ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Horse-play in the Workplace?

When I had a crew and there was horseplay between them I knew that they were getting along and would work well together. That would mean that they would work well together. Hey if you can share a joke together, you can work together.

The main one that I remember was when an electrician on first shift hid the second shift mechanics cigarettes. The next morning when the electrician came in he found the top part of his tool box hanging from the rafters. Sure may have cost the company time, but I know that I got a laugh out of it.


[This message has been edited by Scotts (edited 04-07-2004).]

Some of the horseplay can be attributed to people's own actions. My dad has some great stories of horseplay from his career:

He had a favorite hat that he'd take off and set down in various places. He said, "Next time you see my hat, nail it down." As you can guess, it was nailed firmly to the floor the next time it was located and he nearly did a flip when he bent down to grab it as he rushed toward the door and it didn't budge.

He also accused the whole shop of stealing his coffee cup and threatened to glue it to the bench if it disappeared again. The next morning his cup, full of steaming java, sat on the bench full of work waiting for his arrival. My mom has the photo of him drinking from the cup which was glued to a 2"x4".

The phone would ring and the busiest person would disengage from their station to answer it since no one else seemed to be nearby. When the handset touched their ear it would be full of petroleum jelly (vaseline) and a crowd of jokesters howled at their misfortune from around the corner.

.... lots more with similar threads...

OK, I'll share this one from when I worked as a police dispatcher. In the pre-lawsuit-mania days, the new hires would take a lot of abuse. It was part of "paying the dues."

So, here I was, quite new, still being "baby-sat" on the 911 lines.

I received a call, and for some reason the ANI/ALI screen did not change to the new caller's information. That should have been a tip off but I was too new to know better.

There was a man with an Irish brogue who stated he's "Father McLaughlin." He went on to say that he was on his way to an emergency, as he had to go to somebody's house to council them.

(Really, he could have told me anything, since I'm Jewish and wouldn't have caught it anyhow.)

He went on to say that he had a flat tire and needed one of the officers to come over to help him change his tire, "as they have done in the past."

My "baby-sitter" told me that the police wouldn't have done that, and to advise him he needs to either change it himself or call a tow truck.

Father was very persistent, insisting that the police have helped him before. Again, I was told to politely tell the caller that he can either change the tire himself or to call a tow truck.

The priest then argued that he would get his clothes dirty changing the tire, and that he couldn't afford a tow truck, and why wouldn't I send the police to help him, as we had "done before..."

Again, I politely informed him that his only options as far as we were concerned would be to change it himself, or to call a tow truck.

Father sounded quite upset as he said, "Well then, f--- it! I'll change the f------ tire my own damn self!" and then hung up on me.

I was a "little" shocked, and said to my supervising co-worker, "Uh, I don't think he really was a priest..."

Just then, the sergeant came stomping into the room, shouting, "Who just took the call from a priest with a flat tire? He's pretty upset..."

I thought I was in big trouble...until the sergeant could no longer keep a straight face.

Turns out that one of the officers who had worked in the radio room for years is married to a lady who has an Irish brogue. He was the culprit!

I have lots of other stories...

ThinkGood,
If you think that Horse-play amomgst Emergency Crews and Dispatchers was done,
check this one out.
About 7 years ago, when I got my Senior Fire-fighter Rank, I was required to be sent to a K-99 (Structure Fire-Well Involved) as the Officer on the first Responding Appliance.
As a party move, My Fire Chief, organised a "House-Burn" for Training purposes, but never told me!.
I ran to the Station, just like I normally do and we "turned-out".
The House was going "full-on" as we got there.
I was not in on the joke, until a few Hot embers caught the surrounding Hedge on fire, when the wind came up, I changed from an Officer back to a FF, just like that!