. One still makes us laugh, the other reminds us how quickly things can go wrong and how important safety is. I’m pretty sure experiences like these aren’t standard in every family business — but they’ve certainly made ours memorable.
Julie Johnson | Ted Johnson Propane | Baldwin Park, California
1 Digit Off: A Marketing Intern’s Wake-Up Call
After my sophomore year in college, I was interning in the marketing department in the Twin Cities, and one of my biggest projects that summer was putting together a newsletter that would go out weekly to customers. One week, I accidentally typed in the wrong phone number and turns out the wrong number I put in the newsletter actually went to an adult phone line. A very, very kind customer called to give us a heads up, and I fixed it for the following week. I have aggressively checked every phone number I’ve ever put on anything since.
Steph Hennen | Lakes Gas Co. | Wyoming, Minnesota
Case of the Snowy Couch Selfie
One of the funniest moments I have experienced is when the police showed up at our office looking for a guy that ‘allegedly’ was trying to enter someone’s house. This ‘perpetrator’ had a shirt with our company logo on it, and that is why the officer came to our office. We quickly recognized the person in the picture as our sales manager. The homeowner had thought he was asking to come into their house and take a picture on their couch, so they told him to leave and then called the police on him. We were quite confused for a moment, wondering what he was up to. It turns out he was trying to take a picture on the couch they had at the end of the driveway that they were giving away and not the one in their house. He thought he was doing the right thing by asking for permission. This couch was coated with snow, and my sales manager thought it would be fun to send a selfie to his kids who live in Florida who are always sending him beach pictures. Unfortunately, the homeowner thought he was a crazy person that wanted to come in their house and sit on their couch, so they called the police. After some back-and-forth and an unfortunate post on the local Facebook page, everything eventually got straightened out. Moral of the story is, don’t wear a company logo when doing questionable activities.
Trevor Beaudry | Beaudry Oil & Propane | Elk River, Minnesota
Nobody Goes in the Basement (For Good Reason)
One day, I went to a sweet little old lady’s farmhouse to light her water heater. She told me nobody ever went into the basement. I should have taken that for a warning! I opened the basement door, and there was a raccoon standing on his hind legs about 2 feet away from me. He wasn’t scared. He just stared at me like I had shown up without an appointment. We looked at each other for a few seconds. Then, he turned around and walked down the stairs like he owned the place — which, as I was about to discover, he pretty much did. When I got downstairs, I found about 3 tons of fresh dirt piled against the old limestone foundation. Apparently, a groundhog had moved into one of the rooms and started a major excavation project. I never actually saw him. I assume he was the landlord. At that point, I figured the raccoon handled security, the groundhog was in charge of remodeling and I was just the propane guy. I finally found the water heater and got down on my hands and knees to light it. Just as I was reaching underneath, a skunk slowly came around the side of the heater to see what I was doing. Now, there are times in life when you realize you are no longer in control of the situation. Being on your hands and knees, holding a lit match, face-to-face with a skunk in a basement full of propane appliances is one of those times. The skunk looked at me. I looked at the skunk. Neither one of us made any sudden movements. I lit that water heater more carefully than any water heater has ever been lit in the history of propane. Then, I quietly gathered my tools, nodded respectfully to the building inspector and left. The little old lady got her hot water back, the raccoon kept his house, the groundhog continued his basement remodel and the skunk made sure I never returned. That was the first — and last — time I ever made a service call to that particular wildlife refuge!
Charlie Criswell | Criswell Propane Inc. | Grinnell, Iowa
CFO’s Office Gets a Fresh-Air Upgrade
The story that still gets brought up is the time CFO Kevin Sheehan’s entire office was moved out to the back patio. Yep, they took a fully functioning office and set it up outside. It was actually a pretty impressive setup, but Kevin definitely wasn’t as excited about his new workspace as everyone else was.
Abby Thurston | Rural Computer Consultants | Bird Island, Minnesota
A Storied Industry
Whether it’s a delivery gone sideways, a customer encounter for the books or a moment only another propane veteran could truly appreciate, this batch of stories was sure to hit the spot.
From boardroom tumbles to basement wildlife standoffs, this month’s responses proved that the propane industry never runs short on characters or stories worth retelling. Whether it’s a Halloween prank, a mistaken-identity couch selfie or a service call that turned into a three-ring showdown, these moments remind us that behind the daily grind, this is an industry full of people who know how to laugh at themselves.
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