Franchise Choice Help / Opinions?

[Nolan Kienitz]

They're damned lucky I didn't punch a crawlspace hatch up through the floor above to get away from those things. Left a $55 scuba light in that hole with it's beam still shining upward. Never went back for it.

A great story for the archives. One for the memories and hope to heck it never repeats!

[Inspectorjoe]

Hey Mike, ever see the movie Willard? Not the remake, but the original from 1971. It'd be a good movie for you to rent this weekend. When you watch it, make sure you turn the lights down ........... way, way down.

[hausdok]

Ain't gonna happen,

I saw the trailer for that way back in the 70's. It made my skin crawl. I never went to see the movie and I avoid the re-runs like the plague. For some reason, rats just scare the bejeezus out of me and mice don't scare me at all. I've handled about half a dozen varieties of poisonous snakes bare-handed. Hell, we even had a copperhead in our orderly room at 1st Group at Ft. Bragg. Whenever I had CQ, I used to take him out of his terrarium and pet him, before I'd give him his live mouse ration. Then I'd sit there, watch him strike, watch the rodent go into paralysis and die and the snake eat him. Pretty cool! I've handled all sorts of other critters and reptiles. I've even lain on the ground in the bush and had scorpions, snakes and spiders cross right over my body, and it never even made me nervous. However, whenever I see a rat, my legs seem to grow a mind of their own.

The guys in my platoon knew I didn't like rats, they just didn't know how much I didn't like rats. One day during Desert Shield, probably a month before Desert Storm kicked off, I came back to my CP tent, sat down on my cot, pulled off a boot and plopped it on the ground between my legs. I bent over to get the other boot off, and there was a friggin huge brown rat standing next to the boot I'd just taken off. The next thing I recall, I was about 50 meters from the tent, lying on the ground with someone slapping my face going, Sgt. O?, Sgt O?

The little deviates had caught the rat using some MRE's, a box and a stick, and then they'd tied the evil thing to the leg of my cot with a piece of nylon stripped out of the inside of some parachute chord and the entire platoon gathered about 50 meters away to watch and see what would happen when Sgt. O came back to the hooch. They figured they'd get a reaction - they just didn't expect that reaction. Apparently, I'd wigged out, gone through the side of that 9-man CP tent, tearing a hole about 6ft. long in the process, and giving myself one hell of a canvas burn on the forehead in the process, and lit off across the compound, hitting a high note that would have made Bette Midler proud. They were all laughing pretty hard until a couple of them realized, "Uh, Oh, Sgt. O wasn't kidding. He really is scared sh**less of rats!" and they took off after me, tackled me, sat on top of me and then brought me back to my senses. Me? I only remember seeing the rat and coming to my senses with the guy slapping my face.

Then I had to explain to the LT why there was a huge gash in the side of that $2500 CP tent. I won't even go into how I got my revenge. Let's just say that there's a lot of things that a Platoon Sergeant can do to troops that, while not illegal, are considered by troops to be nothing less than torture. I assure you, all 28 of 'em regretted that stunt.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[ozofprev]

This whole thread has cracked me up! Mike O', you are too F'n cool!

I really don't like 6 ft of snow, but it means we have (mostly) basements rather than crawlspaces. I would have done exactly as you did, but I'm not sure I would have been lucky enough to have an owner as understanding as yours. That was luck.

[hausdok]

Luck? I dunno,......I'm not kidding when I tell you there were a lot of rats. Judging by the way she was moving when she knocked me aside and sprinted out that door in those 2 inch heels, I'd say the likelihood that she was going to buy that house after that was pretty slim. I bet even if I'd not freaked out she would have, and wouldn't have taken that house after that, even if they'd given it to her.

Besides that, the house was gross. It was a rental and one had to phsically climb over piles of clothes and garbage to get to different areas. Just thinking about the place starts me to scratching imaginary lice.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[zeb]

This is not a Pizza Hut..You have the go-nads to sell yourself and your business. They can't offer anything that you can't. Don't expect to make big money. If you hold on you will make good money without giving it to someone you don't know.