Dr-Fix-It! Notebook Archive:
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By the time John returned to the back dock, Bert had unloaded the John Deere and was moving it into position on the little painted lawn. John made a slashing motion to signal Bert to shut it down. Bert complied and pushed back in his chair, "Whaddya know fer sure?" John put his foot on the tractor's step plate, "Don't you have a contract or a work order or something?" I imagine we will end up cutting the check for this work and accounting will never process it without a contract or a purchase order." Bert moved the cigar to the other side of his mouth", Yah, I've got a ticket in the truck. I didn't bother with it because this is such a dinky little job. Figure I'll be out of here in twenty minutes...." John nodded, "Well, I'd like to bother with it. And I doubt you'll get paid in this lifetime without it.." Bert shrugged and climbed down off the tractor and headed for the truck,"OK, we'll do the paperwork before the dig. Before or after, its all the same to me..." John studied both sides of the service ticket. "What are you reading the back for? Just sign the thing, would ya?" John was furiously reading the fine print. Finally he spotted the gem he was looking for: "Contractor agrees to indemnify owner and/or the agents of the owner and hold blameless... for any damages directly caused by the actions of the contractor." John quickly signed and dated the service ticket. He handed the ticket to Bert. "I need you to sign it, too". Bert was reaching his limit, "Aw for chrissake". Bert signed the service ticket. John carefully separated the copies and put the yellow one in this pocket. Bert reached for the tractor's grab handle. "Can I dig now?" "Dig away..". As Bert fired up the Backhoe, John walked to his office. He decided he would make two "heads-up" calls. One to Al, the electrician and another to Curly , the plumber. As it turned out, Bert was right on the money. The job took twenty minutes. By the time John got off the phone with the plumber, an urgent call came over the radio: "Gas Emergency at the Back Dock!!!" John didn't rise from his chair. He called out to Linda in the next office, "Linda, quick! dial 911 and get a fire truck over here". John had already looked up the number to report gas emergencies at City Gas Service. As he dialed the number, He reached for a radio, "John to Carlos, Got the gas off?" "10-4. Already done." John was grateful that Carlos was on duty. He never got excited and always handled problems effectively. Other guys on the maintenance crew might have called John to ask permission to shut off the gas, or worse, not have even realized the fire potential of a gas leak and done nothing. John finished his brief conversation with the dispatcher at City Gas Service and keyed the microphone, "John to Carlos, I have a fire truck and City Gas Service coming. I'm going to the back dock now." The radio crackled, "Carlos to John, We don't really need a fire truck. There's no problem back here any more." "Just in case, Carlos, just in case." "10-4"
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